You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears. It's the Money Talk with Tiff podcast. Hey, everyone. I'm so excited because I have Minnie St Clair on the line. And Minnie is someone I interact with a ton on X, AKA Twitter. But she has a very inspiring story where she was on disability in Canada and now she's in entrepreneur and figured out a way to make it work.
So. Hey, Minnie, how are you? I'm good. Awesome. Awesome. So thank you so much for joining us. So let's hop right in. So, first and foremost, disability in Canada. What does that look like? So first is the province you're in. So I'm in the province of Ontario. We have Ontario Disability Support Program, and then there's also Ontario Works that used to be called welfare. So they renamed it, I guess, to not make it seem like welfare, but it's still welfare. It's just.
And it's been around since the 90s. And right now they made small changes with it. So, like now with Ontario Disability Support Program, you can make $1,000 and still keep your benefits. And then the federal government, so the federal government for the whole country, we have the Disability Tax Credit. Then having the Disability Tax credit lets you open your Registered Disability Savings Plan. And inside the Registered Disability Savings Plan is where the government matches your contributions.
So it's up to $90,000 of contributions, and they separate it with grants and bonds. And also during the pandemic, they realized people with disabilities weren't getting the support they needed, so they promised a Disability Canada benefit with the intention of lifting Canadians out of poverty. But then when they finally announce the numbers for it, they're promising $200 a month starting July 2025.
So right now, all the disability advocacy groups and people that are able to write their members of Parliament, we've been complaining to let them know that it's not lifting anybody out of poverty. It's making it more difficult because to access it, you need to be eligible for the Disability Tax Credit and all of the disability forms, no matter what they are, you need your doctor to fill out the form. But we also have a doctor shortage in Canada, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Very, very interesting. So there's a few questions that I have because it sounds like it's a lot different than the US and one of the main things that you said that stuck out to me was the Disability Savings Program. So if you are disabled and you sign up for the program, you have access to an account that, that you put contributions in and then the province or the federal government matches. Yeah, the federal government.
So we, it's annoying with the way our political leaders, either they're a mayor for the city and then they, they run the province as a premier and then they run the country as prime minister and they always pass around the responsibility to another level of government. So with the registered Disability Savings Plan, that's the federal government and you only have access to it when you're approved for the disability tax credit.
But the disability tax credit, the way that they determine you're disabled is based on limitations that you have that are permanent. They're more on the permanent side of disability conditions. So all the definitions try to say that it's prolonged, expect it to last a year or more. And then with the federal government it's more of like life sustaining supports things that you would do that take normally longer than the able bodied person. So like for me I have nerve pain.
So like when I'm cooking, my left hand doesn't like to tuck its fingers under so I can not chop my fingers off. So I have to hold my hand a certain way. I'll cut my fingers off and then my feet are swollen. So it depends on a person's disability. Like some disabilities like vision impairment and hearing impairment, they kind of automatically get approved for disability benefits because they're the standard disability things that people know.
But then chronic illness, diabetes, sickle cell, all the invisible chronic episodic illnesses, those ones take a harder time in getting approved. Even like ADHD takes a harder time approved, which is weird because you could get approved faster on the province programs and then you spend more time applying for the federal program. But then the province program says you have to apply for all the programs. So it's, it's a lot of whack. A mole really. That's where I describe it.
It's. Yeah, it sounds like it. And you know, I've heard similar with us where it takes a long time. I know when my grandma was going through the process of getting permanent dis, it took years and she had to fight a couple times and all types of stuff. So it is a lengthy process here as well. And one other thing you mentioned was the shortage of doctors. Now in the States, you know, we hear about Canada and like, oh, free health care for everyone and things like that.
So how does that look up there? So Americans are so funny. Our health care is not like the Reason I say our health care is not free. We pay most of it from our taxes, then depending on your disability. So like for me, my neurologist orders a lot of blood work for the medication that he prescribed me for and one of them costs $13. But I don't know that till I show up at the lab, give them the work order for my blood work, then they're like, oh yeah, this is $13. I go, which one is $13?
