Upcoming webinar on CPP-D Reconsiderations
When: February 25, 2025 at 2 pm PST.
Webinar made possible thanks to generous funding from ICBC.
Webinar made possible thanks to generous funding from ICBC.
This article was written by Stephanie Debisschop. It originally appeared in the edition of DABC’s Transition magazine, Canada Disability Benefit: What protection does it actually offer? (Fall/Winter 2024).
As this article was written last year, the future resources mentioned within it have since been made available.
Read the full edition in PDF format here and in text-only format here.
If you’re interested in contributing to Transition as an individual or an organization, please email transition@dabc.ca.
Plan Institute is in the process of creating a comprehensive set of supports and services to address the many gaps and barriers that exist around the proposed Canada Disability Benefit (CDB).
We are hiring new advisors for our national Disability Planning Helpline who will provide one-to-one support with applications for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) and eventually the CDB. This support will be available to anyone, anywhere in the country, at no cost.
Our Helpline currently supports individuals and families on a variety of topics, including the Registered Disability Savings Plan; wills, trusts and estate planning; and provincial and federal disability supports.
We’ll also be developing resources and hosting educational webinars on the DTC and CDB to help individuals learn about and navigate the process, and will be conducting extensive outreach and collaboration with organizations across the country to increase awareness and support.
We’ll be working with Disability Alliance BC (DABC) and other partners to ensure that every individual in Canada who may be eligible for the DTC receives it–and the CDB–as soon as possible. We’re also committed to educating medical practitioners and other professionals about the need for the DTC to reduce barriers to accessing it.
Canadadisabilitybenefit.ca is our new website that will be a central place for all things CDB. From supports, resources, information, education, links to advocacy opportunities, and more, the website aims to be a hub for accessing clear and accurate information to help as many individuals as possible receive the CDB.
Although there are still many unknowns about how the CDB will work in practice, we’re already getting questions through our national Disability Planning Helpline. Below are some of the main questions and areas of concern we’ve been hearing from the community, some of which are touched on by other authors in this Transition.
Qualifying for the Benefit
It is likely that the Disability Tax Credit will be the main qualification criterion–and perhaps the greatest barrier–for accessing the CDB.
The DTC application process is notoriously complicated, needing input from a medical practitioner and requiring carefully chosen language to succeed. It can take months or even years to be approved.
Not only is the process complex, it can also be costly. While the federal government has announced they will be providing funds to help pay for medical fees related to the DTC, the amount and mechanism for dispersing those funds remains a question mark.
With that in mind, we are making it a priority to ensure as many people as possible are approved for the DTC and are ready to apply for and receive the CDB when it is launched. While exceptional, comprehensive and free support with the DTC application process is available in BC through DABC services, the same is not true across the country. In many other provinces and territories, the only option is to pay for help with applications or try to navigate the process alone.
Clawbacks
We know that many people in the community share our concerns about how the CDB will interact with other provincial/territorial and federal benefits.
Together with our partners and community, we are advocating for every province and territory to guarantee that the CDB will be exempt from clawbacks of other social assistance. While some provinces and territories, including BC, have confirmed they will not clawback provincial disability assistance, there are still many regions who have yet to make the commitment.
Our friends at Maytree have developed an advocacy toolkit for anyone who wants to pressure their local government officials to commit to exempting the CDB from clawbacks.
Applying for the CDB
How applications for the CDB will work in practice is one of the biggest unknowns.
The CDB will be administered through Service Canada which suggests the application process may look similar to other programs under their administration. The community at large has been very vocal about the need to ensure the application process is as low barrier as possible, and we continue to join those from across the country in the push for this.
Benefit Amount
Like so many others in the community, we were disappointed to learn the Benefit amount is slated to be far below what we had hoped for – just $2,400 per year or $200 per month.
We know this is not enough.
This amount will fall well short of ensuring people living with disabilities in Canada are lifted out of poverty.
The CDB is an important step towards financial security. Together with our community, Plan Institute will continue to work to empower people in their rights, and advance towards our collective goal of eliminating disability poverty in Canada.
We’d love to hear from you! If you would like to connect with Plan Institute, please call our free national Disability Planning Helpline at 1-844-311-7526, email us at info@planinstitute.ca or visit us at planinstitute.ca or rdsp.com.
Stephanie joined Plan Institute in 2012 and has served as the Executive Director since 2019. she has spent 15 years working with non-profit organizations on disability issues, as well as internationally on community integration initiatives. Stephanie has a strong belief in the right to full and equal citizenship for everyone and is a staunch advocate for the right to a life free from poverty. She lives in North Vancouver on the unceded territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation with her husband and three children.
