American Sign Language: Interpreted Tax Clinic
Saskatoon Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
Saskatoon Public Library (SPL) leverages community partnerships to help reduce barriers for members of Saskatoon’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing community!
Filing income taxes can be daunting, particularly for people who face communication, accessibility, or language barriers such as being mute and/or deaf or hard of hearing. When your primary language is American Sign Language how do you access support from government services or tax professionals in a way that meets your communication needs?
This initiative brought together volunteer tax professionals, government representatives and American Sign Language interpreters to support patrons with hearing barriers so that they could adhere to a legal and civic responsibility – filing income tax returns!
Challenge/Opportunity
SPL had an established partnership with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Service Canada to provide individuals with access to tax-related information and support in navigating government benefits and services.
A community partner from Saskatchewan Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services (SDHHS) reached out to identify a gap in equitable support for clients of SDHHS. They indicated that the inability to file taxes was especially concerning, given that many of their clients rely on Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) as their primary source of income. Payments can be compromised if a tax file is not up-to-date.
The challenge was posed – was there anything that Saskatoon Public Library could do?
Key Elements of Innovation
SPL facilitated a multi-way partnership connecting community members with essential government services. Key partners included CRA, Service Canada, Saskatchewan Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services (ASL interpreters), and Foundations Learning & Skills Saskatchewan (connected SPL with CRA volunteers through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program).
Within weeks, partners coordinated a 3-hour clinic, created pre-registration to ensure effective use of ASL interpreters, and developed written instructions for participants.
Goal: Reduce barriers to essential services and promote inclusion.
Activities: Tax/service assistance, registration, ASL interpretation, and multi-agency support.
Unique: Multiple organizations collaborated in one trusted, accessible location to meet a community-identified need.
Library innovation: Positions the library as a community connector and service facilitator, demonstrating how collaboration and lived experience can help identify and address exclusion.
Achieved Outcomes
• Impact: 13 SDHHS clients successfully filed taxes with ASL interpretation; several were multiple years behind.
• Client feedback: Clients said the clinic was essential and, without it, they did not know how they would proceed. One deaf and mute participant successfully completed multiple years of overdue taxes after a complex CRA verification issue and repeatedly signed “Thank you!”
• Partnerships: SDHHS and clients requested another clinic in April 2027. SDHHS Regina contacted Saskatoon to explore replication, and SPL offered to share the service plans and structure with Regina Public Library.
• Future metrics: Wait times, session duration, interpreter-client matching, visual-scale feedback, and ASL-interpreted video surveys will be tracked to strengthen evaluation and improve future clinics.
• Future delivery: A quick turnaround time limited metrics planning. SPL plans to repeat the clinic in 2027 with improved feedback and data collection processes.
