Latest news with #ODSPActionCoalition
CTV News
10-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Canada Disability Benefit fails to meet needs, advocates say
Robin Nobleman, lawyer at the Income Security Advocacy Centre, attends Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) rally hosted by ODSP Action Coalition, Disability Without Poverty, Disability Justice Network of Ontario, and the Income Security Advocacy Centre at Matt Cohen Park in Toronto on July 4, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Trevor Manson, secretary co-chair of ODSP Action Coalition) Fifty-seven-year-old Toronto woman Leisa Muthra has sickle cell anemia, a blood disorder that prevents her from working. While the new Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) that's set to roll out soon will alleviate Muthra's financial burden, it doesn't go far enough, she said. The monthly benefit, which could be up to $200 for eligible Canadians with disabilities, will help but not completely lighten her load: she and her daughter live off $583 after paying rent every month. On top of that, it can take months for the application to be processed. Muthra is one of many Canadians with similar complaints, advocates say. 'I try to do everything right. I feel so sad sometimes,' she told 'It's been hard. They don't make it easy.' A six-year, $6.1-billion commitment under the federal government's Disability Inclusion Action Plan, the historic first-ever Canada disability benefit was first announced in the 2020 Speech from the Throne and became law in 2023. Set to roll out this month, advocates say the government did not implement what they recommended during the consultations the government held with advocacy groups during the benefit's development. To receive the new benefit, individuals must qualify for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). However, advocates recommended against using the DTC as the basis for eligibility. Barriers with Disability Tax Credit National director of Disability Without Poverty, Rabia Khedr, one of the advocacy groups the government consulted, said qualifying for the DTC is a common barrier for many. The first barrier is finding a medical practitioner to complete the application, which can be particularly challenging for those without a family doctor familiar with their medical history. Some medical practitioners also charge a fee for completing the DTC application. The second barrier is meeting the 'stringent' medical criteria, which is not based on a person's diagnosis, but how severely their condition impacts them. According to the criteria, individuals must have a severe or prolonged impairment in walking, mental functions, dressing, feeding, speaking, hearing, vision, or eliminating bowel or bladder functions, significant limitations in two or more categories, or require therapy for a vital function. Khedr said many Canadians with disabilities don't meet the criteria. 'I know people who are cancer survivors, for example, and maybe have an ostomy bag and have had a stroke, so they have some limited mobility. Now, they cannot work the way they used to work prior to that, but they're not deemed eligible for the Disability Tax Credit,' she told Canada Disability Benefit Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) rally hosted by ODSP Action Coalition, Disability Without Poverty, Disability Justice Network of Ontario, and the Income Security Advocacy Centre at Matt Cohen Park in Toronto on July 4, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Trevor Manson, secretary co-chair of ODSP Action Coalition) Khedr and other advocates proposed streamlining provincial and federal disability support programs instead of qualifying for the DTC as a requirement to qualify for the new federal benefit. This would automatically enrol individuals already approved for a provincial disability program to receive the DTC, and subsequently, the CDB, reducing the burden of repeated screenings and additional applications. 'A common theme is people having to prove their disability time and time again,' said Trevor Manson, secretary co-chair of the advocacy group ODSP Action Coalition, who was also part of consultations in the development of the benefit. 'People that have mental illnesses have a tougher time qualifying, because disability tends to be viewed in functional limitations. People that have invisible disabilities are the ones that have the hardest time qualifying,' he told Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu's Press Secretary Jennifer Kozelj confirmed to in an email that the government did explore a variety of eligibility options for the CDB but concluded that using the DTC as the basis for eligibility was best. 'The DTC was determined to be the best option to deliver a national, portable benefit on time,' Kozelj wrote. The federal government will continue to review and reform the process to apply for the DTC, Kozelj confirmed. Federal benefit is insufficient: advocates Khedr says the other complaint among advocacy groups is that the benefit's amount is insufficient. According to a Disability Without Poverty report, the $200 monthly federal benefit combined with provincial disability programs won't be enough for everyone. For the average recipient to reach the poverty line at all, they would need 30 per cent more income per month, according to the report. The approximate poverty line is estimated to be $2,221 for a single person monthly in 2024 in Ontario, according to Statistics Canada. In Alberta, individuals who receive provincial disability support will not see an increase in their income from the new federal benefit. The provincial government plans to keep monthly payments the same but change the source of funds from provincial to federal government, treating the CDB as 'non-exempt income.' Ministry of Assisted Living and Social Services Press Secretary Amber Edgerton told in an email that this is because Alberta provides the highest provincial disability benefits in Canada. 'We are pleased that the federal government is finally starting to pay their fair share to help support Albertans with disabilities,' Edgerton wrote. For Muthra, she says she must wait another seven months for her DTC application to be processed — after applying in March — before she can apply for the new benefit. While Muthra says she's going to try to be strong through financial hardships and her medical condition, she says she misses her career. 'I come from a profession that is very specialty and that is high end. Now I'm sitting here and living on nothing and not very happy about this,' she said. 'My illness has taken that away from me.'
