By Kendall Worth!
I have, through my BLOG, been reporting on the advocacy, creation and implementation on what is now called the Canada Disability Benefit. I want to start off with an update on what is happening with the Canada Disability Benefit. The great news is: people who qualify for this brand new benefit from the federal government, received their first $200 payment on July 17th, 2025 from applications which were approved by June 30th, 2025. For information on payment dates for those who qualify see: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/disability/canada-disability-benefit.html
For previous updates and advocacy see:
https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/search/label/disability%20benefit
https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/search/label/disability%20rights
My advocacy and reporting on the creation of the Disability Benefit started when I published this post: https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2022/06/an-open-letter-to-primeminister-justin.html dated June 1st, 2022.
Then, in this post https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2022/10/concerns-from-disability-community.html dated October 6th, 2022, I reported on the introduction of the Bill. In those posts, you can see I reported on all the work that has been happening along the way to get the Disability Benefit up and running. Now the Canada Disability Benefit is reality. However, the reality is the Canada Disability Benefit is not what the disability community was dreaming of and hoping for. The Disability Benefit is only $200 a month and this does not lift persons with disabilities out of poverty. In today’s post I also want to bring you an update on the feelings of the Disability Community about their brand new Disability Benefit.
My journalism specialty is reporting on the Income Assistance system in Nova Scotia. However, at times through reporting on the development and creation of this Canada Disability Benefit, I have included comments from contacts in other provinces who had the exact same expectations for the Disability Benefit as Income Assistance recipients in Nova Scotia. The combination of the Disability Benefit at $200 a month and no change to our current Employment Support and Income Assistance Program in N.S. (Note in Nova Scotia we do have the DSP Program which I reported on here and here . ) And, I have heard those who live in Ontario who receive assistance from ODSP had the same expectations for the federal disability benefit.
The good news is that, in Nova Scotia and Ontario, along with most Canadian Provinces, the $200 is not getting clawed from Provincial Income Support Programs. So, using Nova Scotia’s Income Assistance Figures: the Standard House Hold Rate is $1005.00 a month Plus there is a Disability Supplement in Nova Scotia of $318.00, plus the $200 Federal Benefit = $1523 a month for persons with disabilities to live on.
However, when you look at this disability benefit from top to bottom, and the overall figure (as the above example points out) is still not enough for people to live on. This amount does not solve the social isolation that comes with living in poverty.
As I pointed out here, this Canada Disability Benefit is a small step in the right direction. It does, at least somewhat, better the lives of people with disabilities. Many in the Disability Community speculate that if Justin Trudeau had not stepped down as our prime Minister, the Next Federal Budget might have increased that $200 Benefit?
There is concern in the Disability Community, that this current prime minister, Mark Carney, is not showing any interest in improving the Disability Benefit. In fact, since Mark Carney was elected, as far as the disability community knows, no new Minster has been assigned to Disability Inclusion. However, the benefit being capped at $200 a month illustrates that federal politicians do not care any more than provincial ones about the way that provincial Income support makes us live!
We need to do better!
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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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