On June 13th, 2024, Members of Parliament, Bonita Zarrillo and Laurel Collins, introduced a new federal bill (Bill C-403), which proposes that people receiving the Persons with Disabilities Benefit (PWD) receive automatic approval for federal benefits, including the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), Canada Pension Plan-Disability (CPP-D), and Canada Disability Benefit (CDB).  

A recording of the news conference can be found here and you can read the proposed bill here.  

DABC is in full support of Bill C-403; if adopted it will bring forward a change that we have advocated for over many years. Last year, in our submission to BC’s poverty reduction strategy, we advocated that “the level of stress and pressure placed on individuals to “prove” their disability can be mitigated against through finding ways to streamline the process” and that “individuals who have already gone through an application process for a different disability benefit should not need to go through the same validation process again.” If passed, Bill C-403 could reduce such stress and increase greater access to these benefits for countless people with disabilities in BC and across Canada. 

DABC has been informed that some landlords are trying to prematurely raise rents of their tenants who are PWD clients in anticipation of the shelter rate increase that will take effect in July 2023 for the August 2023 cheque issue.

DABC would like to remind PWD clients of their rights as a tenant: The maximum rent increase for 2023 is 2%, it is illegal for a landlord to increase a tenant’s rent above this. Landlords are also obligated to provide 3 month’s notice of a rent increase. Rent can only be increased once every 12 months.

If you encounter any issues with this and need more information, please reach out to the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre for assistance and/or advocacy.

Looking for help with a PWD Application booklet? Our advocates can help!

In order to receive assistance from the Advocacy Access program with a PWD application please ensure that you have met the following three criteria to be placed on our waitlist:

1. Applied for income assistance online at myselfserve.gov.bc.ca.

2. Have a blank PWD Application booklet

3. Have a medical professional (general practitioner, specialist or nurse practitioner) who is willing to support you with the application.

Advocates will schedule an appointment with you and ask in depth questions in order to assess how your disabilities impact your daily living activities in order to accurately assist you with your PWD application. Appointments can be done over the phone or in person depending on the clients preference. Appointments can typically take anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on the medical situation of the client.

Our advocates can support you with section 1 of the application, as well as support your medical practitioner with section 2 and connect you with an assessor for section 3.

You can place yourself on our waitlist to receive assistance by calling 604-872-1278 or by emailing us at advocacy@disabilityalliancebc.org. Please note that our services are in very high demand, and our PWD waitlist is currently roughly 14-18 weeks long.