No one told me. I'm always shocked. Then I bargain, then I plea, then I'm broke. Then like, oh, we'll figure it out. Then they type some things in the computer and then they cover it. So, and then when I asked my family doctor, the neurologist ordered something that's $13. She was like, he doesn't understand that you're on disability and he needs to enter a certain code on the form so you're not charged. And I was like, can you tell him in the notes?
Because my, for me, my primary healthcare provider, she talks to the neurologist in the notes and my healthcare notes and it's a lot of notes. It's 20 years of notes and it's 10 years with a neurologist for multiple sclerosis. And half of my appointments is just saying these notes should be there. I had this appointment, can we check with those notes what they mean?
Like my dermatologist, the sleep apnea from the sleep clinic, the colonoscopy appointment, the neurofeed physiologists and then the neuros psychologist. There's a whole bunch of neuro, the level of doctors I'm seeing that I didn't know was a job. And cardiologists. I see so many people for someone that's 39 years old. If you ask me, when you grow up, do you want to be in doctor's appointments all the time? I would tell you no. So.
And then oh yeah, I also, I also forgot about the Canada pension plan disability. So that it's based on you if mandatory contributions from your employment income or if your net income from your business is high enough to contribute to cpp, it's a mandatory pension plan. So like Canada is a mandatory pension, but to access it you have to put money in it.
When I looked up mine through Service Canada, it said I get $1,019 from all the jobs I had in the past or having enough net income for my business to contribute to it. So me accessing that before I turn 65 would cause a whole lot of paperwork and problems. I don't need. Plus, the CPP pension is clawed back dollar for dollar from the Ontario Disability Support Program.
So even though, yes, you can access disability in your province and then you may access CPP disability, the province program will look at how much you're getting and then they want to be the last resort so they'll reduce their income support because you're getting insurance or you're getting the pension plan or you're getting an inheritance.
They have a weird way of balancing their books so that you always look like you're in poverty or that you are in poverty, depending on what program you're accessing and how much you're accessing. Very interesting. Very interesting. So if I remember correctly, when you first came on, you said $1,000 a month or around there. And that does not sound like it's easy to live off of.
So I. So the, the thousand dollar number is how much income you're allowed to make while receiving Ontario Disability Support program, which is $1,368 a month. So. And then $1,368 a month, $582 of that is shelter. So really, you have to live on a little less than 2,000amonth to be on disability. Yeah. Unless you have access to special diet or medical mandatory necessities.
So there's a way of getting more money, but you have to fill up more paperwork and get your doctor to fill up more forms so that you can get permission to get more money from the government. That sounds like a mess. It sounds like a mess, but it is. And I'm trying to summarize it in 20 minutes. I'm like, I know there's so many nuances and everything in there, but we're trying to keep it like high level for the audience. But with that being said, you decided to get into entrepreneurship.
Can you tell us more about what sparked that decision and what you decided to do? So I've always been an entrepreneur because my career started in 2003 when I wanted to join the adult entertainment industry and become an adult star. And I landed in the webcam business for live stream webcamming. And that you're automatically self employed because I'm in Canada and then I work with companies in the United States. Then I have to fill out tax form W8BEN, which I do not like that form.
I don't like that form. And then after I fill out that tax form, my revenue is US dollars. I have to convert it to Canadian dollars. And I had to figure out my income and expenses and I have to report it to the revenue agency, which is the federal government. Then I also have to report it to the province of Ontario so that they can determine what is my net income if I'm above a thousand dollars net income or under a thousand dollars net income.
But then the case workers in the disability office, they don't understand self employment. Sometimes they see my gross income as net income and screw up my whole file. Very interesting. Wow. It sounds like, as you keep describing the situation, it sounds like a lot like it keeps adding more and more and more. And so if, let's say for instance, they mess up your file, they re, they calculated something wrong, you're now at risk of losing disability at that point.
No, I'm at risk of an overpayment. So especially like the pandemic. So when the governments were giving everybody money and people thought Canada was getting the most money. Yes, if you were a normal working person. But if you're on disability, the rule is you have to apply for all other income sources before them and show reasonable effort. And that caused a lot of problems because when the government made that program, they made it very easy to access without proving you need to access it.
