Federal disability benefit is a 'disappointment,' advocate says

OK. My next guest was in the budget lock up earlier today along with other stakeholders. And Rabia Hutter is the National director for Disability Without Poverty and she joins me now from Ottawa. Rabia, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. So I’m trying to imagine you were in this budget lock up you, you saw the, you saw the, the numbers as they came out. There were so many announcements that were made in the months leading up to this budget, but I don’t recall the any amount for disability being actually announced before this. When you took in, that number works out to 2400 per year for individuals. That’s about two hundred a month. What was your reaction? Well, we did a lot of speculating, building up to this budget. We did a lot of talking with disabled people, with allies and with the general public. In fact, our Angus Reid poll results last week, 91% of Canadians supported the Canada Disability Benefit. And so our projections were pegging it higher than and what came out. So honestly, first reaction was disappointment. Disappointment for disabled people who are out there watching and listening and learning about this budget and realizing that they may not even qualify to receive this $200, this nominal amount. Rabia, you and other advocates have been calling for a significant disability benefit for a long time now. Can you outline the need that many people with disabilities are facing? You’re self included and I know that you you deal with your vision is impaired. I I believe that you’re you’re legally blind. I am blind. I am a person with a disability. I grew up with siblings with disabilities. I’m lucky enough to be working and you know, being able to even assist my brother with his needs for example. However, most Canadians don’t have extended family supports, aren’t able to work due to the nature of their disability and the barriers that they face. Every person with a disability aspires to be productive, to earn their way. Unfortunately, our support programs, our our income supplements that are supports that are available across this country, vary from province to province and are significantly below the official poverty line. Our official poverty line is $2300 right now and most benefits are 30% below that, so the need is dire. Cost of living. As the cost of living rises poverty deepens and deepens for our society’s most vulnerable members being significantly disabled people. Ravi, you actually you raised a very interesting point here and that is, I mean not only do people with disabilities want to contribute and and be able to to earn their their way, but that that is sometimes for some people like yourself you’re able to do that, others are not. So disability is such a wide term. How should the the funding be split do you think, when there is such diverse need? Well, we recognize and accept the fact that the government’s first tier of delivery is the disability tax credit. There needs to be a significant reform to that tax credit in order to enable people with disabilities to to readily access it who need it most. The DTC is going to be the gateway to receiving the Canada Disability Benefit and IT essentially keeps people out who have disabilities currently like. There’s very, very strict guidelines to qualify to be eligible that aren’t even quite in line with our national definition of disability under the Accessible Canada Act. For, for example, you’re not the only one who’s expressing disappointment here. We heard from the NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier that he is also, among other reasons, that he’s disappointed with the budget, the the money allocated for for disability payments. It is right up there for him now. They need the NDP support, as we know, to vote this budget through. Are you in touch and do you think it’s going to? Is there there any movement that might happen in that respect or what are your thoughts about moving forward here? I I really can’t speculate on the ND PS position on this budget. We saw the spirit of unanimous consent throughout the journey of this legislation passing to Royal Assent. We’d like to see that spirit continue, although we wish there was a higher amount and broader eligibility. This is a starting point. We are being assured that this is a stepping stone to building a better benefit in the future. We recognize that we, as people with disabilities, are going to have to continue working harder to make sure that disability poverty is adequately addressed through the Canada Disability Benefit in this country right now. Unfortunately, the amount is nominal. The limited scope of who’s going to receive it is is is a fraction of disabled people living in poverty right now. However, I still refuse to lose hope. I know things seem dire to the disabled people living in poverty out there. I want to promise them that we will continue to carry this, their voices and views forward to lawmakers and elected officials. And we will continue to push hard to make sure that this benefit grows, is regulated appropriately, with room for improvements. And we will keep up the good fight to make sure that we end disability poverty in this country. And we will leave it on that note. Thank you very much. That’s the National director for Disability Without Poverty, Rabia Hutter. She joins us now from Ottawa. Thank you so much. Thank you.