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.
What is the Canada Disability Benefit?
In 2023, long awaited legislation that commits the federal government to financially support low-income, working-age Canadians living with disabilities was passed through Parliament with support from all political parties. But last April, the federal government announced funding for the program that falls short of what’s needed to meaningfully improve the lives of the approximately 1.5 million Canadians with disabilities living in poverty.
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, Canadians living with disabilities face additional costs and barriers that contribute to disproportionately higher poverty rates. But for people living with disabilities to have enough money in their pockets when they need it more than ever, the government needs to listen to the disability community’s calls for increased funding for the CDB and deliver a program that is accessible to all who need it.
Food insecurity and living with a disability
Food bank visits have increased at an unprecedented rate year over year, up 32% across Canada in 2023. With 1 in 3 food bank clients in Toronto reporting a disability, 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 and go 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?
The regulations that will shape the Canada Disability Benefit program, and will determine who can access it, how they access it, and how much they receive, are in development right now. People with disabilities should be able to live a life of dignity where they can afford the most basic human needs, and the government’s proposed design of the program will not substantially reduce disability poverty in Canada. An increase in funding is urgently needed to deliver the CDB that was promised.
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. Benefit funding should be increased to at least $500/month per individual by the 2025 federal budget, with progressive increases in future budgets to fully lift recipients out of poverty. Another key change needed is an amendment to the current Benefit application process, which should remove barriers and allow for enhanced access among the disability community.
Send a letter today!
Use your voice to tell your MP and key political representatives involved in shaping the CDB program to speak up and support the recommendations from Daily Bread Food Bank and partners in the disability community.
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