February 26, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode of the Money Talk With Tiff podcast, Tiffany Grant hosts Minnie St. Claire, an entrepreneur and disability advocate from Canada. Minnie shares her inspiring journey from being on disability in Canada to becoming a successful entrepreneur.
The conversation covers the intricacies of the disability support system in Canada, including income thresholds, government benefits, and the challenges faced by those on disability. Minnie discusses the complex process of navigating these systems, the importance of understanding policy and advocating for oneself, and her own path to entrepreneurship in the adult entertainment industry. She also sheds light on how she uses platforms like X (formerly Twitter) for advocacy work.
This episode aims to encourage listeners, especially those dealing with disability systems, to be informed and proactive about their rights and resources.
Check out the full show notes: https://moneytalkwitht.com/podcast-show-notes/navigating-canadas-disability-system-with-minnie-st-claire/
Takeaways
- Navigating disability benefits in Canada can be tricky, especially with confusing policies and paperwork.
- The Ontario Disability Support Program allows individuals to earn up to $1,000 while still receiving support, which is quite helpful.
- Entrepreneurship can be a viable path for those on disability, as it offers flexibility and potential for higher income.
- It's essential to read and understand the policies regarding disability support to advocate effectively for oneself.
Mentioned In This Episode
- Ontario Disability Support Program
- Ontario Works
- Disability Tax Credit
- Registered Disability Savings Plan
- Service Canada
- Canadian Independent Living Center
- Canadian Emergency Response Benefit CERB
Follow Minnie St. Claire
Twitter (X): @minnieoncam
YouTube: @minnieoncam
Follow Tiffany
Instagram: @moneytalkwitht
Facebook: @moneytalkwitht
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanygrant1/
Copyright 2025 Tiffany Grant
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You know what it is. That'sright. It's time to talk money with
your money nerd and financialcoach. Now tighten those purse strings
and open those ears. It's theMoney Talk with Tiff podcast.
Hey, everyone. I'm so excitedbecause I have Minnie St Clair on
the line. And Minnie issomeone I interact with a ton on
(00:23):
X, AKA Twitter. But she has avery inspiring story where she was
on disability in Canada andnow 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 youso much for joining us. So let's
hop right in. So, first andforemost, disability in Canada. What
(00:44):
does that look like?
So first is the provinceyou're in. So I'm in the province
of Ontario. We have OntarioDisability Support Program, and then
there's also Ontario Worksthat used to be called welfare. So
they renamed it, I guess, tonot make it seem like welfare, but
it's still welfare. It's just.And it's been around since the 90s.
(01:10):
And right now they made smallchanges with it. So, like now with
Ontario Disability SupportProgram, you can make $1,000 and
still keep your benefits. Andthen the federal government, so the
federal government for thewhole country, we have the Disability
Tax Credit. Then having theDisability Tax credit lets you open
(01:31):
your Registered DisabilitySavings Plan. And inside the Registered
Disability Savings Plan iswhere the government matches your
contributions. So it's up to$90,000 of contributions, and they
separate it with grants andbonds. And also during the pandemic,
they realized people withdisabilities weren't getting the
support they needed, so theypromised a Disability Canada benefit
(01:55):
with the intention of liftingCanadians out of poverty. But then
when they finally announce thenumbers for it, they're promising
$200 a month starting July2025. So right now, all the disability
advocacy groups and peoplethat are able to write their members
of Parliament, we've beencomplaining to let them know that
it's not lifting anybody outof poverty. It's making it more difficult
(02:18):
because to access it, you needto be eligible for the Disability
Tax Credit and all of thedisability forms, no matter what
they are, you need your doctorto fill out the form. But we also
have a doctor shortage inCanada, so it doesn't make a whole
lot of sense.
Very, very interesting. Sothere's a few questions that I have
because it sounds like it's alot different than the US and one
(02:41):
of the main things that yousaid that stuck out to me was the
Disability Savings Program. Soif you are disabled and you sign
up for the program, you haveaccess to an account that, that you
put contributions in and thenthe province or the federal government
matches.
Yeah, the federal government.So we, it's annoying with the way
(03:04):
our political leaders, eitherthey're a mayor for the city and
then they, they run theprovince as a premier and then they
run the country as primeminister and they always pass around
the responsibility to anotherlevel of government. So with the
registered Disability SavingsPlan, that's the federal government
and you only have access to itwhen you're approved for the disability
(03:29):
tax credit. But the disabilitytax credit, the way that they determine
you're disabled is based onlimitations that you have that are
permanent. They're more on thepermanent side of disability conditions.
So all the definitions try tosay that it's prolonged, expect it
to last a year or more. Andthen with the federal government
(03:51):
it's more of like lifesustaining supports things that you
would do that take normallylonger than the able bodied person.
