Feds 'committed to doing more,' but minister offers no timeline for Canadian Disability Benefit boost

Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.

Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government’s long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an “initial step,” but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.

In an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday, Khera insisted to host Vassy Kapelos it’s important to “recognize” the significance of her government creating a national benefit for persons with disabilities in the first place.

“We recognize there's more to do,” she said. “This is an initial step that we’ve put forward, and absolutely, we are committed to doing more.”

The federal government revealed details of the benefit in its latest budget last month, after promising the program nearly four years ago and pitching it as a tool to lift persons with disabilities out of poverty, akin to the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors.

But earmarked in the budget is a maximum of $2,400 a year ­— $200 a month, which is about $6.66 a day — to eligible applicants, drawing widespread criticism from disability advocates, who say it’s not nearly enough to do what it promised.

Forty-one per cent of low-income Canadians live with a disability and 16.5 per cent of the people with a disability in Canada live in poverty, according to Disability Without Poverty. Reacting to the budget, the group's national director Rabia Khedr said this benefit was supposed to "offer real hope," but has instead fallen well short.

"Reaction from the disability community has been unanimous that this initial investment creates little impact for removing people with disabilities from poverty," reads an April joint statement from the National Disability Network. "It simply is not enough."