MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

FROM DISABILITY ALLIANCE BC

The BC Budget 2019 is good news for people with disabilities.

There’s a lot for people with disabilities to celebrate in the BC 2019 budget announced February 19, says Disability Alliance BC.

DABC’s Executive Director Justina Loh said, “There are some significant changes that tell us the government is on the right track. The $50 raise to disability and regular income assistance rates will make a big difference in our clients’ lives. And the $26 million investment in the BC Employment and Assistance program to remove barriers to disability assistance and social assistance will mean many more people will be able to take advantage of our social safety net.”

Loh said that continued strong investment in public health care is a huge boost to the quality of life for people with disabilities, including funding for health care providers in training, more supports for parents of children with special needs, PharmaCare, elimination of MSP premiums, hospitals, urgent primary care centres, diagnostic services like MRIs, and mental health addiction services.

“We also applaud the government’s considerable investment in affordable housing,” said Loh. DABC is urging a further change: the creation of a portable rental supplement for people with disabilities as an essential plank in the government’s housing and homelessness prevention program. This rental supplement would give people with disabilities a broader range of housing options, including private market rental units.

Other very positive investments improve access to education, training and employment such as the elimination of all interest from student loans effective immediately, improvements to WorkBC employment training programs and additional funding to the Employment Standards Branch to update employment standards.

“We’re proud that BC has now joined other Canadian provinces with this commitment to poverty reduction. We look forward to hearing more details about Minister Simpson’s poverty reduction plan which will be released in March. Bringing people with disabilities out of poverty will require a significant investment and we anticipate seeing some significant changes in the near future,” said Loh.

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For more information, please contact Justina Loh at jloh@disabilityalliancebc.therightfitbc.org or call 604-875-0188.

BC’s Budget 2019 was released today, and the provincial government has announced that it will be increasing income and disability assistance rates by $50 per month, effective April 1, 2019. This is part of its Poverty Reduction Strategy, which will be introduced this year. DABC is encouraged by this news and eager to learn more about the Poverty Reduction Strategy once it has been introduced.

To read more about Budget 2019, please read the provincial government’s press release: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019FIN0019-000248

We have received the following notice from UBC’s School of Kinesiology:

We are researching Disability Alliance BC’s members and volunteers’ experiences with physical activity programs in BC. If you are a person with a disability who is involved with DABC and want to contribute to research about the provision of physical activity programs in BC for persons with a disability, we would love to hear from you.

This research has the potential to inform policy changes in sport and physical activity, guide a future disability sport strategy in BC and contribute to creating more inclusive and welcoming physical activity opportunities for individuals with disabilities across BC.