So like for me I have nervepain. So like when I'm cooking, my
left hand doesn't like to tuckits fingers under so I can not chop
my fingers off. So I have tohold my hand a certain way. I'll
cut my fingers off and then myfeet are swollen. So it depends on
(04:15):
a person's disability. Likesome disabilities like vision impairment
and hearing impairment, theykind of automatically get approved
for disability benefitsbecause they're the standard disability
things that people know. Butthen chronic illness, diabetes, sickle
cell, all the invisiblechronic episodic illnesses, those
(04:35):
ones take a harder time ingetting approved. Even like ADHD
takes a harder time approved,which is weird because you could
get approved faster on theprovince programs and then you spend
more time applying for thefederal program. But then the province
program says you have to applyfor all the programs. So it's, it's
a lot of whack. A mole really.That's where I describe it.
(04:59):
It's. Yeah, it sounds like it.And you know, I've heard similar
with us where it takes a longtime. I know when my grandma was
going through the process ofgetting permanent dis, it took years
and she had to fight a coupletimes and all types of stuff. So
it is a lengthy process hereas well. And one other thing you
(05:20):
mentioned was the shortage ofdoctors. Now in the States, you know,
we hear about Canada and like,oh, free health care for everyone
and things like that. So howdoes that look up there?
So Americans are so funny. Ourhealth care is not like the Reason
I say our health care is notfree. We pay most of it from our
(05:42):
taxes, then depending on yourdisability. So like for me, my neurologist
orders a lot of blood work forthe 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 themthe 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 alwaysshocked. Then I bargain, then I plea,
(06:06):
then I'm broke. Then like, oh,we'll figure it out. Then they type
some things in the computerand then they cover it. So, and then
when I asked my family doctor,the neurologist ordered something
that's $13. She was like, hedoesn't understand that you're on
disability and he needs toenter a certain code on the form
so you're not charged. And Iwas like, can you tell him in the
(06:29):
notes? Because my, for me, myprimary healthcare provider, she
talks to the neurologist inthe notes and my healthcare notes
and it's a lot of notes. It's20 years of notes and it's 10 years
with a neurologist formultiple sclerosis. And half of my
appointments is just sayingthese notes should be there. I had
this appointment, can we checkwith those notes what they mean?
(06:50):
Like my dermatologist, thesleep 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 seeingthat I didn't know was a job. And
(07:10):
cardiologists. I see so manypeople for someone that's 39 years
old. If you ask me, when yougrow up, do you want to be in doctor's
appointments all the time? Iwould tell you no.
So.
And then oh yeah, I also, Ialso forgot about the Canada pension
plan disability. So that it'sbased on you if mandatory contributions
(07:34):
from your employment income orif your net income from your business
is high enough to contributeto cpp, it's a mandatory pension
plan. So like Canada is amandatory pension, but to access
it you have to put money init. When I looked up mine through
Service Canada, it said I get$1,019 from all the jobs I had in
(07:55):
the past or having enough netincome for my business to contribute
to it. So me accessing thatbefore I turn 65 would cause a whole
lot of paperwork and problems.I don't need. Plus, the CPP pension
is clawed back dollar fordollar from the Ontario Disability
Support Program. So eventhough, yes, you can access disability
(08:17):
in your province and then youmay access CPP disability, the province
program will look at how muchyou're getting and then they want
to be the last resort sothey'll reduce their income support
because you're gettinginsurance or you're getting the pension
plan or you're getting aninheritance. They have a weird way
(08:38):
of balancing their books sothat you always look like you're
in poverty or that you are inpoverty, depending on what program
you're accessing and how muchyou're accessing.
Very interesting. Veryinteresting. So if I remember correctly,
when you first came on, yousaid $1,000 a month or around there.
And that does not sound likeit's easy to live off of. So I.
(09:01):
So the, the thousand dollarnumber is how much income you're
allowed to make whilereceiving Ontario Disability Support
program, which is $1,368 amonth. So. And then $1,368 a month,
$582 of that is shelter.
So really, you have to live ona little less than 2,000amonth to
(09:24):
be on disability.
Yeah. Unless you have accessto special diet or medical mandatory
necessities. So there's a wayof getting more money, but you have
to fill up more paperwork andget your doctor to fill up more forms
so that you can get permissionto get more money from the government.
That sounds like a mess. Itsounds like a mess, but it is.
(09:47):
And I'm trying to summarize itin 20 minutes.
I'm like, I know there's somany nuances and everything in there,
but we're trying to keep itlike high level for the audience.
But with that being said, youdecided to get into entrepreneurship.
Can you tell us more aboutwhat sparked that decision and what
you decided to do?
