Disability Groups Dissatisfied With New Benefits
The new Canada Disability Benefit will receive ongoing funding of up to $6.1 billion over the next 6 years beginning in the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year.
However, some are concerned about the act’s reach and efficacy, especially in comparison to its original plan. After receiving royal assent last year, the Canada Disability Benefit aims to lift around 25 000 adults out of poverty according to numbers released by the federal government. This is significantly less than the hundreds of thousands Liberals claimed would benefit when first introduced to legislation in 2022. Although 1.6 million Canadians with disabilities are below the poverty line, the April federal budget only indicated that 600 000 people would be eligible.
In a written response during a Parliamentary Committee on April 29th, MP Mike Morrice asks, “The CDB proposed in the 2024 budget would only lift 1.7% of the number of people with disabilities currently living in poverty above the poverty line, and even that won’t happen until 2028, how did this government get from their promise to lift hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities out of poverty to just 25 000?”
Carla Qualtrough, then Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, speaks to the new CDB in 2022 (Image: Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadow News)
"For three years, the government had promised a benefit that would lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty," he said in an article by CBC News. "And so it is disappointing, and so it makes it more difficult to trust this government."
Former Minister of Equity and Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, stated that, “the Canada Disability Benefit has the potential to lift hundreds of thousands of working-age Canadians with disabilities out of poverty,” on June 2, 2022 in Parliament.
Under the proposal, people with disabilities between ages 18 and 64 can benefit from the program, up to a maximum annual benefit of $2 400. Many find this quantity lacking, especially disability groups who are announcing that they will be increasing pressure for the government to have enhanced measures in the fall economic statement. According to Statistics Canada, people with disabilities face a higher risk of poverty. Over 12 per cent of people with disabilities that are 15 years or older lived below the poverty line in 2022, up 10.6 per cent in 2021, but still below pre-pandemic levels. It is clear that the latest federal budget is only the beginning of a greater discussion about benefits for people with disabilities.
Sources / Further Reading:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/fake-kidnapping-facebook-post-opp-investigation-1.7219932
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/hmn-trffckng/abt-hmn-trffckng-en.aspx
https://globalnews.ca/news/10149293/human-trafficking-guilty-decision-statcan/
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-005-x/2023001/article/00002-eng.htm
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/hmn-trffckng/abt-hmn-trffckng-en.aspx
