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.