The following information is from a press release issued by The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) on November 29th, 2024. French text follows the English text. You can also download a PDF version here.
“[OTTAWA/VANCOUVER – November 29, 2024] – The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) has published a new report highlighting its key role in the development and implementation of Calculator BC, an innovative tool designed to support British Columbians receiving disability assistance.
Calculator BC was designed as a state-of-the-art website to simplify complex financial information, helping disability assistance recipients make informed decisions with greater confidence by helping them and their case managers:
SRDC’s Key Contributions:
Alongside partners Disability Alliance BC, Turn2us and Back in Motion, SRDC was instrumental in both the research and implementation phases of Calculator BC, ensuring that the project was data-driven and impactful. Key contributions included:
Long-Term Impact:
Calculator BC demonstrated its potential to improve recipients’ financial security and employment motivation, offering valuable lessons for service providers and learned valuable lessons for future tools to support other client groups, such as those facing persistent employment barriers.
To learn more about Calculator BC and SRDC’s contributions, visit the project page.
About the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC)
The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) is a non-profit research organization created specifically to develop, field test, and rigorously evaluate new programs. Our two-part mission is to help policymakers and practitioners identify policies and programs that improve the well-being of all Canadians, with a special concern for the effects on the disadvantaged, and to raise the standards of evidence that are used in assessing these policies.
Since our establishment in December 1991, our SRDC team has conducted over 450 projects and studies for various federal and provincial departments, municipalities, as well as other public and non-profit organizations. We have offices located in Ottawa and Vancouver and satellite offices in Calgary, Hamilton, Montreal, Regina, St. John’s, Toronto, and Winnipeg.
© 2024 SRDC-SRSA – All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés
55 Murray Street, Suite 400, Ottawa, ON, K1N 5M3, Canada
https://www.srdc.org/
Renseignements sur le revenu des bénéficiaires d’aide au revenu pour les personnes handicapées
[OTTAWA/VANCOUVER – 29 novembre 2024] – La Société de recherche sociale appliquée (SRSA) a publié un nouveau rapport soulignant son rôle clé dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre de Calculator BC, un outil innovant conçu pour aider les Britanno-Colombien(ne)s bénéficiant d’une aide aux personnes handicapées.
Calculator BC a été conçu comme un site Web de pointe destiné à simplifier les informations financières complexes et à aider les bénéficiaires de l’aide aux personnes handicapées à prendre des décisions éclairées en toute confiance, en leur apportant du soutien, ainsi qu’à leurs gestionnaires de cas, dans les situations suivantes :
Principales contributions de la SRSA :
Aux côtés du comité consultatif composé de la Disability Alliance BC, de Turn2us et de Back in Motion, la SRSA a joué un rôle déterminant dans les phases de recherche et de mise en œuvre de l’outil Calculator BC, en veillant à ce que le projet soit fondé sur des données et qu’il génère des retombées. Les principales contributions sont les suivantes :
Effets à long terme :
Le projet Calculator BC a démontré qu’il pouvait améliorer la sécurité financière des bénéficiaires et leur motivation à l’égard de l’emploi, en offrant des enseignements précieux aux prestataires de services et en permettant de tirer des leçons utiles pour de futurs outils destinés à soutenir d’autres groupes de clients, tels que ceux qui sont confrontés à des obstacles persistants à l’emploi.
Pour obtenir de plus amples renseignements sur l’outil Calculator BC et les contributions de la SRSA, consultez la page du projet.
À propos de la SRSA
La Société de recherche sociale appliquée (SRSA) est un organisme de recherche sans but lucratif, créé dans le but précis d’élaborer, de mettre à l’essai sur le terrain et d’évaluer rigoureusement de nouveaux programmes. Sa mission, qui comporte deux volets, consiste à aider les décideurs et les intervenants à déterminer les politiques et les programmes qui améliorent le bien-être de tous les Canadiens, en se penchant particulièrement sur les effets qu’ils auront sur les personnes défavorisées, et à améliorer les normes relatives aux éléments probants utilisées pour évaluer ces politiques.
Depuis sa création en décembre 1991, l’équipe de la SRSA a réalisé plus de 450 projets et études pour divers ministères fédéraux et provinciaux, des municipalités, ainsi que d’autres organismes publics et à but non lucratif. La SRSA a des bureaux à Ottawa et à Vancouver, ainsi que des bureaux satellites à Calgary, à Hamilton, à Montréal, à Regina, à St. John’s, à Toronto et à Winnipeg.
© 2024 SRDC-SRSA – All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés 55 Murray Street, Suite 400, Ottawa,
ON, K1N 5M3, Canada
https://www.srdc.org/