Financial Inclusion
About this project
This project aims to make financial systems more inclusive to people with disabilities (PWD) and Deaf people in Canada.
What do we mean when we say “financial systems”?
Financial systems include any systems related to money and finances.
They include institutions like:
Banks and credit unions
Insurance companies
Canada Revenue Agency
Financial systems affect your everyday interactions with money, like:
Making payments and transferring money
Managing your finances and planning for the future
Managing your credit score
Getting a loan or paying off debt
Dealing with a tax audit
Navigating benefits and aid programs
Proving you are who you say you are when you make a transaction
Project goals
Understand the barriers for people with disabilities and Deaf people in interacting with financial systems
Understand the risks for people with disabilities and Deaf people in financial systems, and the ways they may be vulnerable to fraud and financial abuse
Learn about things that have been done in the past that make the financial systems more inclusive
Explore promising ideas to make up-and-coming financial systems more inclusive
Share any knowledge we gain with the broader disability and Deaf communities, through both online and in-person networks.
Project phases
Phase 1 (Nov 2022 - August 2024)
The goal of this phase is to establish an understanding of all the areas and topics about Financial Inclusion that matter to people with disabilities and Deaf people in Canada, and come up with a plan on addressing them in phase two. These will inform the deliverables of a white paper and a scale-up and sustainability plan, which will be used to acquire further funding.
We want to do this by working with partners and community members at the extreme edges of the disability or Deaf community, such as intersectional groups or grassroot groups.
Read more about this process here.
Action | Date |
|---|---|
Ongoing effort to identify community organizations who represent the edges of the disability and Deaf community to potentially partner with | Feb 2024 |
With partners, co-plan a community input activity to understand barriers to financial inclusion for their community. Discuss how to host, run, and synthesize the information for their unique context | Feb-March 2024 |
Work with partners to host the community input activity | April-May 2024 |
Synthesize outcomes of the community input activity into areas of work for phase two | June 2024 |
Advisory Board
Alliance for Equity of Blind Canadians
ARCH Disability Law Centre
L’arche Canada
Bank of Canada
Black Deaf Canada
Canadian Council of the Blind
Carleton Accessibility Institute
Council of Canadians with Disabilities
Disability without Poverty
Independent Living Canada
IRIS Institute
March of Dimes Canada
Neil Squire Society
Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network
Toronto Metropolitan University
Working documents
Project information
Project information
Last updated January 2024
Partnership plan
Last updated Feb 2024
Scenarios and barriers
Previously identified with the Advisory Board members prior to January 2024.
Barriers, vulnerabilities, and approaches
A growing collection of experiences and resources related to topics affecting financial inclusion.
Co-planning documents
In this project, we will be co-planning a community input activity with our partners.
Documents to be added when this starts.
Literature review
Project contact
Want to learn more about this project, or get involved? Contact Jonathan at jhung@ocadu.ca.