Last week, Disability Alliance BC shared on our social media platforms an engagement request from CBC Vancouver, for people with disabilities to talk about their experiences with dating. The post received strong feedback from our followers on Facebook, who rightly pointed out the unfairness of the PWD benefit spousal cap, and the fact that many disabled people are facing far more pressing issues than dating—issues like insufficient disability benefit rates/poverty and unaffordable/scarce housing—that often prevent people with disabilities from entering the dating world.

We are very appreciative of the strong engagement and opinions that people shared on the post. Everyone’s comments were heard. DABC sent a summary of this feedback to CBC, which led to CBC learning from this experience and making it the focus of their dating segment, which can be streamed here: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46-on-the-coast/clip/16082623-up-date-disabilities-dating.

Additionally, CBC reached out to Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson, and questioned her on air about the spousal cap. Stream that interview here: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46-on-the-coast/clip/16082708-disability-benefits-british-columbians.

Last week, CBC also interviewed DABC Executive Director Helaine Boyd about the same issue: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6458198.

DABC feels very strongly that the spousal cap is unjust. There are many negative impacts to restricting a person’s disability income because of a partner/spouse’s income:

• Creates unequal power dynamic between partners.
• In scenarios where a person on PWD is in a live-in relationship with a non-disabled person, it expects that the non-disabled partner is responsible for the disabled partner’s livelihood and well-being. This circles back to outdated, patriarchal laws of many decades prior.
• Particularly for people who identify as women/femmes, this can create a level of dependence on the non-disabled partner that may lead to spousal abuse.
• Creates a level of financial dependence on the disabled partner whereby they may feel they have no choice to end a relationship.
• In the context of dating/seeking relationships, being on PWD prevents people from entering into relationships on an equal footing, or even deters prospective partners because of the expectation that they become financially responsible.

Due to the reasons above, the PWD system is actively encouraging and influencing people on PWD to remain single or otherwise make it very difficult to obtain and sustain a relationship. The spousal cap is in direct opposition with a person’s right to independence and equal opportunity, and therefore discriminates against people with disabilities.

DABC has advocated for an end to the spousal cap over the years. We’ve repeatedly brought the spousal cap up in conversations and committee meetings with the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. DABC’s advocates, many of whom are people with disabilities themselves, feel very strongly about this issue. Most recently:

• We mentioned the spousal cap in our recommendations to the Poverty Reduction Strategy: https://disabilityalliancebc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230428-DABC-Submission-to-SDPR-TogetherBC-Recommendations.pdf
• We supported a petition on this in 2021: https://disabilityalliancebc.org/petition-for-the-removal-of-spousal-caps-on-social-assistance/

From the CBC radio interview, it is now clear that Minister Malcolmson knows very well the harms incurred by the spousal cap on PWD recipients. The BC government has often prided itself as a progressive province compared to the rest of Canada, but the fact remains that BC has the second highest poverty rate. People with disabilities in BC need a government that is bold, willing to challenge social norms and enact change.

The BC Government will be launching their new BC Poverty Reduction Strategy tomorrow; we hope that the strategy will include this and other recommendations for change that DABC has advocated on to reduce poverty in our province.

DABC is advocating for the abolition of the Annual earning exemption limit for PWD recipients. Read our op-ed, published today by The Tyee, here: https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2024/07/04/Disability-Earnings-Cap-Holding-People-Back/.

From the op-ed:

“As an employer, I feel disgusted by the fact that I am complicit in working within the constraints of an ableist system. It’s a system that forces disabled employees to make choices about their work based on how much a person on disability assistance is allowed to earn as employment income before they are rendered ineligible for PWD income — income that is a lifeline as much as it is constraining, and not enough.”