UPDATED INFORMATION
Disability Alliance BC’s AGM
June 17, 2017

Disability Alliance BC is thrilled to announce that the guest speaker at our June 17^th AGM will be The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities.

Carla Qualtrough was elected to Parliament for Delta, BC, in October 2015 and appointed as Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities in November 2015.

Committed to equity and inclusion, Carla has practiced human rights law at the federal and provincial levels. She chaired the Minister’s Council on Employment and Accessibility in BC, and was an adjudicator with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal prior to her election.  Carla has been visually impaired since birth.

Passionate about the power of sport and physical activity to change lives, Carla has volunteered locally, nationally, and internationally, including with the International Paralympic Committee and for the Toronto 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games. She has been President of the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Chair of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada. Carla was on the Board of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, and was Vice-Chair of the Delta Gymnastics Society. As an athlete, Carla won three Paralympic and four World Championship medals in swimming.

Carla has degrees in political science from the University of Ottawa and law from the University of Victoria. Among many awards for her work, she has been named one of Canada’s Most Influential Women in Sport six times, and received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.  In April 2017 Carla was inducted into the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame in the “builder” category.

Carla and her husband Eron Main live in Ladner.  They have four children.

DABC’s AGM:

Date:              Saturday June 17, 2017

Time:             Registration opens at 10:30 am.
The AGM starts at 11:00 am. It will last approximately 2 hours.

Location:      Croatian Cultural Centre – Room B
3250 Commercial Drive, Vancouver (Commercial Drive @ East 16^th Avenue

We’re very excited about this complete renovation of our website.

With this new site, our goals are to:

• make our most asked-about resources very easy to find; for example, the BC Disability Benefits Help Sheets
• create a clear distinction between our front-line services (like help with PWD applications and filing income taxes), and our ongoing programs and community partnerships (like emergency preparedness and systemic advocacy)
• integrate our social media platforms more closely with the website
• create a more mobile-friendly site
• make the website more streamlined, simplified and, we think, beautiful!

Let us know what you think!

Please email us at
chloe@disabilityalliancebc.therightfitbc.org.

Since DABC’s Tax Aid Program began in 2015, our Tax Advocates have had the pleasure of helping over 480 individual clients access over $1,039,000.00 in tax-related benefits.  Many of our clients receive between $300 and $500 per tax return, with those who have dependent children receiving even more.  Are you missing out on tax benefits because you haven’t filed your tax returns in a while?

We can file up to 10 years of simple personal tax returns for people living anywhere in BC who receive PWD or PPMB benefits, and often when there are additional sources of income such as employment income, pension income etc.

Together with our partners at Plan Institute and BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society, we can provide information and assistance to clients who want to apply for the Disability Tax Credit so they can open a Registered Disability Savings Plan.  If you open a Registered Disability Savings Plan within or before the calendar year you turn 49, you may qualify for thousands of dollars in free grants and bonds from the Federal Government, to help you save for later life.  To access any grants and bonds you are entitled to, it is essential to be up to date on your tax returns.

We’re here to help you access some of the tax benefits you may be entitled to.  If you or someone you know who receives PWD or PPMB benefits needs help catching up on filing their income taxes, contact the Tax Aid Program at: taxaid@disabilityalliance.org or call (604) 872-1278 or toll free at: 1 800 663-1278.