(10:08):
So I've always been anentrepreneur because my career started
in 2003 when I wanted to jointhe adult entertainment industry
and become an adult star. AndI landed in the webcam business for
live stream webcamming. Andthat you're automatically self employed
because I'm in Canada and thenI work with companies in the United
(10:31):
States. Then I have to fillout tax form W8BEN, which I do not
like that form. I don't likethat form. And then after I fill
out that tax form, my revenueis US dollars. I have to convert
it to Canadian dollars. And Ihad to figure out my income and expenses
and I have to report it to therevenue agency, which is the federal
(10:54):
government. Then I also haveto report it to the province of Ontario
so that they can determinewhat is my net income if I'm above
a thousand dollars net incomeor under a thousand dollars net income.
But then the case workers inthe disability office, they don't
understand self employment.Sometimes they see my gross income
as net income and screw up mywhole file.
(11:14):
Very interesting. Wow. Itsounds like, as you keep describing
the situation, it sounds likea 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, theycalculated something wrong, you're
(11:34):
now at risk of losingdisability at that point.
No, I'm at risk of anoverpayment. So especially like the
pandemic. So when thegovernments were giving everybody
money and people thoughtCanada was getting the most money.
Yes, if you were a normalworking person. But if you're on
disability, the rule is youhave to apply for all other income
(11:56):
sources before them and showreasonable effort. And that caused
a lot of problems because whenthe government made that program,
they made it very easy toaccess without proving you need to
access it. A lot of people gotit who weren't qualified to get it.
Then you had to prove you'requalified to get it. And then it's.
And then I don't know if yousaw the news of employees who worked
(12:18):
at revenue agency were gettingit that are not allowed to apply
for it. So it's a giantbillion dollar mess we have in Canada
right now. Plus our revenueagency got hacked. So we have a lot
of problems with our TaxRevenue agency that I don't know
if America has similar, butit's two clowns at the circus. It's
(12:40):
pretty much.
Wait a minute, you said therevenue agency got hacked?
Yeah, they did. That's arecent story that happened. But during
the pandemic the CanadianEmergency Response Benefit CERB,
they gave out $2,000 a monthif you were eligible. But then you
(13:01):
had to prove that you weremaking about a thousand dollars a
month to not owe them money topay that back. So with me, I like
I applied for it, I'm eligiblefor it. I'm trying to talk to the
Internal Revenue Agency forCanada proving my receipts and my
bank statements and myinvoices that I'm eligible. And I
didn't tell my caseworker atthe disability office for the province
(13:24):
about it yet because I didn'tknow I'm talking to two governments
And I got to wait for somebodyto say yes or no and then tell the
provincial government. Sobasically, when I deal with government,
I deal with the federalgovernment first because they could
screw you over for your wholelife. Then I worry about the provincial
government because I can go tocourt and make an appeal and claim
financial hardship. There'smore advocating in the province than
(13:47):
there is with the federalgovernment depending on taxes or
owing them money. So I had to,like, figure out who was more important
and who can ruin my life firstand then focus on that. And then
once I knew I was eligible forcerb, I got all that money. Then
I told the caseworker fordisability. Then she's like, oh,
yeah, your overpayment at thetime, in the beginning, like $6,000,
(14:10):
now it's 3,800 because theytake back a portion of my disability
income to pay it back. Andright now $79.15 a month will pay
it off in 36 months. But nowdisability for the province increases
with inflation, but every timeit increases with inflation, they
increase the recovery ofoverpayment back so they can pay
(14:33):
themselves faster.
Wow. Wow. And I noticed on Xyou do a lot of advocating and advocacy
work and you do that locally.
Yeah, I basically try toexplain the disability policies ForOntario
in 200 characters on Twitter,which is very hard. Very.
I know. I follow you. And I'mlike, oh, wow, oh, wow. Oh, it's
(14:58):
a lot going on.
And I'm not buying, I'm notbuying premium to make it longer.
Right. I'm trying to work witha free account.
That part. But with that beingsaid, what if people were in, if
they're listening and they'reinterested in joining the advocacy
work going on in Canada fordisability, what are some tools,
(15:18):
resources, how could they joinyou on this?
They have to read the policyfirst. Like how I got bored of Canada's
policy and I started readingUK's policy and I started reading
the American SSD BI policy.Read the policy. The words in that
policy will make your headhurt and feel like a game of jeopardy.
(15:39):
So it's just. It's becausethey'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. Andin there it fully says what is gross
income and net income. But ifI get a caseworker who forgot in
trading section 5.4, I need toquote back section 5.4 when I talk
(16:01):
to them because I can emailthem directly different things. I
need in my file. And it's alot of me reading the policy and
then especially when I talk tolegal aid because legal aid is the
main legal force that willhelp me fight back with the disability
stuff when they make amistake. And now we just have a whole
battle of me, I know thepolicy, they know it too. We compare
(16:22):
notes.
Gotcha.
