TORONTO – The Ontario government has announced it will exempt the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) as income, which will allow people receiving social assistance to keep both provincial social assistance income and CDB income. This is a positive announcement, which people with disabilities in Ontario who live on incredibly low incomes have been waiting for.
Last week, ISAC launched a No Clawbacks to the CDB Campaign, which saw hundreds of letters sent to Premier Ford, Minister Parsa, Minister Bethlenfalvy, and local MPPs in only a few short days. The letter urged them to allow individuals receiving social assistance to receive the CDB without any reduction in provincial assistance.
“The province made the right choice in exempting the CDB as income,” said Melinda Ferlisi, Executive Director of the Income Security Advocacy Centre. “Our clinic has heard from people from all over Ontario expressing fear and worry that this additional source of income from the federal government might have a negative impact on their provincial income supports. Today we are happy to share this good news with them, knowing that individual efforts and collective pressure has paid off.”
Some federal benefits are considered “income” or are categorized by the province in a way that results in a reduction in provincial income benefits. For example, someone who receives income from the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and income from the Canada Pension Plan Disability (CPP-D) will have their ODSP income reduced or “clawed back” dollar for dollar, because CPP-D is considered “income replacement”. Other federal benefits, like the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), are exempt from being considered income, and someone who receives income from ODSP and income from the CCB can receive both without any reduction to either benefit.
“The CDB was intended to provide much-needed income for some of the most vulnerable people in the country,” said Asif Khan, Research and Policy Analyst of the Income Security Advocacy Centre. “This is a welcome announcement for people in Ontario today. We still have a long way to go to fix other issues with the CDB, but today we should celebrate the right step forward.”
Currently, the only way to access the CDB is by demonstrating eligibility for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), and the application process has not yet been made available. The federal government continues to say that the application process will become available in June, with payments made to eligible applicants starting in July.
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Media contact:
Claudia Calabro, Communications Specialist/Organizer
claudia.calabro@isac.clcj.ca
437-245-9457