Funding a GPS tracker in Canada

• Most likely route: your province’s program for children with disabilities or autism, through your caseworker or coordinator. Ontario’s autism funding is the only one we found that names a GPS tracking device.
• Worth applying for anyway: the Disability Tax Credit, which can reduce income tax and opens the door to the Child Disability Benefit.
• First Nations and Inuit children: Jordan’s Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative.
• Unclear, as far as we can find: claiming a tracker as a medical expense on your tax return. Ask CRA or your accountant.

Help for children with disabilities is mostly provincial, with its own names and its own front door in each province. We have written guides for 7 provinces. Each one names the programs, who qualifies in general terms, how to apply, and what to ask, with links to the official pages.

• Ontario →The Ontario Autism Program, Special Services at Home and ACSD.
• British Columbia →Autism Funding until March 2027, and the new Children and Youth Disability Benefit.
• Alberta →Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD).
• Quebec →Disability and autism services through your CISSS or CIUSSS, and Retraite Québec supplements.Version française
• Manitoba →Children's disABILITY Services, including basic supplies and equipment.
• Saskatchewan →Autism Spectrum Disorder Individualized Funding and the Cognitive Disability Strategy.
• Nova Scotia →Direct Family Support for Children, including special needs such as medical equipment.

For the Ontario Autism Program in depth, read our Ontario Autism Program funding guide. In a province or territory we have not covered yet, start with the ministry responsible for children with disabilities and ask for the program that serves your child.

The Disability Tax Credit (DTC) is a non-refundable tax credit that helps people with disabilities, or their supporting family members, reduce the amount of income tax they may have to pay.^[1] If the credit is more than the tax owed, CRA does not refund the rest.^[2] So it lowers a tax bill; it does not pay for a device.

A child may be eligible if a medical practitioner certifies a severe and prolonged impairment in one of CRA’s categories, significant limitations in two or more, or therapy to support a vital function. Mental functions is one of the categories.^[3] A marked restriction means being unable to do the activity, or taking three times longer than someone of similar age without the impairment, all or almost all of the time, for at least 12 months.^[3]

Applying has two parts: one filled in by the person with the impairment or their legal representative, and one by a medical practitioner. A psychologist can certify mental functions, and a medical doctor or nurse practitioner can certify any category. You can apply at any time of year.^[4] For DTC questions, CRA’s number is 1-800-959-8281.^[5]

Being eligible for the DTC may help you access other federal programs, including the registered disability savings plan and the child disability benefit.^[2]

The Child Disability Benefit

The Child Disability Benefit is a tax-free monthly payment to families who care for a child under 18 with a severe and prolonged impairment in physical or mental functions. You need to be eligible for the Canada child benefit, and your child must be eligible for the DTC. If you already get the Canada child benefit for that child, the Child Disability Benefit is paid automatically.^[5] It is money toward the costs of raising a child with a disability, not a device program.

You can claim eligible medical expenses on your tax return, and only the part that is not reimbursed.^[6] CRA publishes a list of common medical expenses, which it says is not exhaustive, and refers to its Income Tax Folio on the medical expense tax credit for more.^[6]

Neither CRA’s list nor the devices and equipment described in the Folio names a GPS tracker or a locating device for a person who wanders.^[7],[8] The nearest item we found is for a different need: “a navigation device for low vision for a person with a visual impairment”, listed under proposed changes.^[7]

CRA’s Folio is clear that a medical reason is not enough on its own: if an expense is not described in the law, it “is not eligible for purposes of claiming a medical expense tax credit, even though the expenditure may have been incurred for medical reasons”.^[8]

So we cannot tell you that a tracker can be claimed. Ask CRA or your accountant before you count on it, and keep your receipts either way.

Jordan’s Principle is a human rights principle meant to make sure First Nations children do not face gaps or delays in accessing government services. Products, services and supports approved under it since 2016 include medical equipment. There is no fee for First Nations children to access it.^[9] For help with a request, the Jordan’s Principle Call Centre is open 24 hours a day at 1-855-572-4453.^[10]

The Inuit Child First Initiative is the route for Inuit children, wherever they live in Canada. Its examples of what could be funded include medical supplies and equipment, and assistive technologies related to a child’s educational needs. You can contact a regional focal point or the same national call centre.^[11]

Neither program lists GPS trackers. Each says every child’s situation is unique, so describe the wandering and the safety need and ask.^[10],[11]

We could not find any official source showing that private or workplace health plans cover GPS trackers for children who wander. Coverage depends entirely on your plan, so treat it as unlikely.

If you want to try, ask your plan whether it covers a locating device for a documented wandering risk, and ask for the answer in writing.

Name the safety need, not the product. Describe the wandering, what makes it dangerous for your child, and what you are asking the program to help with. Then ask what they need from you.

Ask your child’s doctor or coordinator whether the wandering is documented in their records, and whether they would write a short letter describing it. Several provincial programs need a professional’s recommendation before they will consider equipment.

A sample request letter

Change everything in square brackets, cut anything that does not fit, and send it by email or letter so you have a record.

The letter is a starting point, not legal or medical wording. Your coordinator may have a form of their own; if so, use it, and attach the letter.