Like one time legal aid wasdoing a presentation and I mentioned
that you can file bankruptcyand include your overpayment with
your bankruptcy. And you canour tax laws and our bankruptcy laws.
We do our student loan. Youcan include the overpayment for disability.
You can own tax debt. Like mystudent loan from 2005 is gone and
(16:45):
discharged in my bankruptcyfrom 2019. And if I log into my student
loan application website, itsays I can now reapply. And I'm not
touching that thing with a tenfoot point.
Right.
Like, like you said, it'sgone. Okay, great. We're not resurrecting
anything.
Right. And so what I'm hearingfrom you is to know your rights.
(17:08):
So know the law, know yourresources, like legal aid, because
we do have legal aid in theStates 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 thingabout when I meet other people. So
(17:28):
like I Canadian IndependentLiving center, they help people on
disability become moreindependent living. And it doesn't
feel like they're doing thatbecause the way that they present
you can earn $1,000. They alsopresent it as disability will cut
you off. But disabilityactually doesn't cut you off instantly.
It takes a few months beforethey decide you're fully cut off.
(17:51):
And you're not actually cutoff. It's just the word that they're
using. You actually need to beeligible to apply for transitional
health benefits or extendedhealth benefits. So you still keep
getting insurance to coveryour prescriptions. Or like how I
need a CPAP machine forsleeping and compression socks. Those
are more forms my doctor hasto fill out to say I need these services.
(18:12):
And then there's rapidreinstatement. Almost all of the
provinces, I haven't looked atall of them. I looked at Alberta,
British Columbia and Ontario.I didn't look at Nova Scotia and
all the other provinces, butevery province has their own policy
for their disability benefits.And like Nova Scotia has a wonderful
calculator that I like thatcalculates benefits. I had to make
(18:33):
money on my spreadsheet bymyself. So there's things in there
that help people and the waythat people say people are scamming
the system. You didn't readthe policy. Because when I argue
with people online, I try notto, but if I get stuck in an argument
with someone online, I knowit's because they never read the
policy. They have no idea ofwhat to do to be eligible to apply.
(18:56):
Then what happens when you'redenied to make an appeal, then reapply?
Then hopefully you get alawyer who still has the energy to
keep fighting for you. So youreach social tribunal, which is court,
and then get approved. Likeme, I applied, I got denied, I went
to legal aid. Legalist said,you know, at that time, if I made
(19:16):
money, it was cut back 50% onthe dollar and then they change it
$200. Then now they have thethousand dollar benefit. So at that
time, the advice was, I needto stop working. I'm like, but then
how am I supposed to live? Andthen 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
(19:39):
were giving during thepandemic. In almost all the countries,
they were giving roughly$2,000 in benefits. And then depending
on where you were, they addeda new benefit or they added a new
income tax, something like itwas. It's really weird how they reward
work. And if you're unable towork, you're dependent on charity
or gofundme or your paypaldonations or Vemos and then that
(20:02):
you have to report it asincome to the government. You can't
just say, oh, I have mygofundme 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 thatis to read the policy, to know how
they calculate things. Like, Iknow SSDI has a back to work program
where they test out, can yougo back to work? And then they test
(20:25):
out, if you can't go back towork, 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, toexplain it to you.
Right, well, thank you somuch. Okay, well, thank you so much,
Minnie, for sharing how theCanadian disability system works
and how you're able tonavigate it. So hopefully that encourages
(20:48):
someone else that may be goingthrough that situation. Even those
in the states that arethinking or looking at disability
or on disability may beencouraging them to read more about
their rights and resourcessources as it pertains to this. So
if people were interested infollowing more of your journey or
learning more about you andwhat you do, where could they find
(21:08):
you?
The most two active places ismy Twitter and my YouTube channel
and they're both mini on cam.
Gotcha, gotcha. And I'll makesure I have those links in the show
notes for our audience. Sothank you so much again for coming
on the show and joining usthis morning. I appreciate all the
gems you just dropped and myhead is already hurting just trying
to figure everything out.
(21:29):
Most people, I explain thepolicies too. They have a headache.
Yeah, it's a lot.
And you need to take thatheadache and write to your people
in office, like the ones thatsay they listen to the constituents
to complain about the policiesonce you know what they are. Because
anybody could become disabled.I was happily working in my 20s,
(21:51):
then I got diagnosed, then Icouldn't work anymore. And then the
psychiatrist like, you shouldapply for disability. I go, no, the
goods are like, I knew it wasa low amount of money and I knew
it would be restrictive. Andthen once you're in it, you're stuck
in the restriction. And thenwith being diagnosed, you don't get
access to other healthinsurance plans because they exclude
(22:13):
pre existing conditions. So ifyou don't have your insurance in
place or enough savings inyour emergency fund in place, all
those other things we talkabout in personal finance in place,
you end up on socialassistance. You end up with the people
that you think are lazy andscamming off the system when no,
we're working twice as hardwith a condition that keeps us slower
(22:35):
because we have to keep upwith inflation and living and the
next iPhone or Taylor Swifttickets. And it's.
