Is the Canada Disability Benefit high enough? What the major federal parties are saying about it
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Ahead of Monday’s election, advocates are seeking commitments about accessibility and the benefit for working-age people with disabilities.
Published by The Toronto Star on April 24, 2025
By Serena Austin Staff Reporter
Working-age Canadians with disabilities are scheduled to receive their first Canada Disability Benefit payments this summer, but advocates say $200 a month isn’t enough.
“Our Parliament’s united commitment to end disability poverty by enacting the Canada Disability Benefit is a commendable goal, but the benefit they actually created falls miles short of what’s needed,” said David Lepofsky, who is blind and the chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance.
The Canada Disability Benefit Act, in place since 2024, aims to provide financial support for low- and modest-income working-age people with disabilities.
Ahead of Monday’s election, the AODA Alliance and 27 other disability organizations signed a letter urging the federal party leaders to make the “Accessible Canada Pledge,” ensuring the act lifts people with disabilities above the poverty line so they can afford clothing, food, transportation and shelter.
So far, the Greens have made the pledge, but in its platform, the NDP has committed to doubling the benefit. The Conservatives and Liberals have plans to reform the Disability Tax Credit, which people need to be approved for to qualify for the benefit.
Asked about a potential minority government, NDP spokesperson Anne McGrath said in an email the party will continue to fight for the rights of people with disabilities, adding that “it’s because NDP MPs worked alongside people with disabilities and forced the Liberal government to act that we have this benefit in the first place.”
Lepofsky feels doubling the benefit is helpful, though “it doesn’t address the commitment that no person with a disability in Canada should ever live in poverty.”
As of 2022, 27 per cent of Canadians, or eight million people, 15 or older had one or more disabilities limiting them in daily life, according to the Canadian Survey on Disability. In the same year, Statistics Canada says 12.3 per cent of Canadians with a disability 15 and older lived below the poverty line.
The Canadian Down Syndrome Society is one of the groups that asked party leaders to make the pledge. Its website has a letter that users can fill out that advocates for increased Canada Disability Benefit payments, expanded eligibility and for the Disability Tax Credit to be reformed so people with lifelong disabilities will be automatically approved for the benefit, and so that the cost of professional assessments required to apply for the credit are covered.
“Most individuals with Down syndrome have a disability tax credit,” but the Society doesn’t want them to have to submit another application to get the Canada Disability Benefit, said executive director Laura LaChance.
The Liberals’ platform says they’ll review and reform the Disability Tax Credit’s application process, and consider expanding eligibility to other ailments. The Conservatives have said they would streamline the tax credit to make eligibility for its related benefits automatic, renaming it a “Certification of Disability.”
LaChance also wants the next government to prioritize inclusive education and employment, building accessible housing and investing in research and resources to improve the health of people with disabilities.
The Liberals’ platform includes plans to make workplaces more accessible by boosting the Enabling Accessibility Fund, and incorporating more “barrier-free” designs into housing plans.
The pledge also asks leaders to ensure the “effective implementation” of the Accessible Canada Act to achieve a barrier-free country by 2040, and to ensure equal access to air travel. The act took effect in 2019 and calls for the development of voluntary accessibility standards which could then be adapted into mandatory regulations, but both Lepofsky and Marcia Yale, president of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, say progress has been lagging.
As of this April, Accessibility Standards Canada has 19 standards under development, and has recommended its standard for information and communication technologies products and services to the minister responsible for the Accessible Canada Act. So far, the only regulations in place under the act require organizations to publish and keep accessibility plans and progress reports, to make them available in different formats and to develop processes for accepting feedback.
“We have the Accessible Canada Act, but we’ve still got no regulations to tell federal bodies what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to do it,” said Yale, who was born blind. “Nothing is going to change until there is either the will to do it — and that’s very doubtful — or there’s regulations that say you must do it, or else.”