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ontario won't claw back federal disability benefit
Amid growing concern from Ontarians with disabilities and their advocates, the province has announced it will not claw back the incoming Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). The CDB was passed in 2023, and the government committed $6.1 billion to it in the 2024 federal budget. Beginning in July, eligible recipients can receive up to $2,400 per year, or a maximum of $200 per month. In a news release on Tuesday, the province announced it will be exempting the federal benefit as income. That means recipients won't have money deducted from their provincial social assistance payments or entitlements such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Since the CDB's passage, advocates have feared the provinces and territories may claw back the benefit. As of this March, at least seven have promised not to do that, but Alberta has announced it will claw back the benefit under certain circumstances. "It was a huge concern that this was not going to make it to the people who deserve to see this benefit," said Ron Anicich, co-chair of the ODSP Action Coalition. Rabia Khedr, national director of advocacy group Disability Without Poverty (DWP), said the news from Alberta stoked fear and disappointment within the disability community. But Khedr said the Ontario government has previously taken "steps in the right direction," including its decision to increase the ODSP exemption from $200 to $1,000, giving her hope that the province would do the right thing. "I always felt strongly that, because they had committed to an earnings exemption, that there is no way they could justify clawing back a $200 federal benefit," she said. "So I'm glad that they have confirmed that today." Advocates say they still have other concerns about the benefit program, however. In order to be eligible for the CDB, recipients must be approved for the disability tax credit, and for that they must receive certification from a medical practitioner. "What we're seeing now is people scrambling to sign up for the disability tax credit," said Anicich. "Which is fine when people have family doctors, but there are two million people in this province that do not have family doctors who are just unable to access this benefit." To Khedr, the answer is to "simply cut red tape." "The folks that are in the provincial system who have already filled out medical forms and have already attested to their disability shouldn't have to complete that kind of scrutinizing process again," she said. Instead, many disability advocates have been calling for the federal government to make recipients of provincial programs such as ODSP automatically eligible for the CDB. In an email to CBC on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services said it's also calling on the federal government to change the Income Tax Act to align those eligibility requirements. "We believe people who already access the Ontario Disability Support Program and meet the other eligibility criteria should automatically qualify for the CDB, rather than be required to pay $200 under the program as it is presented," the spokesperson wrote. Despite the good news on clawbacks, Khedr and Anicich still regard the CDB's maximum monthly payment of $200 as inadequate and are calling for an increase. "Ontarians with disabilities on ODSP and who qualify for the candidate disability benefits still will be well below the poverty line," Khedr noted. "And living with a disability costs at least 30 per cent above the poverty line." Khedr said recipients desperately need the financial help and will use it to improve their lives. "It means that maybe they can buy healthier food or supplements, maybe they can buy over-the-counter painkillers to manage their day so that they can even consider searching for work and improving their quality of life," she said. "It is money that will be spent on necessities of daily living." Khedr and Anicich are also calling for better collaboration among people with disabilities and their advocates, and demanded a say when decisions affecting their lives are made. "There's nothing like lived experience — 'nothing about us without us,'" Khedr said. "If they have us at the table, we will make it so easy for them to get policy right."
