44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 6, 2023 02:00PM
- Dec/6/23 2:13:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Sunday marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
The United Nations' theme for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities focuses on Sustainable Development Goals.
It is important that we make sustainable development a reality for persons with disabilities. The principle of “Nothing Without Us”, which means we work in partnership with the disability community, is what guides the government. It is what guides disability inclusion and helps us achieve our goal.
Recently we launched an online tool that will allow Canadians to give their input on how the regulations for the disability benefit will be implemented. The benefit is a cornerstone of our disability inclusion plan. It helps to reduce poverty. It will be a supplement to and will not replace existing supports.
Together, we will do this. We need to do this.
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- Dec/6/23 2:55:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in Canada, over half of women with disabilities are living on less than $10,000 a year. They cannot afford the medication they need, nutritious food or housing. Women with disabilities who are facing intimate partner violence cannot afford to get away or to move out of their homes.
The Liberals have failed these women. Will the Prime Minister stop endangering women with disabilities by releasing the Canada disability benefit now?
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- Dec/6/23 2:56:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for that really important question. It gives me a chance to, first and foremost, acknowledge that this past Sunday was International Day for Persons with Disabilities, an opportunity for all of us to continue to do the hard work to create a barrier-free Canada and to ensure that we create equal opportunities for persons with disabilities.
On Canada's disability benefit, the hon. member knows very well that we are absolutely committed to getting it right and getting it out as quickly as possible. In the true spirit of “Nothing Without Us”, public consultations for regulations are fully accessible and available online. I hope that all Canadians will participate.
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- Dec/6/23 5:21:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to present a petition that recognizes that 22% of Canadians have a disability and that housing policy discriminates against people with disabilities. The petitioners specifically cite that no building code in Canada mandates that housing be accessible. They note that this leads to thousands being forced out of their dwellings at the most vulnerable time in their lives and that millions of health care dollars could be saved by enabling people to remain in their own accessible homes.
The petitioners call on the House of Commons to amend the national building code to make universal design mandatory in all new multi-unit housing developments under the jurisdiction of the Government of Canada consistent with current legislation and conventions. They also call for ensuring the Canadian table for harmonized construction codes policy, the Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes and the CMHC collaborate to defining and illustrate in the national building code what is “visitable”, “adaptable, “accessible”, “barrier-free” and “universal design”. Finally, the petitioners call on the House of Commons to require public funds or concessions for housing conferred on municipalities, developers or other organizations to be exclusively used for universally designed housing.
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- Dec/6/23 7:24:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, persons with disabilities are continuing to live in poverty with no relief from the government. We have seen rents soar over the last year, pushing many Canadians out of the housing market and into being unable to afford safe and adequate housing.
For persons with disabilities, accessing housing that meets their needs is nearly impossible. Add discrimination on top of that, and more and more stories are coming out from across Canada about the reality of persons with disabilities having to live rough. In Duncan, British Columbia, Jon Harry was forced onto the street to sleep on a tarp when he lost his housing. He and many other persons with disabilities are forced into homelessness because of the lack of affordable housing options. Organizations, including food banks and shelters, are at a breaking point because more people are relying on these services. Many persons with disabilities also do not have the level of income due to discrimination. Many persons with disabilities are currently paying 80% to 90% of their income on housing. In British Columbia, that leaves many people with less than $200 for all of their monthly expenses.
I tabled a petition earlier this year, and very recently I tabled a petition brought by the community around a disability emergency relief benefit. This week, the government responded that, given its limited resources, rolling out an emergency relief could have an effect on delaying the Canada disability benefit. That response from the government is an insult to persons with disabilities because it is the government that is delaying the rollout of the Canada disability benefit.
Canadians need support now, and without a clear timeline of when in 2024 this Canada disability benefit will be rolled out, persons with disabilities are left with questions, not solutions, and deteriorating living standards. The government must deliver, with the Canada disability benefit, an adequate and timely benefit.
While the government is holding back on rolling out that benefit, and even during the rollout of the benefit, it must be building more affordable, accessible homes. I will take this moment to recognize the member for Nunavut, who continues to stand up in the House to talk about the absolutely devastating conditions of housing in Nunavut.
Without adequate income supports for persons with disabilities, they are being legislated into poverty by the current Liberal government and the Conservative governments before it. Federal support was needed yesterday, as I mentioned in the House already this week in question period, and persons with disabilities cannot wait any longer.
My question to the minister is this: When will the government deliver the Canada disability benefit it promised? It has been seven years of promises, and it is still not here, which it is hurting people.
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- Dec/6/23 7:28:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would start off by thanking the member for Port Moody—Coquitlam for her advocacy for the disability community.
Since 2015, our government has worked tirelessly to lift millions of Canadians out of poverty. This includes persons with disabilities.
We know that too many people are facing additional costs related to their disability.
I am speaking of expenses limited to accessible housing, to accessible transportation and to disability supports, among many others. We know that a mix of poverty and disability can create physical and social isolation. The disability benefit is a major milestone in helping to alleviate poverty for those who have disabilities. We will not cut corners on meaningful consultation. We have committed to deliver this benefit quickly.
We know that the need is urgent.
Poverty is complex and multi-dimensional. The Canada disability benefit is meant to supplement income and not replace existing benefits. We want to make sure that its impact is felt and that it is real. Other levels of government and the private sector need to join us in this mission of eliminating poverty among persons with disabilities.
We need to recognize that decades of relentless advocacy on the part of the disability community have helped us get to the point we are at today. In the spirit of “Nothing Without Us”, we could not have gotten to the point where we are. “Nothing Without Us” means that we are working with the disability community to get to a point where this benefit will be realized and will help those who are impacted. Everything we have achieved thus far has been done by working with the community each and every step of the way.
The Canada disability benefit is a cornerstone of the disability inclusion action plan. The action plan includes key priorities identified by the disability community. Our government has held round table discussions with members of the community, with advocates and with experts. At the same time, community- and indigenous-led engagements have been held on separate tracks to make sure the action plan is comprehensive and effective. The next step is to make the Canada disability benefit a reality through regulations and implementation.
We will continue to work with the disability community, stakeholders, indigenous organizations and provinces and territories. We have started the engagement and the design of the regulations. We are confident that the benefit will help ease the stress and hardship of those who need it.
I want to again thank the disability community, advocates, actors and those who have been pushing to help us get to the point where this benefit will be fulsome, will be real and will help alleviate poverty. I also thank the member opposite for her advocacy.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to again thank the member opposite for her advocacy.
We are moving quickly on historic investments and measures. The legislation, Bill C-22, which is now law, requires that we consult with the community in a fulsome fashion, and we are doing so. It requires that we make regulations to have the benefit realized, actualized and in people's pockets, and we are doing so. The benefit will reduce poverty and will increase financial security for those who need it most.
The Canada disability benefit is important to all of us. It is important to our government, it is important to the member opposite, it is important to me and it is important to Canadians. We are working with the community tirelessly.
We need to get this right and we will get it right. It will help create real change. It will transform the realities—
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