Bill C22 3rd Reading is in progress!

By Kendall Worth!

Over these past few months I have followed the introduction and progress of Bill C-22.

Today, February 2^nd, 2023, the Disability Community has received some good news - 3rd reading of C-22. We hope this means something better is on the way - meaning a better system of disability income, in Canada – or, at least better than current systems of provincial welfare/disability! For more on existing Provincial programs I invite you to look at a previous post to see a real example of the Nova Scotia Employment Support and Income Assistance program.

According to this Minister’s tweet  - 3^rd reading is now in progress. 

 

Video of Hon Minister at 3rd reading today. https://twitter.com/i/status/1620942719605706757

 However, as this tweet indicates, there are still unanswered questions about this Bill.

 

 

The unanswered question coming from Nova Scotia is Will the Disability Benefit provide an income improvement? Better than the current $950.00 Standard House Hold Rate ESIA provides in Nova Scotia?

Another unanswered question, for those of us who have part-time jobs, is the Disability Benefit going to provide us with an incentive to continue working? The disability benefit should not discourage those of us able to work part time from continuing to have those jobs.

There is excitement building for persons with disabilities and organizations alike, as the following tweet indicates:

 

So it seems these days there is a lot of optimism in the air over this benefit. A mixture of excitement and confusion is the best way to describe the feelings of the disability community these days. Confusion arises over the list of unanswered questions, which I listed in a previous post.

However the existence of the Disability Benefit is all about improving living life with persons with Disabiblties. As you can see in this link, I keep up with disability issues as well as poverty. IN Canada, a rich country, people with disabilities have been living in poverty for years, and now is the time to get rid of poverty, and make sure that people with disabilities are able to live fully with all their rights. We do not know yet what the living allowance provided on the Disability Benefit is going to be. In Nova Scotia, as well as the rest of Canada, we hope it is going to be the same $2000 a month that CERB provided.

So now that 3^rd reading is in progress, lets keep up the fight!