Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC) celebrates the Senate’s recent adoption of a motion to officially recognize May 10 of each year as Bear Witness Day. This National Day of Action honours the legacy of Jordan River Anderson and his family, while reaffirming the federal government’s legal obligation to fully implement Jordan’s Principle.

Introduced by Senator Brian Francis, the motion highlights the ongoing barriers First Nations children and families face in accessing essential health, social, and educational services due to jurisdictional disputes and administrative delays. During the Senate debate, Jordan River Anderson’s story was shared, underscoring the systemic failures that continue to have real and lasting consequences for children and families.

The adoption of Bear Witness Day represents an important step toward renewed accountability and public awareness. Reinforcing that Jordan’s Principle exists to ensure First Nations children receive the services they need, when they need them, without delay or denial.

This motion directly aligns with SAC’s ongoing advocacy efforts. Communication health services are essential health services, not optional, and delays or denials in access can have lifelong consequences for children’s development, education, and well-being. SAC has consistently raised concerns about administrative barriers within Jordan’s Principle that disproportionately affect access to communication health services for First Nations children. The recognition of Bear Witness Day is a positive step forward in highlighting these systemic issues and the critical need for timely action.

SAC thanks Senator Francis and all Senators who supported this motion for their leadership in affirming that Jordan’s Principle is not a discretionary program, but a binding legal and human rights obligation.

The federal government has introduced Bill S-5, Connected Care for Canadians Act. Now in the early stage in the Senate, this legislation aims to standardize how health information is shared across Canada. For speech-language pathologists (S-LPs), audiologists, and communication health assistants, this bill represents a meaningful step toward a more integrated health system. 

Bill S-5 focuses on interoperability, the ability for different electronic medical record (EMR) systems to “talk” to one another. This Bill would require IT vendors to adopt common standards and would prohibit “data blocking,” ensuring that patient information follows the patient rather than being locked in a specific software or clinic system. 

Communication health professionals rely on timely data to deliver safe and effective care. However, many health professionals, particularly those working in private practice or community settings, face significant barriers to accessing or contributing to provincial or territorial health records. 

If passed, Bill S-5 could address several long-standing challenges: 

• Seamless Team Collaboration: Interoperable EMRs would allow S-LPs, audiologists, and communication health assistants to be fully integrated into interprofessional teams, reducing the need for duplicate assessments and manual data entry.  
• Smoother Transitions of Care: As clients move across the continuum of care, standardized data would help ensure that relevant history, contact notes, test results, and care plans are readily accessible to clinicians. 
• Reduced Administrative Burden: By reducing reliance on paper and fax, clinicians could spend less time tracking down records and more time on direct patient care. 
• Professional Visibility: When communication health services are visible in shared digital records, the value of communication health professionals within the broader health system is more clearly documented. 

SAC is closely monitoring the progress of Bill S-5 in the Senate. We will continue to advocate for the meaningful inclusion of communication health professionals in Canada’s digital health landscape. 

Effective May 1, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will implement a new co-payment structure for the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP). These changes, originally outlined in Budget 2025, introduce a cost-sharing model for supplemental health benefits while maintaining full coverage for basic medical services.

Read the original announcement here.

Under the updated policy, beneficiaries will be required to pay a 30% co-payment for supplemental services directly to their health care provider at the point of care. This includes audiology assessments, speech-language pathology services, and the purchase of assistive devices such as hearing aids. Additionally, a flat fee of $4 will apply to each eligible prescription medication filled or refilled under the program.

Basic health care benefits, including physician visits and hospital care, remain unaffected and continue to be fully covered, with no co-payments required.

For members ofSAC, these changes introduce new clinical and administrative responsibilities. Providers must now calculate and collect the patient’s 30% co‑payment using the IFHP benefit grid, while continuing to bill the remaining 70% to Medavie Blue Cross.

Members should be aware that certain groups, including children under the age of 14 and individuals identified as medically vulnerable, may be exempt from these co-payments. SAC encourages its members to verify specific patient exemptions through the Medavie Blue Cross provider portal prior to the delivery of services.

Administrative requirements for providers include:

• updating clinic listings in the IFHP Provider Search tool to ensure patient visibility;
• providing detailed receipts for all co-payments collected, as patients require these for their personal records and potential transitions to provincial health plans; and
• communicating transparently with clients about potential financial barriers to care, particularly for high-cost items like hearing aids.

As the national voice for S‑LPs, audiologists, and communication health assistants, SAC is committed to ensuring that policy developments support safe, equitable access to communication care for every Canadian. These IFHP changes arrive at a time when access to communication health services is already challenged by workforce shortages, limited resources, and long wait times. SAC remains engaged in advocacy efforts to ensure that financial barriers do not delay essential communication and hearing interventions.

