June 23, 2023
An Accidental Advocate is a a poignant portrayal of the difficulties people with mental illness face when trying to access the Disability Tax Credit and how the CRA continues to take advantage of the most vulnerable Canadians in our society.
In his review, David Goldbloom, professor of psychiatry for the University of Toronto describes An Accidental Advocate in the following manner: “This book is many things: a nuanced clinical depiction of bipolar disorder; an Erin Brockovich-style memoir of taking on the tax bureaucracy; and – above all – a love story.” Lembi Buchanan is “dogged and feisty” in pursuit of fairness for people with disabilities. She chronicles her fight for fair tax treatment for thousands of Canadians with disabilities who have been discriminated against by a government that views severe and persistent mental illness as being less disabling as physical impairments.
In his Foreword, Murray Rankin, Lembi’s former MP and current MLA notes that, “An Accidental Advocate illustrates how the CRA is a bureaucracy out of control, reluctant to make things right, once and for all.”
With the Royal Assent of the Canada Disability Benefit, there is an urgency to fix the DTC, especially if the DTC becomes the gateway for the new benefit.
For further information as well as excerpts from the memoir, please visit www.anaccidentaladvocate.ca.
TAGS - DTC, CRA
