By – Kendall Worth
First to do a short Recap. From November 30, 2021, when I started this blog, until today I have included updates on what is happening with Canadian Disability Benefit implementation. I have reported on its consideration, introduction and the fact that the Disability Benefit passed in the house and is now law. Recently, I have been hearing from community of folks with disabilities.
However, as reported in this post the Disability Benefit is only going to be $200.00 a month for those persons who qualify. Even though this benefit will help people with disabilities across Canada, please keep in mind, that my reporting on this is and has been all along specifically from the Nova Scotia perspective.
For the interest of those who live outside of Nova Scotia, here are some updates I have been following:
The Province of Alberta will claw back $200.00 a month for those who will qualify , from the Provincial Income Assistance in that province.
The Province of Ontario has not, to date, given the public any update as to whether or not the benefit will be clawed back from assistance they receive from either Ontario Works or ODSP Allowances. So the coming months are going to be a mystery for People with Disabilities in Ontario.
In Newfoundland Labrador, I have learned that for those who will qualify for the Canadian Disability Benefit in that province, the benefit will not be clawed from Income Support. In addition, the provincial Government in Nfld and Labrador will top up the benefit by providing another $200 from the province!
Update on how Nova Scotia is feeling about this.
For Nova Scotians with Disabilities, the Disability Benefit’s end result turned out not to be be not what Nova Scotians were expecting. The Good news, is that, like many Canadian provinces, n Nova Scotia the $200 is not Suppose to be clawed back from our provincial Income Assistance.
So adding $1005.00 plus $200.00 that = $1205.00 is what those who will qualify will have to live on moving forward from July 2025. Also it expected that most if not all ,who Qualify for the Canadian Disability Benefit, already receive the $318.00 Disability Supplement (Remember only 60% of Income Assistance Recipients in Nova Scotia are Receiving this) Most of those who will qualify for the Federal Disability Benefit are already receiving this $318.00 Disability Supplement. So for them this will bring what they have to live on up to $1523,00 a month.
Even though Nova Scotians with Disabilities are not having this benefit clawed back, it is a disappointment in that most people were expecting a brand new Basic Income Program that would replace our current Employment Support and Income Assistance Program. Of course this would also mean replacing other Income Assistance and Income Support Programs across Canada.
Nova Scotians with Disabilities were expecting something closer to the $2000 a month people received during COVID. These days, the cost of paying rent and other basic living expenses, leads us to ask ourselves, is $2000 enough anymore? In this article written for the now folded Nova Scotia Advocate, I suggested $2500, considering the cost of rent, power bills, food and personal hygiene products these days, this would be better.
Our Income Assistance program in Nova Scotia, encourages loneliness and social isolation. I have talked about this for years – back to my days at the NS Advocate. Here is one example of when I brought this up in the past.
See this post for a recent view of of how negative the system still is, even after advocating for improvements for so many years. Throughout the years advocating for a Federal Disability Benefit, Nova Scotians with Disabilities were expecting a brand new system that would provide better money to live on, resulting in less social isolation, and a correction to other bureaucratic nonsense, and systemic problems that come with our current system. As for the end result of the Canadian Disability benefit, this did not happen. The Federal Benefit needs improvement in time to come.
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Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.
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