Regulations
The feedback for the draft regulations closed on September 23, 2024. The CDB is to be implemented by July 1, 2025.
We offered the cut and past information below with space for people to add their voice to the messaging.
Disability Without Poverty believes the voices of the most marginalized disabled Canadians currently living in poverty need to be heard to guide the development of the Canada Disability Benefit.
This is the guiding principle under which we completed our Shape The CDB project, now known as the Disability With Possibility Report which can be found on this page: Link to the National Shape the CDB Report.
As a result of our report, we have identified seven key principles that are essential elements of a fair and equitable Canada Disability Benefit that lifts disabled Canadians out of poverty. These seven principles are:
- Urgency
- Dignity
- Added Costs
- Inclusive Eligibility
- Simple Application
- A Fair Benefit
- Keep Disabled People Involved
The regulations for the CDB do not align with the data collected throughout the process of creating our report. Our concerns, based on our seven principles, are as follows.
MESSAGE FOR YOU TO COPY AND PASTE – START HERE:
I/we have chosen to submit our comments so that they can be placed in one box of the Canada Gazette 1 tool, as we find that this is the most accessible way to approach giving feedback.
Concerns about the Draft Regulations:
1. URGENCY
The timeline is July 2025 for payments to begin, but only to those who have managed to get a DTC certificate, filed their taxes for the previous year, and completed the as yet unknown application. Too many that meet these stringent requirements will fail this application procedure by July 2025, but could be automatically enrolled as the government already possesses all the information they need to do this.
According to Minister Khera, only 25,000 people will be raised up to the poverty line, and not until 2028 – too few, too late.
Solution: Automatically enroll anyone who meets the basic criteria of having a DTC certificate, has filed their taxes, and is low income, so that they do not have to apply through this as-yet unknown process. Start promoting activities that disabled people need to do, like file their taxes, in the New Year with appropriate accessible support to do them.
2. DIGNITY
The regulations say that the Canada Disability Benefit is means-tested against family income, and therefore is not individualized. This robs disabled people of their dignity and autonomy, and for some, threatens their safety. Means-testing across the family does not take a GBA+ approach. It will also require that the disabled person’s partner files their taxes for them to be able to receive the benefit, which puts this crucial part of the application out of their control.
Solution: Individualize the benefit so that it is fully controlled by the disabled person who receives it, giving them dignity, autonomy and safety.
3. ADDED COSTS
There does not appear to be any recognition of the additional costs of disability, even though it is included in the Canada Disability Benefit Act.
For example, the annual income cutoff starts at $23,000, for an individual. This is below the poverty line in every major city in Canada.
The benefit itself is only a maximum of $200, which will not lift anyone on a provincial, federal or territorial disability assistance payment above the poverty line. This does not take the additional costs of disability into consideration either.
Solution: Raise the income threshold to an amount that is above the poverty line and takes the costs of disability into consideration. Raise the amount of the CDB to lift people above the poverty line.
4. INCLUSIVE ELIGIBILITY
The Disability Tax Credit is not accessible to many disabled people, and its lack of accessibility is already widely known. Less than 40% of the 1.6 million disabled people who should be enrolled for the DTC are enrolled. Coupled with the requirement to file taxes, and to undergo an as-yet unknown application process, these requirements are simply too much for our most vulnerable disabled people.
Budget 2024 sets aside money to pay medical professionals to complete the medical part of the Disability Tax Credit application form for applicants. Millions of disabled, impoverished Canadians do not have a medical professional they can rely on for this service, as it has to be someone who knows them. Disabled people don’t need more hoops to jump through – they’ve already jumped through enough.
There are further costs associated with applying aside from the medical forms, but there appears to be no indication of help for any additional assistance.
Solution: Automatically enroll anyone in the DTC who already receives federal, provincial or territorial disability payments. Demonstrate a clear plan to bridge the gap between the 465,000 people the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (table 4) says will receive the CDB next year and the 1.6 million severely disabled people living in poverty who should be receiving the CDB.