Yeah.
So that.
Right, right. And that I'm. Wecan leave it right there at that.
Thank you so much. Much. Thatwas a mic drop and I hope you have
a wonderful rest of your day.
(22:56):
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Bye.
Thank you for listening,joining and being a part of the Money
Talk with Tiff podcast thisweek. You can check tip out every
Thursday for a new Money Talkpodcast. But if you just can't wait
until next week, you canlisten to previous podcast episodes
at Money Talk with t.com orfollow TIFF on all social media platforms
(23:19):
at Money Talk with T. Untilnext time. Spend wise by spending
less than you make a word tothe money wise is always sufficient.
You know what it is. That'sright. It's time to talk money with
your money nerd and financialcoach. Now tighten those purse strings
and open those ears. It's theMoney Talk with Tiff podcast.
Hey, everyone. I'm so excitedbecause I have Minnie St Clair on
the line. And Minnie issomeone I interact with a ton on
(00:23):
X, AKA Twitter. But she has avery inspiring story where she was
on disability in Canada andnow 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 youso much for joining us. So let's
hop right in. So, first andforemost, disability in Canada. What
(00:44):
does that look like?
So first is the provinceyou're in. So I'm in the province
of Ontario. We have OntarioDisability Support Program, and then
there's also Ontario Worksthat used to be called welfare. So
they renamed it, I guess, tonot make it seem like welfare, but
it's still welfare. It's just.And it's been around since the 90s.
(01:10):
And right now they made smallchanges with it. So, like now with
Ontario Disability SupportProgram, you can make $1,000 and
still keep your benefits. Andthen the federal government, so the
federal government for thewhole country, we have the Disability
Tax Credit. Then having theDisability Tax credit lets you open
(01:31):
your Registered DisabilitySavings Plan. And inside the Registered
Disability Savings Plan iswhere the government matches your
contributions. So it's up to$90,000 of contributions, and they
separate it with grants andbonds. And also during the pandemic,
they realized people withdisabilities weren't getting the
support they needed, so theypromised a Disability Canada benefit
(01:55):
with the intention of liftingCanadians out of poverty. But then
when they finally announce thenumbers for it, they're promising
$200 a month starting July2025. So right now, all the disability
advocacy groups and peoplethat are able to write their members
of Parliament, we've beencomplaining to let them know that
it's not lifting anybody outof poverty. It's making it more difficult
(02:18):
because to access it, you needto be eligible for the Disability
Tax Credit and all of thedisability forms, no matter what
they are, you need your doctorto fill out the form. But we also
have a doctor shortage inCanada, so it doesn't make a whole
lot of sense.
Very, very interesting. Sothere's a few questions that I have
because it sounds like it's alot different than the US and one
(02:41):
of the main things that yousaid that stuck out to me was the
Disability Savings Program. Soif you are disabled and you sign
up for the program, you haveaccess to an account that, that you
put contributions in and thenthe province or the federal government
matches.
Yeah, the federal government.So we, it's annoying with the way
(03:04):
our political leaders, eitherthey're a mayor for the city and
then they, they run theprovince as a premier and then they
run the country as primeminister and they always pass around
the responsibility to anotherlevel of government. So with the
registered Disability SavingsPlan, that's the federal government
and you only have access to itwhen you're approved for the disability
(03:29):
tax credit. But the disabilitytax credit, the way that they determine
you're disabled is based onlimitations that you have that are
permanent. They're more on thepermanent side of disability conditions.
So all the definitions try tosay that it's prolonged, expect it
to last a year or more. Andthen with the federal government
(03:51):
it's more of like lifesustaining supports things that you
would do that take normallylonger than the able bodied person.
So like for me I have nervepain. So like when I'm cooking, my
left hand doesn't like to tuckits fingers under so I can not chop
my fingers off. So I have tohold my hand a certain way. I'll
cut my fingers off and then myfeet are swollen. So it depends on
(04:15):
a person's disability. Likesome disabilities like vision impairment
and hearing impairment, theykind of automatically get approved
for disability benefitsbecause they're the standard disability
things that people know. Butthen chronic illness, diabetes, sickle
cell, all the invisiblechronic episodic illnesses, those
(04:35):
ones take a harder time ingetting approved. Even like ADHD
takes a harder time approved,which is weird because you could
get approved faster on theprovince programs and then you spend
more time applying for thefederal program. But then the province
program says you have to applyfor all the programs. So it's, it's
a lot of whack. A mole really.That's where I describe it.
