We need a fully funded Canada Disability Benefit
And we need it now. It’s unacceptable that Canadians with disabilities should have to rely on food banks or choose between life’s basic necessities. Canadians living with disabilities can’t afford to wait any longer for a fully funded benefit. The Canada Disability Benefit has the potential to provide a life of dignity. The federal government has allocated $6.1 billion in program funding over six years – amounting to approximately $200/month per individual – which falls short in providing the support people with disabilities urgently need.
What is the Canada Disability Benefit?
Last summer, long awaited legislation that commits the federal government to income support for low-income, working-age Canadians living with disabilities was passed through Parliament.
Bill C-22, The Canada Disability Benefit Act, is a welcome addition to Canada’s social safety net as Canadians face a historically high cost of living and an affordable housing crisis, and Canadians living with disabilities face additional costs and barriers that contribute to disproportionately higher poverty rates, such as unfunded healthcare expenses, special diets, higher transportation costs, among many others. But for people living with disabilities to have money in their pockets at a time when they need it more than ever, the government needs to work with the disability community to ensure the program is adequate and barrier-free.
Food insecurity and living with a disability
Food bank visits have increased at an unprecedented rate year over year, up 32% across Canada in the past year. With 1 in 3 food bank clients in Toronto reporting a disability or health condition that is expected to last a year or more, these Canadians are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity while also facing rising costs across housing and other basic living expenses, compounded by the additional expenses associated with living with a disability. Research shows that income supports like the CDB can reduce the severity of food insecurity, going a long way in ensuring people can meet their basic needs.
How can we make sure the Canada Disability Benefit helps Canadians who need it?
People with disabilities should be able to live a life of dignity where they can afford the most basic human needs. But to make this a reality, the Government of Canada must commit the full funding needed, ensure the program is free from claw backs of provincial support programs, and uses a broad and inclusive definition for eligibility beyond those with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate. The Canada Disability Benefit received unanimous all-party support and its importance was acknowledged in the 2024 federal budget with some funding commitment, but now it’s time for Members of Parliament to see the development of CDB through to a fully established program that brings recipients above the poverty line. Canadians with disabilities can’t afford to wait any longer.
To lift Canadians living with disabilities out of poverty, the CDB must go beyond the government’s 2024 federal budget commitment to deliver what the legislation intended: to reduce poverty and support the financial security of people living with disabilities. The benefit must be designed in a way that ensures adequate support for individuals that accounts for additional costs associated with living with a disability, ensures no claw backs in support from other programs, is equitable, inclusive of the diversity needs of people with disabilities, and is accessible to those who need it.
Send a letter today!
Use your voice to tell your MP to speak up and support the recommendations from Daily Bread Food Bank and partners in the disability advocacy community.
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