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. As it stands, government funding for the Canada Disability Benefit offers a maximum of only $200/month per individual and won’t be accessible to all who need it. While the CDB program is being developed, we can all do more to make sure that people with disabilities are lifted out of poverty and can live a life of dignity.

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Where are we now?

Learn more about where the CDB is at today, the upcoming critical milestones that will ultimately 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
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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
Align 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 and streamline the application process, particularly for those receiving existing provincial/territorial and federal disability benefits.
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 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.
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The time to act is now!

The Fall Economic Statement — likely to be announced in the third week of November — 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.

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