(04:59):
It's. Yeah, it sounds like it.And you know, I've heard similar
with us where it takes a longtime. I know when my grandma was
going through the process ofgetting permanent dis, it took years
and she had to fight a coupletimes and all types of stuff. So
it is a lengthy process hereas well. And one other thing you
(05:20):
mentioned was the shortage ofdoctors. Now in the States, you know,
we hear about Canada and like,oh, free health care for everyone
and things like that. So howdoes that look up there?
So Americans are so funny. Ourhealth care is not like the Reason
I say our health care is notfree. We pay most of it from our
(05:42):
taxes, then depending on yourdisability. So like for me, my neurologist
orders a lot of blood work forthe 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 themthe 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 alwaysshocked. Then I bargain, then I plea,
(06:06):
then I'm broke. Then like, oh,we'll figure it out. Then they type
some things in the computerand then they cover it. So, and then
when I asked my family doctor,the neurologist ordered something
that's $13. She was like, hedoesn't understand that you're on
disability and he needs toenter a certain code on the form
so you're not charged. And Iwas like, can you tell him in the
(06:29):
notes? Because my, for me, myprimary healthcare provider, she
talks to the neurologist inthe notes and my healthcare notes
and it's a lot of notes. It's20 years of notes and it's 10 years
with a neurologist formultiple sclerosis. And half of my
appointments is just sayingthese notes should be there. I had
this appointment, can we checkwith those notes what they mean?
(06:50):
Like my dermatologist, thesleep 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 seeingthat I didn't know was a job. And
(07:10):
cardiologists. I see so manypeople for someone that's 39 years
old. If you ask me, when yougrow up, do you want to be in doctor's
appointments all the time? Iwould tell you no.
So.
And then oh yeah, I also, Ialso forgot about the Canada pension
plan disability. So that it'sbased on you if mandatory contributions
(07:34):
from your employment income orif your net income from your business
is high enough to contributeto cpp, it's a mandatory pension
plan. So like Canada is amandatory pension, but to access
it you have to put money init. When I looked up mine through
Service Canada, it said I get$1,019 from all the jobs I had in
(07:55):
the past or having enough netincome for my business to contribute
to it. So me accessing thatbefore I turn 65 would cause a whole
lot of paperwork and problems.I don't need. Plus, the CPP pension
is clawed back dollar fordollar from the Ontario Disability
Support Program. So eventhough, yes, you can access disability
(08:17):
in your province and then youmay access CPP disability, the province
program will look at how muchyou're getting and then they want
to be the last resort sothey'll reduce their income support
because you're gettinginsurance or you're getting the pension
plan or you're getting aninheritance. They have a weird way
(08:38):
of balancing their books sothat you always look like you're
in poverty or that you are inpoverty, depending on what program
you're accessing and how muchyou're accessing.
Very interesting. Veryinteresting. So if I remember correctly,
when you first came on, yousaid $1,000 a month or around there.
And that does not sound likeit's easy to live off of. So I.
(09:01):
So the, the thousand dollarnumber is how much income you're
allowed to make whilereceiving Ontario Disability Support
program, which is $1,368 amonth. So. And then $1,368 a month,
$582 of that is shelter.
So really, you have to live ona little less than 2,000amonth to
(09:24):
be on disability.
Yeah. Unless you have accessto special diet or medical mandatory
necessities. So there's a wayof getting more money, but you have
to fill up more paperwork andget your doctor to fill up more forms
so that you can get permissionto get more money from the government.
That sounds like a mess. Itsounds like a mess, but it is.
(09:47):
And I'm trying to summarize itin 20 minutes.
I'm like, I know there's somany nuances and everything in there,
but we're trying to keep itlike high level for the audience.
But with that being said, youdecided to get into entrepreneurship.
Can you tell us more aboutwhat sparked that decision and what
you decided to do?
(10:08):
So I've always been anentrepreneur because my career started
in 2003 when I wanted to jointhe adult entertainment industry
and become an adult star. AndI landed in the webcam business for
live stream webcamming. Andthat you're automatically self employed
because I'm in Canada and thenI work with companies in the United
(10:31):
States. Then I have to fillout tax form W8BEN, which I do not
like that form. I don't likethat form. And then after I fill
out that tax form, my revenueis US dollars. I have to convert
it to Canadian dollars. And Ihad to figure out my income and expenses
and I have to report it to therevenue agency, which is the federal
(10:54):
government. Then I also haveto report it to the province of Ontario
so that they can determinewhat is my net income if I'm above
a thousand dollars net incomeor under a thousand dollars net income.
But then the case workers inthe disability office, they don't
understand self employment.Sometimes they see my gross income
as net income and screw up mywhole file.
(11:14):
Very interesting. Wow. Itsounds like, as you keep describing
the situation, it sounds likea 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, theycalculated something wrong, you're
(11:34):
now at risk of losingdisability at that point.