A lot of people got it who weren't qualified to get it. Then you had to prove you're qualified to get it. And then it's. And then I don't know if you saw the news of employees who worked at revenue agency were getting it that are not allowed to apply for it. So it's a giant billion dollar mess we have in Canada right now. Plus our revenue agency got hacked. So we have a lot of problems with our Tax Revenue agency that I don't know if America has similar, but it's two clowns at the circus.
It's pretty much. Wait a minute, you said the revenue agency got hacked? Yeah, they did. That's a recent story that happened. But during the pandemic the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit CERB, they gave out $2,000 a month if you were eligible. But then you had to prove that you were making about a thousand dollars a month to not owe them money to pay that back. So with me, I like I applied for it, I'm eligible for it.
I'm trying to talk to the Internal Revenue Agency for Canada proving my receipts and my bank statements and my invoices that I'm eligible. And I didn't tell my caseworker at the disability office for the province about it yet because I didn't know I'm talking to two governments And I got to wait for somebody to say yes or no and then tell the provincial government.
So basically, when I deal with government, I deal with the federal government first because they could screw you over for your whole life. Then I worry about the provincial government because I can go to court and make an appeal and claim financial hardship. There's more advocating in the province than there is with the federal government depending on taxes or owing them money. So I had to, like, figure out who was more important and who can ruin my life first and then focus on that.
And then once I knew I was eligible for cerb, I got all that money. Then I told the caseworker for disability. Then she's like, oh, yeah, your overpayment at the time, in the beginning, like $6,000, now it's 3,800 because they take back a portion of my disability income to pay it back. And right now $79.15 a month will pay it off in 36 months.
But now disability for the province increases with inflation, but every time it increases with inflation, they increase the recovery of overpayment back so they can pay themselves faster. Wow. Wow. And I noticed on X you do a lot of advocating and advocacy work and you do that locally. Yeah, I basically try to explain the disability policies ForOntario in 200 characters on Twitter, which is very hard. Very. I know. I follow you. And I'm like, oh, wow, oh, wow. Oh, it's a lot going on.
And I'm not buying, I'm not buying premium to make it longer. Right. I'm trying to work with a free account. That part. But with that being said, what if people were in, if they're listening and they're interested in joining the advocacy work going on in Canada for disability, what are some tools, resources, how could they join you on this? They have to read the policy first.
Like how I got bored of Canada's policy and I started reading UK's policy and I started reading the American SSD BI policy. Read the policy. The words in that policy will make your head hurt and feel like a game of jeopardy. So it's just. It's because they're using lawyer words. They're using section this. And like, I have it open on my screen for self employment is section 5.4. And in there it fully says what is gross income and net income.
But if I get a caseworker who forgot in trading section 5.4, I need to quote back section 5.4 when I talk to them because I can email them directly different things. I need in my file. And it's a lot of me reading the policy and then especially when I talk to legal aid because legal aid is the main legal force that will help me fight back with the disability stuff when they make a mistake. And now we just have a whole battle of me, I know the policy, they know it too. We compare notes. Gotcha.
Like one time legal aid was doing a presentation and I mentioned that you can file bankruptcy and include your overpayment with your bankruptcy. And you can our tax laws and our bankruptcy laws. We do our student loan. You can include the overpayment for disability. You can own tax debt. Like my student loan from 2005 is gone and discharged in my bankruptcy from 2019. And if I log into my student loan application website, it says I can now reapply.
And I'm not touching that thing with a ten foot point. Right. Like, like you said, it's gone. Okay, great. We're not resurrecting anything. Right. And so what I'm hearing from you is to know your rights. So know the law, know your resources, like legal aid, because we do have legal aid in the States too. And advocate for yourself if you're in this situation. And don't just take whatever they give you because there's no you. Like, that is the awful thing about when I meet other people.
So like I Canadian Independent Living center, they help people on disability become more independent living. And it doesn't feel like they're doing that because the way that they present you can earn $1,000. They also present it as disability will cut you off. But disability actually doesn't cut you off instantly. It takes a few months before they decide you're fully cut off. And you're not actually cut off. It's just the word that they're using.
