New figures released by the federal government show that the new Canada Disability Benefit will lift about 25,000 adults out of poverty — far below the hundreds of thousands of people the government said the benefit would help. When he introduced the bill in 2022.
“We have an opportunity in the House of Commons to make a once-in-a-generation difference and lift hundreds of thousands of working-age Canadians with disabilities out of poverty,” Carla Kwartlough, who was then Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Inclusion with Disabilities, told the House of Commons on Sept. 21, 2022.
The Liberal Party passed Bill C-22 in June 2023, creating a new federal benefits program to top up provincial assistance and lift people out of poverty, with payments set to begin in July 2025. Low-income Canadians with disabilities will receive up to $200 a month in benefits.
In Canada, 1.6 million people with disabilities live below the poverty line, but April’s federal budget said just 600,000 would be eligible for the new benefits.
Government Numbers By 2028, the benefit will help “lift 25,000 working-age people with disabilities and 15,000 of their families out of poverty each year.”
At the Brampton, Ont., transit agency announcement, CBC News asked Kamal Khera, minister of diversity, inclusion and disability, what his message was to advocates who say the federal government has broken promises to the disability community. Khera instead spoke about the billions of dollars Ottawa has allocated to the benefit.
“I think it’s important to recognize the fact that we have, for the first time in Canada, a statutory benefit, a disability benefit,” she said. “In this budget, we have $6.1 billion for the first-ever Canadian disability benefit, the largest item in this budget.”
Kamal Khera, minister of diversity, inclusion and people with disabilities, was asked why Canada disability benefits will only lift 25,000 people out of poverty, instead of the hundreds of thousands originally promised.
the government New numbers Khera’s written response to Greens MP Mike Morris came after he appeared before a parliamentary committee.
“For three years this government has promised benefits that will lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty,” said Morris, R-Kitchener Centre. “So it’s disappointing and it makes it even harder to trust this government.”
Morris said he and other anti-poverty activists would keep up the pressure.
“For people in my community, this means that the disproportionate proportion of disabled people living in poverty in my community will require continued support from the whole of the country,” he said.
Rabiya Khedr, national director of disability advocacy group Disabled People Without Poverty, said the Liberals were not honouring the spirit of their promise to deliver system-wide reform.
“There’s very little benefits given to people with disabilities,” Khedle told CBC. “This benefit gave them hope, and they’ve had that hope dashed in one fell swoop.”
Khedle said the rising cost of living could lead some people with disabilities to consider medical assisted dying (MAID).
While the benefit is historic, it’s not the systemic change needed to lift people with disabilities out of poverty in Canada, said Rabiya Khedr, national director of Disability Without Poverty. Khedr said some people are considering medical euthanasia because they’re living in poverty and don’t get enough help from the government.
“We see people with disabilities raising money online to pay for food and rent,” Khedle said. “We hear people say, this month is the day to consider medical assistance to die with dignity because the government won’t help them live with dignity.”
according to Statistics CanadaPeople with disabilities are at high risk of falling into poverty: more than 12% of people with disabilities aged 15 and over were living below the poverty line in 2022. This is up from 10.6% in 2021, but still lower than pre-pandemic levels.
Alex Yates is one of many Canadians with disabilities living in poverty. He receives just $1,389 in food benefits from the Ontario Disability Support Program.
“I think that’s a lie. The amount of money they’re giving isn’t going to lift anybody out of poverty,” Yates told CBC. “They’re basically spitting on us.”
