Still no sign of federal disability benefit three years after Trudeau promised it

Potential recipients hope funding will improve their lives

For years, Sarah Colero has been waiting eagerly, watching for when a long-awaited national disability benefit would arrive.

Due to her disability, she said she’s no longer able to find work and support herself. She spends most of her time at home, relying on $1,308 per month from Ontario’s disability benefit and her parents to get to the occasional doctor’s appointment.

For her, a national disability benefit would mean money to pay her own rent and access therapy, giving her the boost she needs to eventually find work. But despite a federal promise more than 3 1⁄2 years ago, Colero is still waiting.

Nearly a year since the Canada Disability Benefit became law, the legislation has not been fleshed out with the regulations that would lay out what it will look like and when financial help will come. Some advocates say Ottawa has abandoned them and they’re growing anxious another federal budget will go by without the benefit being funded.

“Even though it’s a blank bill, they were delaying, delaying, delaying, and it really broke a lot of people,” Colero told the Star. “They’ve been dangling it in front of us ever since.”

What’s known so far is that the benefit would be available to working-age people with disabilities, and that it will take into account the poverty line and additional costs people with disabilities face. It won’t replace provincial benefits, prompting calls for clarity from provinces and fears from advocates that existing benefits will be clawed back.

All other details, like the eligibility criteria and the benefit amount, are still being developed. And the legislation gives Ottawa up to two years for the regulations to be finalized — just a few months away from the next scheduled election in 2025.

First promised by the federal government in 2020, the Canada Disability Benefit Act was tabled in the Commons in 2021, but died when an election was called that year. The Liberals campaigned on reintroducing it and did so in June 2022, passing it a year later with bipartisan support.

“People just can’t wait any longer, and we’re dragging our feet on delivering a benefit,” said Krista Carr, the executive vice-president of Inclusion Canada. “Decisions are made every day on where money is going to get allocated, and people with disabilities never seem to be at the top of that list.”

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has weighed in, saying it’s aware of reports that people with disabilities are choosing medical assistance in dying because they have not been able to access basic supports.

That’s in part why advocates had pushed for an interim emergency benefit while the regulations were developed. But the government argued that could cause further delays.

At the urging of stakeholders, Yves Giroux, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, estimated how much the benefit would cost. But the lack of detail in the legislation meant the estimate ranged from $523 million to $5.1 billion in the first year, and $2.1 billion to $20.5 billion annually after that.

“There was a void created by the government, in the absence of any indications on the cost of the program and the benefits level,” Giroux said.

Given those estimates, he said it’s less likely the government is able to fund the benefit this year, as it faces pressure to fund housing, a pharmacare program and the military, while meeting its fiscal commitments.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office would not say what may be included in the budget.

A spokesperson for Kamal Khera, the minister for Persons with Disabilities, said in a statement the government is working on a first draft of the regulations after consultations with thousands of Canadians.

“The priority is to get the benefit to Canadians with disabilities as quickly as we can while also making sure that we get it right by working with provinces and territories to ensure that everyone who receives the (Canada Disability Benefit) is better off,” Laurent de Casanove said in an email.

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People just can’t wait any longer, and we’re dragging our feet on delivering a benefit. Decisions are made every day on where money is going to get allocated, and people with disabilities never seem to be at the top of that list.

KRISTA CARR EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT INCLUSION CANADA