Disability benefit won’t lift Canadians in need above poverty line: advocates

Pam Bristol from Regina is the caretaker for her 18-year-old son, David Rheault, who was born with a severe case of cerebral palsy. The term is used to describe a group of brain disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance.

Rheault can say some words but mostly communicates with assisted technology, Bristol says.

She says she isn’t worried about being able to support her son while he lives at home, but “as an adult trying to live independently, $200 a month is a pittance.”

Despite being touted by the Liberals as the budget’s largest line item, critics say Ottawa’s investment in disability benefits announced this week doesn’t do enough to help the 1.4 million disabled people living in poverty across the country.

The federal government’s 2024 budget, tabled Tuesday, includes more details on the implementation of reforms to the Canadian Disability Benefits Act, which received royal assent last June. The initial funding envelope for the program is $6.1 billion over the first five years, and $1.4 billion annually afterwards.

The goal of this program is to provide financial support for low-income, working-age people living with disabilities. The maximum benefit is set at $2,400 annually and is estimated to go to more than 600,000 low-income people with disabilities aged 18 to 64.

The plan to offer 600,000 people with the benefit works out to $200 per month, which is about six dollars per day.

Bristol says individuals like her son need better support to live a quality life.

“David would at some point, as most adult children, would like to move out from his parents’ home. And when the time comes we will support him in that. But there needs to be good quality options. Those options are pretty scarce right now,”