No, I'm at risk of anoverpayment. So especially like the
pandemic. So when thegovernments were giving everybody
money and people thoughtCanada was getting the most money.
Yes, if you were a normalworking person. But if you're on
disability, the rule is youhave to apply for all other income
(11:56):
sources before them and showreasonable effort. And that caused
a lot of problems because whenthe government made that program,
they made it very easy toaccess without proving you need to
access it. A lot of people gotit who weren't qualified to get it.
Then you had to prove you'requalified to get it. And then it's.
And then I don't know if yousaw the news of employees who worked
(12:18):
at revenue agency were gettingit that are not allowed to apply
for it. So it's a giantbillion dollar mess we have in Canada
right now. Plus our revenueagency got hacked. So we have a lot
of problems with our TaxRevenue agency that I don't know
if America has similar, butit's two clowns at the circus. It's
(12:40):
pretty much.
Wait a minute, you said therevenue agency got hacked?
Yeah, they did. That's arecent story that happened. But during
the pandemic the CanadianEmergency Response Benefit CERB,
they gave out $2,000 a monthif you were eligible. But then you
(13:01):
had to prove that you weremaking about a thousand dollars a
month to not owe them money topay that back. So with me, I like
I applied for it, I'm eligiblefor it. I'm trying to talk to the
Internal Revenue Agency forCanada proving my receipts and my
bank statements and myinvoices that I'm eligible. And I
didn't tell my caseworker atthe disability office for the province
(13:24):
about it yet because I didn'tknow I'm talking to two governments
And I got to wait for somebodyto say yes or no and then tell the
provincial government. Sobasically, when I deal with government,
I deal with the federalgovernment first because they could
screw you over for your wholelife. Then I worry about the provincial
government because I can go tocourt and make an appeal and claim
financial hardship. There'smore advocating in the province than
(13:47):
there is with the federalgovernment depending on taxes or
owing them money. So I had to,like, figure out who was more important
and who can ruin my life firstand then focus on that. And then
once I knew I was eligible forcerb, I got all that money. Then
I told the caseworker fordisability. Then she's like, oh,
yeah, your overpayment at thetime, in the beginning, like $6,000,
(14:10):
now it's 3,800 because theytake back a portion of my disability
income to pay it back. Andright now $79.15 a month will pay
it off in 36 months. But nowdisability for the province increases
with inflation, but every timeit increases with inflation, they
increase the recovery ofoverpayment back so they can pay
(14:33):
themselves faster.
Wow. Wow. And I noticed on Xyou do a lot of advocating and advocacy
work and you do that locally.
Yeah, I basically try toexplain the disability policies ForOntario
in 200 characters on Twitter,which is very hard. Very.
I know. I follow you. And I'mlike, oh, wow, oh, wow. Oh, it's
(14:58):
a lot going on.
And I'm not buying, I'm notbuying premium to make it longer.
Right. I'm trying to work witha free account.
That part. But with that beingsaid, what if people were in, if
they're listening and they'reinterested in joining the advocacy
work going on in Canada fordisability, what are some tools,
(15:18):
resources, how could they joinyou on this?
They have to read the policyfirst. Like how I got bored of Canada's
policy and I started readingUK's policy and I started reading
the American SSD BI policy.Read the policy. The words in that
policy will make your headhurt and feel like a game of jeopardy.
(15:39):
So it's just. It's becausethey'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. Andin there it fully says what is gross
income and net income. But ifI get a caseworker who forgot in
trading section 5.4, I need toquote back section 5.4 when I talk
(16:01):
to them because I can emailthem directly different things. I
need in my file. And it's alot of me reading the policy and
then especially when I talk tolegal aid because legal aid is the
main legal force that willhelp me fight back with the disability
stuff when they make amistake. And now we just have a whole
battle of me, I know thepolicy, they know it too. We compare
(16:22):
notes.
Gotcha.
Like one time legal aid wasdoing a presentation and I mentioned
that you can file bankruptcyand include your overpayment with
your bankruptcy. And you canour tax laws and our bankruptcy laws.
We do our student loan. Youcan include the overpayment for disability.
You can own tax debt. Like mystudent loan from 2005 is gone and
(16:45):
discharged in my bankruptcyfrom 2019. And if I log into my student
loan application website, itsays I can now reapply. And I'm not
touching that thing with a tenfoot point.
Right.
Like, like you said, it'sgone. Okay, great. We're not resurrecting
anything.
Right. And so what I'm hearingfrom you is to know your rights.
(17:08):
So know the law, know yourresources, like legal aid, because
we do have legal aid in theStates 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 thingabout when I meet other people. So
(17:28):
like I Canadian IndependentLiving center, they help people on
disability become moreindependent living. And it doesn't
feel like they're doing thatbecause the way that they present
you can earn $1,000. They alsopresent it as disability will cut
you off. But disabilityactually doesn't cut you off instantly.