These efforts align with SAC’s broader priorities: promoting equitable access, advocating for culturally safe and community-driven models of care, and strengthening Canada’s communication-health workforce. Members can find further details regarding updated benefit grids, billing instructions and a stakeholder information toolkit on the IRCC website and the Medavie Blue Cross provider portal.

January 19, 2026 – OTTAWA, ON – The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy (CAOT) and Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC) are calling on the federal government to take immediate and sustained action to address barriers that prevent First Nations and Inuit children and families from accessing essential health services under Jordan’s Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative (ICFI), particularly in northern and remote Indigenous communities.

Together, CAOT and SAC represent thousands of healthcare practitioners across Canada who witness firsthand the cascading impacts of underfunded and inaccessible services. Despite the promise of Jordan’s Principle and ICFI, which were designed to ensure First Nations and Inuit children, respectively, receive timely access to the health, social, and educational supports they need, many continue to experience unacceptable delays or denials of service. CAOT and SAC members report long wait times, complex funding processes, and inconsistent interpretations of Jordan’s Principle that create barriers to timely care, while clients suffer.

“Occupational therapy is not a luxury; it’s a lifeline. Right now, the system is failing too many children, seniors, and families. Occupational therapists working in and with Indigenous communities see every day how administrative red tape and service delays leave people in pain with nowhere to turn. Without timely care, that pain becomes despair. We are calling on the federal government to uphold the full intent of Jordan’s Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative by streamlining approval and reimbursement processes, ensuring consistent application across regions, and investing in Indigenous-led and community-based occupational therapy services.”
-Irving Gold, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy

“Speech-language pathology and audiology services are essential health services under Jordan’s Principle and critical to children’s ability to communicate, learn, and thrive. Ongoing administrative barriers are delaying access to care, with real consequences for First Nations children and families. Our members play a vital role in supporting communication health, language revitalization, and culturally safe care, yet access remains inequitable. The federal government must address these barriers so every child can receive the services they need when they need them.”
-Luciana Nechita, Chief Executive Officer of Speech-Language & Audiology Canada

Occupational therapy plays a critical role in pain management, recovery, and rehabilitation, supporting children, youth, and families by addressing functional challenges related to injury, disability, mental health, chronic pain, and daily participation at home, in school, and in the community. Speech-language pathologists and audiologists play a vital role in supporting communication development, hearing health, learning, and language acquisition, including language revitalization efforts in Indigenous communities.

When these services are unavailable, people are left without the tools, strategies, or supports to manage chronic pain, trauma, or functional limitations safely. In this void, too many individuals turn to unregulated or unsafe means of coping, fueling cycles of addiction, worsening mental health, and deepening social and economic hardship.

About the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy (CAOT)

The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy (CAOT) is the national organization representing near 20,000 occupational therapists across Canada. CAOT supports evidence-informed, person-centred, and equitable access to occupational therapy services that support people to participate fully in the activities of everyday life.

About Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC)

Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC) is the national organization representing speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and communication health assistants across Canada. SAC advances evidence-informed, culturally safe, and equitable access to speech, language, hearing, and swallowing services that support communication, learning, and participation across the lifespan.

Media Contact

Kristin Harold
Director of Communications & Marketing
Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy
613-809-2202
kharold@caot.ca
caot.ca

Ayah Stretch
Advocacy and Community Relations Officer
Speech-Language & Audiology Canada
613-909-1265
advocacy@sac-oac.ca

The federal Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Program is designed to help reduce workforce shortages in rural and remote communities by offering federal student loan forgiveness to eligible health and social service professionals. Although the government recently expanded the program to include ten additional occupations, speech-language pathologists (S-LPs) and audiologists were not included.

As highlighted in SAC’s recent consultation submission, this exclusion is a significant concern for our professions. S-LPs and audiologists provide essential diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitative services. Failing to include our professions overlooks the serious and worsening shortages of S-LPs and audiologists in rural and remote areas, where access to communication, swallowing, balance, and hearing services is already limited.

At the same time, S-LPs and audiologists across Canada continue to experience high workloads, limited staffing, resource constraints, and burnout, all of which impact the availability and consistency of care nationwide.

SAC has consistently raised this issue through federal consultations, pre-budget submissions, and direct engagement with government officials. We continue to urge the government to update the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations and the Canada Student Loans Regulations to explicitly include S-LPs and audiologists.

Although our professions remain excluded, SAC’s advocacy remains strong and ongoing. We will continue to update our members as this work progresses.

Take Action: Contact Your MP 

SAC members are encouraged to contact their local Member of Parliament (MP) to share concerns about the exclusion of speech-language pathologists and audiologists from the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Program. 

You can: 

• Use the Find Your MP tool to locate your MP’s contact information.
• Personalize and send SAC’s template letter to your MP. 

Adding a brief example from your own practice or community can further strengthen your message.