'$6.66 per day': Advocacy groups disheartened by funding in budget for disability benefit

Advocacy groups across Canada are expressing widespread disappointment about the amount of funding earmarked in the 2024 federal budget for the long-awaited Canada Disability Benefit.

Advocacy groups across Canada are expressing widespread disappointment about the amount of funding earmarked in the 2024 federal budget for the long-awaited Canada Disability Benefit.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland revealed that the Liberals were finally ready to roll out funding for this federal income supplement.

The government has allocated $6.1 billion over six years and $1.4 billion ongoing, including the costs to deliver the benefit. This funding would provide for a maximum benefit amount of $2,400 per year.

However, as stakeholders have been quick to realize, with the benefit estimated to be offered to 600,000 people with disabilities, the proposed maximum benefit would be just $200 per month, or as March of Dimes Canada estimates, "just $6.66 per day."

"This budget doesn't begin to fulfill the government's promise to lift people with disabilities out of poverty, let alone the 'promise of Canada' – a fair shot at a prosperous future," said March of Dimes Canada’s President and CEO Len Baker, in a statement.

While celebrating the important step taken to launch this benefit, Daily Bread Food Bank CEO Neil Hetherington said there remains a "clear need" to increase payments.

"It is imperative that this program helps people with disabilities live above the poverty line," he said in a statement.