You actually need to be eligible to apply for transitional health benefits or extended health benefits. So you still keep getting insurance to cover your prescriptions. Or like how I need a CPAP machine for sleeping and compression socks. Those are more forms my doctor has to fill out to say I need these services. And then there's rapid reinstatement. Almost all of the provinces, I haven't looked at all of them. I looked at Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.
I didn't look at Nova Scotia and all the other provinces, but every province has their own policy for their disability benefits. And like Nova Scotia has a wonderful calculator that I like that calculates benefits. I had to make money on my spreadsheet by myself. So there's things in there that help people and the way that people say people are scamming the system. You didn't read the policy.
Because when I argue with people online, I try not to, but if I get stuck in an argument with someone online, I know it's because they never read the policy. They have no idea of what to do to be eligible to apply. Then what happens when you're denied to make an appeal, then reapply? Then hopefully you get a lawyer who still has the energy to keep fighting for you. So you reach social tribunal, which is court, and then get approved. Like me, I applied, I got denied, I went to legal aid.
Legalist said, you know, at that time, if I made money, it was cut back 50% on the dollar and then they change it $200. Then now they have the thousand dollar benefit. So at that time, the advice was, I need to stop working. I'm like, but then how am I supposed to live? And then at that time, Welfare was like $500 a month. And now it's $733 a month. And anybody anywhere knows you need roughly $2,000. Because that's what the governments were giving during the pandemic.
In almost all the countries, they were giving roughly $2,000 in benefits. And then depending on where you were, they added a new benefit or they added a new income tax, something like it was. It's really weird how they reward work. And if you're unable to work, you're dependent on charity or gofundme or your paypal donations or Vemos and then that you have to report it as income to the government. You can't just say, oh, I have my gofundme or fine or I sell things off of Facebook Marketplace.
They want to know every dollar you get in your hand. Exactly. And the only way you know that is to read the policy, to know how they calculate things. Like, I know SSDI has a back to work program where they test out, can you go back to work? And then they test out, if you can't go back to work, then you're over in this program or this, like, read it. No, you're not going to understand it. That's what ChatGPT is for, to explain it to you. Right, well, thank you so much.
Okay, well, thank you so much, Minnie, for sharing how the Canadian disability system works and how you're able to navigate it. So hopefully that encourages someone else that may be going through that situation. Even those in the states that are thinking or looking at disability or on disability may be encouraging them to read more about their rights and resources sources as it pertains to this.
So if people were interested in following more of your journey or learning more about you and what you do, where could they find you? The most two active places is my Twitter and my YouTube channel and they're both mini on cam. Gotcha, gotcha. And I'll make sure I have those links in the show notes for our audience. So thank you so much again for coming on the show and joining us this morning.
I appreciate all the gems you just dropped and my head is already hurting just trying to figure everything out. Most people, I explain the policies too. They have a headache. Yeah, it's a lot. And you need to take that headache and write to your people in office, like the ones that say they listen to the constituents to complain about the policies once you know what they are. Because anybody could become disabled.
I was happily working in my 20s, then I got diagnosed, then I couldn't work anymore. And then the psychiatrist like, you should apply for disability. I go, no, the goods are like, I knew it was a low amount of money and I knew it would be restrictive. And then once you're in it, you're stuck in the restriction. And then with being diagnosed, you don't get access to other health insurance plans because they exclude pre existing conditions.
So if you don't have your insurance in place or enough savings in your emergency fund in place, all those other things we talk about in personal finance in place, you end up on social assistance. You end up with the people that you think are lazy and scamming off the system when no, we're working twice as hard with a condition that keeps us slower because we have to keep up with inflation and living and the next iPhone or Taylor Swift tickets. And it's. Yeah. So that. Right, right. And that I'm.
We can leave it right there at that. Thank you so much. Much. That was a mic drop and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Yeah. Thank you so much. Bye. Thank you for listening, joining and being a part of the Money Talk with Tiff podcast this week. You can check tip out every Thursday for a new Money Talk podcast.
But if you just can't wait until next week, you can listen to previous podcast episodes at Money Talk with t.com or follow TIFF on all social media platforms at Money Talk with T. Until next time. Spend wise by spending less than you make a word to the money wise is always sufficient.