Financial Assistance

The RDSP Calculator

Canada is the first country in the world to offer a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) to assist families in securing the future for a son or daughter with a severe disability. Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), the organization that proposed and researched the RDSP, has just created an online calculator to assist families in determining the best approach towards the plan and the matching Federal Grants and Bonds.

PLAN’s new online RDSP Calculator is now available at www.plan.ca  or www.rdsp.com

The calculator will help Canadian families project the estimated future value of an RDSP, and will help determine how it can enhance the quality of life for a family member with a disability. “The RDSP allows our sons and daughters to acquire savings, removes them from poverty level, and brings them closer to achieving a better life – a good life,” commented Susan Whittaker, chairperson of PLAN’s board. “The RDSP Calculator is a wonderful tool to help families take the best advantage of the RDSP’s capabilities.”

By answering a few simple questions, the calculator will determine the amount of Grant and Bond a person is eligible for, and the value of future payments. For example, a family with a nine year old disabled child decides to invest $500 per year for 20 years into an RDSP plan. The RDSP Calculator determines that by the time the child is 39 years old, this $10,000 investment would provide $571,372 in payments between the ages of 39 and 83 (using a potential growth rate of 5.5%). In another scenario, if the same family invests $1,500 per year, the calculator estimates that the RDSP would provide $1,282,623 in payments between the ages of 39 and 83. A printable summary of any scenario entered is available.

Canada’s RDSP is a new tool for individuals with disabilities and their families to save for the future. It is now common for people with disabilities to outlive their parents. Canada’s Federal government has acknowledged this by establishing a Disability Savings Plan that will assist as many as 700,000 Canadian families in providing financial security for their son or daughter with a disability. For more information on the RDSP, visit PLAN’s dedicated website, www.rdsp.com. There, you will find the most extensive and up-to-date information on the RDSP for families across the country.

Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) is a non-profit social enterprise established by and for families committed to assuring the safety, security and well-being of our relatives with a disability. PLAN provides information, assistance and support; facilitates social networks so people will not be alone when their parents pass away; and advocates for changes in laws to make it easier for families to secure a good life for their relatives with disabilities. For more information on PLAN, visit www.plan.ca

Contact: Doug Brodhead, PLAN Assistant Director of Social Policy

Tel: 604-439-9566

Email: dbrodhead@plan.ca

Website: www.plan.ca or www.rdsp.com

Grants for Students with Disabilities

Web: www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/learning/canada_student_loan/grant2.shtml

Canada Study Grant for the Accommodation of Students with Permanent Disabilities and Canada Access Grant for Students with Permanent Disabilities are grants available for persons with disabilities such as deafness, blindness or a physical or learning disability who are attending full or part-time post secondary studies.

SISIP Financial Services

Website: www.sisip.ca/en/Cfpaf_e/index.asp

The Canadian Assistance Personnel Assistance Fund  provides financial assistance to serving and former members of the Canadian Forces (CF) and their immediate families.

Military Family Fund

Download: Military Family Fund (PDF)
The Military Families Fund (MFF) is an agile and responsive means for Base and Wing Commanders, in concert with Military Family Resource Centers (MFRC) across the country, to help military families within hours of being advised of need. It will help with short-term emergencies and also provide long-term support. The MFF allows CF leadership to meet the special-case needs of CF members and their families with speed and flexibility not always available through the traditional programs.

The MFF enhances and complements, it does not replace, existing public and non-public programs. The Fund fills the gaps by providing for the unforeseen and often immediate needs that families may have due to conditions of service.

The MFF works with the already established and substantial existing support programs offered through the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) and elsewhere, to CF members and their families. The MFF allows for several areas of support, including rehabilitation, education, financial assistance in the case of injury or death of a CF member due to service, and urgent and extraordinary financial demands where the ability to provide family necessities is at risk.

Canada Campany Scholarship Fund

Canada Company has established the Canada Company Scholarship Fund. The specific objectives and purposes of the Canada Company Scholarship Fund is to provide financial assistance towards the post-secondary education of Eligible Candidates. Eligible Candidates are children of a Canadian soldier who has been killed while in an active role in the performance of his/her military duty any time since January 1, 2002.

For more information: CCSF_Application_Information.pdf

Computers for Schools

Phone: 1-888-636-9899

Web: cfs.ic.gc.ca/default.asp

Computers for Schools (CFS) is a national, federal government-led initiative that operates in cooperation with all provinces and territories, the private and volunteer sectors. CFS collects, repairs and refurbishes donated surplus computers from government and private sector sources and distributes them to schools, public libraries and not-for-profit learning organizations throughout Canada.

Grants for Students with Disabilities

Web: www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/learning/canada_student_loan/grant2.shtml

Canada Study Grant for the Accommodation of Students with Permanent Disabilities and Canada Access Grant for Students with Permanent Disabilities are grants available for persons with disabilities such as deafness, blindness or a physical or learning disability who are attending full or part-time post secondary studies.

Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)

Phone: 1-800-959-8281

Web: http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/disability_issues/disability_savings/rdsp.shtml

Canada Revenue Agency

Web: www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/sgmnts/dsblts/menu-eng.html

Read these pages for information about services specifically for persons with disabilities. For pages with topics of interest to everyone, see Individuals.

Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program for Persons with Disabilities (RRAP — Disabilities)

Phone: 1-800-668-2642

Web: www.schl.ca/en/co/prfinas/prfinas_003.cfm

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offers financial assistance to allow homeowners and landlords to pay for modifications to make their property more accessible to persons with disabilities. These modifications are intended to eliminate physical barriers, imminent safety risks and improve the ability to meet the demands of daily living within the home.

Canadian Government Benefits

Phone: 1 800-622-6232

Web: www.canadabenefits.gc.ca/faecselectgeo.jsp

The Canada Benefits website is the Internet doorway to government-wide information about benefit programs and services for individuals with disabilities. Canada Benefits is run by the Government of Canada.

Canadian Forces Personnel Assistance Fund - SISIP

Phone: 1-888-753-9828

Web: www.sisip.com/en/Cfpaf_e/programs_e.asp

CFPAF provides financial assistance to serving and former members of the Canadian Forces (CF) and their immediate families.
A member of the CF is generally eligible to apply for CFPAF assistance after completion of one year of service. More eligibility information is provided with each program description.


 

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