Throughout Autumn 2022, ISAC legal staff delivered several small group trainings on the basics of the Canada Pension Plan-Disability (CPP-D) benefit to more than 55 community legal clinic caseworkers working across Ontario. Our goal was to build clinic capacity and to learn from our sister clinics.
The trainings were geared towards newer CPP-D caseworkers in the community legal clinic system and were designed to provide an interactive and comfortable learning environment for clinic staff. In these trainings, clinic staff learned about how CPP-D may benefit clients living with disabilities, CPP-D eligibility criteria, minimum contributory requirements and the test for disability, and how to successfully manage a CPP-D appeal case as a caseworker.
In addition to the detailed training and Q&A sessions, we also shared the following public resources:
- The Government of Canada’s Canada Pension Plan disability benefit toolkit
- Disability Alliance BC’s Self Help Guide on CPP-D Appeals
- How to Appeal a Decision at the General Division of the Social Services Tribunal (SST)
- What to Expect at a Hearing at the Appeal Division of the Social Services Tribunal (SST) (link opens to a PDF)
- Participants in an Appeal
We greatly enjoyed connecting and working with the sister clinics who signed up for trainings, including Chatham-Kent Legal Clinic, Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (CSALC), Clinique Juridique Grand-Nord Legal Clinic, Community Legal Assistance Sarnia, Durham Community Legal Clinic, Injured Workers Clinic, Northwest Community Legal Clinic, Scarborough Community Legal Services, South Etobicoke Community Legal Services, and West Scarborough Community Legal Services, and we thank all clinic members who participated.