We need a better Canada Disability Benefit

It’s unacceptable that Canadians with disabilities should have to rely on food banks or choose between life’s basic necessities. Due to persistent advocacy by disability rights organizations, we now have the Canada Disability Benefit, which marks a significant step forward in reducing food insecurity and poverty among adults with disabilities in Canada. But in its current form, it falls short of providing the meaningful change needed. Daily Bread Food Bank continues to advocate for a Benefit that is adequate and accessible.

Learn Moretake action

Where are we now?

Learn more about where the CDB is at today, the upcoming milestones that will shape whether the Benefit can deliver on the promise to Canadians living with a disability, and what you can do to ensure it does.

Learn more about where the benefit is today
Timeline preview

What we're calling for

To create a Disability Benefit that works for ALL Canadians living with a disability and address the inadequate funding and restrictive eligibility criteria, we’re calling on government to:

Raise the Benefit amount
Increase the Benefit amount to bring people with disabilities above the poverty line, and ensure incremental increases in future budgets to account for the full cost of living with a disability.
Improve restrictive eligibility criteria
Expand the eligibility criteria to align with the Accessible Canada Act's definition of disability, removing the requirement for a Disability Tax Credit certificate and allowing individuals receiving provincial, territorial, or federal disability benefits to access the CDB.
Prevent other benefits claw backs
Ensure the CDB is exempt from claw backs to other benefit programs (including private insurance programs) and ensure federal, provincial, and territorial disability support programs are not reduced as a result of an individual receiving the CDB.
Increase & individualize
Increase the income threshold to at least the poverty line and ensure eligibility is based on the individual applicant's income rather than their household income to protect against financial dependance or abuse.
146
Days
25
Hours
58
Minutes
47
Seconds

The time to act is now!

The Fall Economic Statement — likely to be announced early in December — will be the first opportunity for government to address the inadequate funding and eligibility criteria currently in the CDB. Send an email to your MP today, calling on them to deliver the benefit ALL Canadians living with a disability deserve.

Send your email