Hon. Donna Dasko: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to the message sent back to us from the House of Commons concerning the fate of Bill C-22, which establishes the Canada disability benefit. This important bill seeks to reduce poverty and to support the financial security of working-age persons with disabilities through the Canada disability benefit.

Notably, Bill C-22 is framework legislation, whereby the details and elements of the benefit will be developed through regulations and in consultation with the disability community, the provinces and the territories after the legislation is passed.

We learned from testimony at our Social Affairs Committee — for example, from Krista Carr of Inclusion Canada — that 40% of Canadians with a disability live in poverty, and we also learned from the bill’s sponsor, Senator Cotter, that 23% of those who are working age live in poverty. Let’s compare that to the 7.4% of all Canadians who lived in poverty in 2021, and we can understand the great need to take action.

The bill had first reading in the other place a full year ago on June 2, 2022, and it was sent to committee in the other place on October 18, 2022. A total of nine amendments were passed there before arriving here in February and at committee on March 22.

The bill arrived at our Social Affairs Committee with pleas from several major organizations representing those with disabilities, and from the government, to proceed without change. These pleas were accompanied by a substantial email campaign carrying the same strong message.

As committee work proceeded, it became clear, however, that the bill did, indeed, contain flaws and omissions — and several strong advocates came forward to urge that these flaws and omissions be addressed through amendments. Committee members were torn. Should there be amendments or no amendments? Would amendments delay the benefit, or even place the entire bill at risk?

Colleagues, we often receive admonitions to move quickly on legislation; this is not news to anyone. But I have to say that the pressure to review this bill without change was especially strong.

In the end, committee members did present amendments, and six amendments did pass at committee, which deal with vital issues including the following: a specification that the benefit cannot be clawed back by insurance companies; a guarantee of an appeal process; and a recognition that four additional factors — the additional costs associated with living with a disability; the challenges faced by those living with a disability in earning an income from work; intersectional needs; and Canada’s international human rights obligations — must be considered in establishing the benefit. An amendment to the preamble recognized that persons with disabilities may face additional barriers because of their gender, racialized or Indigenous status or other intersecting statuses. Two amendments concerned the timeline and the coming-into-force provisions.

As we know, the government and the other place have accepted five of these six amendments.

I am deeply disappointed that the amendment designed to prohibit clawbacks of the benefit by insurance companies was not accepted. I felt that it was a strong addition to the bill, but it was turned back for reasons related to jurisdiction, which Senator Gold has just explained, so I will not delve into that now.

I am very pleased that the five other amendments were accepted, including an enhanced change to the amendment concerning the appeal process — I think that’s a very positive change.

Before closing, I want to mention two points that particularly caught my attention in the debate on Bill C-22: In her third‑reading speech, Senator Seidman drew our attention to clause 12 of Bill C-22, which calls for a review of the act — after its first anniversary, third anniversary and at each subsequent fifth anniversary — by a committee of the Senate, the House or both. Senator Seidman further drew our attention to a recent article by Charlie Feldman, former Parliamentary Counsel for the Senate, which identified provisions in many federal statutes that call for review by Parliament. Mr. Feldman found 51 such provisions in legislation in the period of January 2001 to June 2021, but he also discovered that many statutory reviews never happened, and others are many years behind schedule. Only 17 of the 51 had resulted in a report.

Colleagues, I know that we’re not looking for more work to do, but it strikes me that vital and necessary work involving statutory review of legislation is not being done, and Parliament needs to step forward.

A second point caught my attention: It was Senator Cotter’s comment — also at third reading — that an appeal process might be considered a matter of natural justice in legislation such as Bill C-22, whether an appeal is stated in law or not. This is an extremely interesting and important observation, which raises questions for me about the circumstances and conditions, in government or elsewhere, where appeal processes might be available to complainants as a matter of natural justice. I look forward to hearing and learning more about this. These are considerations for another day, however, but I thank both colleagues for these interventions.

Most importantly, the debate on Bill C-22 allowed us to learn more about and to understand some of the real challenges of life: the needs and concerns faced by those who live with disabilities. I am grateful to all of our witnesses, all of my Senate colleagues and the many folks who contacted me to express their views about the legislation before us.

I feel we have done some very good work on Bill C-22, and this chamber should be proud of our contribution. I urge acceptance of the message. Thank you.