5. SIMPLE APPLICATION
In the Canada Disability Benefit Act, in the section on Regulations, 11.1(f) states that “respecting applications for a benefit, including regulations providing for an application process that is without barriers, as defined in section 2 of the Accessible Canada Act”. The current regulations create a process that has multiple barriers, with the requirement to have a DTC certificate, the requirement to file taxes, and the completion of a as-yet untested and unseen application process. The majority of applicants for the CDB will have DTC certification, will have filed taxes, and will be low income. They should be automatically enrolled with an opt-out for those who do not wish to receive the benefit, creating a process that is without barriers.
There will be people whose circumstances are more complex, for whom the system does not work smoothly, or who otherwise need additional help. There needs to be a team of specialized, well-trained navigators to support these people.
Solution: Automatically enroll anyone who meets the requirements of having a DTC certificate, has filed their taxes and is low income, so that for the majority there is no need for an application process. Include an opt-out for anyone who does not wish to receive the CDB. Create a smooth application process with navigators to help everyone who requires additional assistance.
6. A FAIR BENEFIT
Budget 2024 set the maximum amount of the benefit at $2400. This does not bring disabled people on a provincial or territorial disability benefit even close to the poverty line in any province and territory. The regulations say that the benefit will be clawed back at $23,000 – below the poverty line in every province and territory. We recognize that there are earnings exemptions within the regulations, but as our peer-to-peer participants have explicitly stated, the most vulnerable disabled people are simply unable to work. Period.
Solution: Raise the income threshold to an amount that is at minimum above the poverty line and that takes the costs of disability into consideration. Raise the amount of the CDB to lift people above the poverty line now.
7. KEEP DISABLED PEOPLE INVOLVED
Nothing About Us Without Us! It is time for the government to stand up to its word.
Disabled people feel that their input for government consultations have gone unheard – and in the advent of the Accessible Canada Act, this time was meant to be different. Disabled people are upset because the regulations do not come close to meeting the needs they have clearly expressed as people with lived and living experience of disability, over and over again. We want the government to honour the principle of Nothing About Us Without Us.
Solution: Respect the promise of “Nothing About Us Without Us” by acting on disabled people’s recommendations from the Canada Gazette consultation.
To Summarize: Our solutions to the glaring errors in the regulations are as follows.
1. Automatically enroll people for the CDB that meet the three requirements set out in the legislation and the regulations – possession of a DTC certificate, filed taxes for the previous year, and has low income. Remove the need for a new, not-yet created, not-yet tested, application process. Create an opt-out for those who do not wish to receive the benefit. For those people who may have to apply, with complex personal circumstances, use navigators to support them through this process.
2. Act on the many shortcomings of the DTC. It is a tax credit and was never intended to be the gateway to social programs. Allow automatic eligibility for those on any disability assistance program—no additional barriers. Make the benefit available to the 1.6 million people who should qualify quickly. Consider what happens to those people who seem to be placed on temporary DTC randomly, and those who have it removed. While the CDB is used as an access point by other programs, this is equally problematic – access to those programs is also limited by the inability of people to enrol for the DTC.
3. Raise the income threshold to above the poverty line, and take into consideration the additional cost of disability.
4. Individualize the benefit. Recognize the independence, autonomy and safety of disabled people. Remove any actions from another person, like a spouse, that could hinder the disabled person in receiving the benefit.
5. Raise the amount of the benefit to take into consideration the poverty line and the cost of disability. $200 is simply not enough – too little money for too few people. $23,000 is too low for income cut off.
6. Listen to and respect Nothing About Us Without Us. Respond to disabled people by acting on the recommendations given through the Canada Gazette consultation process.
It is time the government makes good on their promises to uplift disabled, poor, and vulnerable Canadians out of poverty. These are our recommendations based on months of data collection and come directly from the views and needs of disabled Canadians.