It takes a few months beforethey decide you're fully cut off.
(17:51):
And you're not actually cutoff. It's just the word that they're
using. You actually need to beeligible to apply for transitional
health benefits or extendedhealth benefits. So you still keep
getting insurance to coveryour prescriptions. Or like how I
need a CPAP machine forsleeping and compression socks. Those
are more forms my doctor hasto fill out to say I need these services.
(18:12):
And then there's rapidreinstatement. Almost all of the
provinces, I haven't looked atall of them. I looked at Alberta,
British Columbia and Ontario.I didn't look at Nova Scotia and
all the other provinces, butevery province has their own policy
for their disability benefits.And like Nova Scotia has a wonderful
calculator that I like thatcalculates benefits. I had to make
(18:33):
money on my spreadsheet bymyself. So there's things in there
that help people and the waythat people say people are scamming
the system. You didn't readthe policy. Because when I argue
with people online, I try notto, but if I get stuck in an argument
with someone online, I knowit's because they never read the
policy. They have no idea ofwhat to do to be eligible to apply.
(18:56):
Then what happens when you'redenied to make an appeal, then reapply?
Then hopefully you get alawyer who still has the energy to
keep fighting for you. So youreach social tribunal, which is court,
and then get approved. Likeme, I applied, I got denied, I went
to legal aid. Legalist said,you know, at that time, if I made
(19:16):
money, it was cut back 50% onthe dollar and then they change it
$200. Then now they have thethousand dollar benefit. So at that
time, the advice was, I needto stop working. I'm like, but then
how am I supposed to live? Andthen 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
(19:39):
were giving during thepandemic. In almost all the countries,
they were giving roughly$2,000 in benefits. And then depending
on where you were, they addeda new benefit or they added a new
income tax, something like itwas. It's really weird how they reward
work. And if you're unable towork, you're dependent on charity
or gofundme or your paypaldonations or Vemos and then that
(20:02):
you have to report it asincome to the government. You can't
just say, oh, I have mygofundme 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 thatis to read the policy, to know how
they calculate things. Like, Iknow SSDI has a back to work program
where they test out, can yougo back to work? And then they test
(20:25):
out, if you can't go back towork, 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, toexplain it to you.
Right, well, thank you somuch. Okay, well, thank you so much,
Minnie, for sharing how theCanadian disability system works
and how you're able tonavigate it. So hopefully that encourages
(20:48):
someone else that may be goingthrough that situation. Even those
in the states that arethinking or looking at disability
or on disability may beencouraging them to read more about
their rights and resourcessources as it pertains to this. So
if people were interested infollowing more of your journey or
learning more about you andwhat you do, where could they find
(21:08):
you?
The most two active places ismy Twitter and my YouTube channel
and they're both mini on cam.
Gotcha, gotcha. And I'll makesure I have those links in the show
notes for our audience. Sothank you so much again for coming
on the show and joining usthis morning. I appreciate all the
gems you just dropped and myhead is already hurting just trying
to figure everything out.
(21:29):
Most people, I explain thepolicies too. They have a headache.
Yeah, it's a lot.
And you need to take thatheadache and write to your people
in office, like the ones thatsay they listen to the constituents
to complain about the policiesonce you know what they are. Because
anybody could become disabled.I was happily working in my 20s,
(21:51):
then I got diagnosed, then Icouldn't work anymore. And then the
psychiatrist like, you shouldapply for disability. I go, no, the
goods are like, I knew it wasa low amount of money and I knew
it would be restrictive. Andthen once you're in it, you're stuck
in the restriction. And thenwith being diagnosed, you don't get
access to other healthinsurance plans because they exclude
(22:13):
pre existing conditions. So ifyou don't have your insurance in
place or enough savings inyour emergency fund in place, all
those other things we talkabout in personal finance in place,
you end up on socialassistance. You end up with the people
that you think are lazy andscamming off the system when no,
we're working twice as hardwith a condition that keeps us slower
(22:35):
because we have to keep upwith inflation and living and the
next iPhone or Taylor Swifttickets. And it's.
Yeah.
So that.
Right, right. And that I'm. Wecan leave it right there at that.
Thank you so much. Much. Thatwas a mic drop and I hope you have
a wonderful rest of your day.
(22:56):
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Bye.
Thank you for listening,joining and being a part of the Money
Talk with Tiff podcast thisweek. You can check tip out every
Thursday for a new Money Talkpodcast. But if you just can't wait
until next week, you canlisten to previous podcast episodes
at Money Talk with t.com orfollow TIFF on all social media platforms
(23:19):
at Money Talk with T. Untilnext time. Spend wise by spending
less than you make a word tothe money wise is always sufficient.
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