According to the most recent Canadian Income Survey 13.5% of persons with a disability lived below the poverty line in 2019. On June 22, shortly before Parliament rose for the summer, the Minister of of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion introduced Bill C-35, the Canada Disability Benefit Act. The bill is intended to help reduce poverty among low-income, working-age Canadians with disabilities by providing direct financial support. [see Backgrounder for more info]
The legislation is part of the federal Disability Inclusion Action Plan. The government is seeking public input to help shape the plan and feedback on what should be included. To give your input, please complete the online survey (open to August 31, 2021).
In the words of an injured worker who completed the survey recently: “Surveys offer good opportunities to voice our concerns, including how WSIB deals and creates more disabled, about injured workers’ poverties and homelessness, and why disability assessment should rely on treating doctors assessment (to a question how to simplify the process) … ”
Read more:
- Angus Reid Institute. 2021 Jun. 22. Canadians concerned about disability poverty, on-board with proposed new national benefit
- Scott, Katherine. 2020 Oct. 8. “A Disability Inclusion Action Plan. Finally … but will it deliver?” The Monitor
- Bresge, Adina. 2020 Aug. 12. ” ‘Do our lives count for less?’: COVID-19 exposes cracks in Canada’s disability aid.” Globe and Mail
- Disability Without Poverty (DWP) website