Advancing the Canada disability benefit quickly to

In 2021, in the seven provinces with disability social assistance programs, disability programs had 60 per cent of all cases (ranging from 30 per cent in New Brunswick to 71 per cent in British Columbia).2 The underlying spirit of the CDB should aim to raise the incomes of low-income working-age adults with disabilities above Canada’s Official Poverty Line, the Market Basket Measure (MBM). [...] Accessed at: Written submission to HUMA for the study of Bill C-22 – page 2 To determine how the CDB might fill the gap between existing income supports for people with disabilities and the MBM, we need to examine the income of people with disabilities who receive social assistance and who do not have employment or any other income. [...] Moving forward, and in the spirit of a human rights-based approach to this benefit, we urge that the disability community be included in the development and decision-making around regulations for the CDB. [...] The CDB must also be indexed to inflation; otherwise its value relative to the Official Poverty Line will decline over time, and the impact of the CDB will be reduced. [...] If the amendment process is too lengthy, and they choose not to pursue it to expedite the adoption of Bill C-22, we hope these protections will be included in the development of the CDB in the regulation process.