The Pwdcast - Season 01 (2023) [MP3]

We’re Just Trying to Stay Alive

Since first coming into power in 2015 Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have been promising disabled Canadians some kind of extra financial assistance. Since the disability supports are dictated by the provinces the federal government has had little to do with supporting disabled Canadians. In my opinion, the Disability Tax Credit that we’ve had since 1988 does not count. There are many difficulties in even attempting to get this tax credit and the CRA has tightened the reigns even more in recent years.

The liberals failed to bring forward any kind of bill during their first term in power. In 2019 during their campaign for a second term, they made a commitment to introducing the Canada Disability Benefit. Finally, on June 22, 2021, The Canada Disability Benefit (Bill C-35) was tabled in the house of commons by its sponsor Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough. 2 months later Prime Minister Justin Trudeau triggered an early election which canceled all legislation including the CDB. The Liberals failed to get a majority government after only winning 160 seats, which was 5 more than they won in the previous election. The NDP won 25 seats, one more than the previous election, while the Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois, and the Greens seats remained unchanged. It was estimated that the election cost about $630 million. So not only did the election change nothing and halt legislation, it also wasted money that could’ve been put towards this benefit and other important things like healthcare. But I digress.

On June 2, 2022, Minister Qualtrough re-introduced the CDB which was almost a full year after it was first introduced. It had only gotten one reading before the election was called so to a lot of people having to start over didn’t seem like that big of a problem. But of course, those people were in no way affected by this bill. After a second reading on October 18, 2022, this bill now known as Bill C-22 was passed by a unanimous vote in the House of Commons. I admit that watching that vote reignited a small amount of hope, but I was just caught up in the moment.

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When it comes to affording good healthy food, well it’s not in the cards for most of us. We get what is cheapest and lasts the longest, like kraft dinner or ramen. I also know I’m not the only one who has cut down to one meal a day or less in order to make one small grocery trip last as long as possible. We are 6 days into March and most of us have little to no money left. I currently have $4.22 in my bank account which has to last me until the 31st. I don’t even think that would cover one carton of milk. I am luckier than most, but I still shouldn’t have to live like this.

Every province has different disability programs and financial supports, which I believe is part of the problem. It would make things so much simpler if disability support was in the hands of the federal government. I’m sure there are a lot of arguments against that as it would call into question the entire provincial government structure. As someone who lives in Ontario, my income support has been left in the hands of Doug Ford who is intellectually and emotionally incapable of being in charge of anything. He doesn’t care about us. He’s too busy gutting our healthcare system and looking for ways to make his rich supports even richer.

According to a 2017 Canadian survey on disability nearly 917,000 (23%) of working-age Canadians with disabilities live in poverty. While 25% of Canadians with disabilities spend more than 30% of their total income on shelter. I know that when they finally get around to updating this information those numbers will be a lot higher.

I know we’re all frustrated. What else can we do? We’ve told our stories to journalists, and we’ve gone on podcasts. We’ve written to our MPs and MPPs but rarely get a clear response if we get one at all. Some of us rally if we can, while others try to use social media to get people’s attention. But nothing seems to be good enough and most of us have lost all hope of anything changing. None of us are living…we’re just trying to stay alive.

-- Anne Jensen is a mental health and disability advocate who has been on ODSP since 2018. She is a child sexual assault survivor as well as a religious cult survivor. Anne is passionate about social justice and sharing her story to help others. She is the editor of the #Pwdcast blog and hopes to someday publish her own memoir. Anne currently resides in her hometown of Kitchener, Ontario.