Created in 1967 as a temporary program aimed at supporting low-income people during the maturation of the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans (C/QPP), the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) has since become a permanent policy that has proved successfully in fighting poverty among old-age people in Canada. In this paper, we trace the history of GIS before exploring its structure and its impact on poverty rates among vulnerable older populations, including single women and immigrants. In the literature, this type of income support is typically more prone to retrenchment measures due to the stigma attached to a target population that is considered undeserving and dependent on public support. This is clearly not the case in Canada. The paper will show that the success of GIS stems from both its policy design (income-tested rather than means-tested) nature and the social construction of its target populations, two related factors that make it a particularly low stigma and politically popular program. We show how this reality has generated a strong consensus around GIS while legitimizing its expansion over time. We also discuss how inflation is an important threat to the generosity of GIS in the long run and what could be done be address this problem. We conclude the paper with a series of lessons about how we can learn from GIS to design more effective and politically sustainable social assistance programs for other vulnerable, non-elderly populations.
umbrella: Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI). Because the old-age social insurance program is by far the largest of the three, most discussions of Social Security focus on that component alone. I have demonstrated in previous research that the old-age program does not constitute an unfair redistribution from younger generations to Baby Boomers. In this paper, I will look at the disability insurance program’s impact on justice between generations, in particular in light of the unfortunate proposals to further increase the retirement age, which will inevitably stress the disability insurance program, because many workers will be unable to continue to work until becoming eligible for old-age benefits. Will such changes affect generations differently, and if so, will they affect women across generations differently? I will also briefly compare the interaction of old-age and disability support in the US with Canada’s approach.
Evelyn L Forget – Women with Disabilities, Intimate Partner Violence and the Canada DisabilitPersons with disabilities are between 50% and 100% more likely than those without disabilities to experience violence by a spouse, and male partners of women with disabilities are 2.5 times more likely to behave in a dominating manner than male partners of women without disabilities. Among the barriers reported by women were difficulty making contact with shelters, difficulty accessing shelters or transition houses, difficulty accessing transportation, fear of losing financial security, housing or welfare benefits and fear of being institutionalized. That is, the risk and impact of intimate partner violence for women with disabilities is not just gender-based violence, but is compounded by financial insecurity and disability. The CDB presents an opportunity to address the intersection of poverty, violence and gender through design features and delivery mechanisms that have been ignored by most provincial disability support programs.
In September 2020, the throne speech presented the disability community with the chance to reduce disability poverty in Canada – a new benefit called the Canada Disability Benefit. Believing that the design and implementation of this benefit was a task too big for government alone, a grassroots movement called Disability Without Poverty was formed to amplify the voices of disabled people living in poverty. Beginning with a detailed look at what principles this benefit should be based on, the leaders of this movement have advocated for the inclusion of principles such as individualization, easy eligibility processes, and, above all, meaningful inclusion of disabled people in the design and implementation of this new benefit. This presentation charts the journey of the movement so far, from the early steps of why, to what and how, from public awareness, to working with government, to raising the voices of disabled people.
Universal basic income and negative income tax might seem to be more similar than different if not one and the same. But the distinct worldviews embedded in the two policy instruments are like night and day. Juxtaposing the two could help us gain some clarity on who we are as a society and more importantly who we aspire to be as a people. But the clarity lies not so much in contrasting the policy purposes or policy outcomes but more so in reckoning with the policy choices. Illustrated with distributional analysis based on survey as well as simulated data, this brief essay would argue against the libertarianism of negative income tax and argue for the egalitarianism of universal basic income. The essay calls for the setting up of what it terms “minimalist” initiatives like the Canada Disability Benefit as a unique kind of natural experiments to inform policy decision making in the pursuit of the common good.
There is little qualitative data in Canada concerning low-income women with disabilities, and their experiences with the law and legal processes in attempting to obtain income security benefits. This paper draws on a qualitative empirical sample of the experiences related by three women in Canada seeking disability benefits in 2021. Using this empirical research, theories of inclusive disability equality, and critical disability theory, I interrogate the proposed objectives of the Canada Disability Benefit Act (Bill C-35) to offer considerations for a disability inclusive policy design for working aged women with disabilities. I also focus on what would be required for a responsive, just and equity-serving administration of the statute.
In this paper, I argue that lessons learned from the disability tax credit (DTC) and other non-refundable credits in the Income Tax Act (ITA) are valuable to the design of a Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). Troublesome aspects of the DTC that should be considered in developing a CBD include the costs of and barriers to accessing the credit and the problematic views of disability underlying it. In this paper, I also argue that the placement of the DTC within the tax system contributed to a muddled purpose, implementation, and interpretation. Finally, studying the current disability-related provisions in the ITA and their coordination with other programs can help to inform the institutional design question of whether a CDB is best delivered through the ITA and administrated by the Canada Revenue Agency.
In this paper, I canvass the literature on the social model of disablement and its relationship to political economy to assess the implications of Bill C-35 which seeks to create an income support program for people with disabilities. I argue that while many versions of the social model have focused on barrier removal to enable people with disabilities to seek paid employment in the competitive labour market, a more robust and interventionist approach is consistent with the social model and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the paid labour market. I rely in particular on the work of the late Marta Russell, a prominent disability rights advocate who focused on political economy questions. Ultimately, members of the disability community are diverse and a range of policy tools are warranted, particularly when addressing the needs of women with disabilities.
A number of tax measures and federal disability related programs have been established to promote the financial stability of people with disabilities who face exorbitant medical costs, and to provide income benefits to individuals who are excluded from participation in the workforce. However, uptake of these programs remains low due to prevailing barriers to access. In this talk, I describe available tax related programs such as the Disability Tax Credit and Child Disability Benefit. I examine the ways that existing barriers to healthcare, housing, and participation in financial services can have projected compounding impacts for women with disabilities in poverty through a community lens. The lived experience of navigating complex tax systems will also be explored through case studies of clients who were supported through Disability Alliance BC’s Tax AID and Access RDSP programs. Where financial programs have become the gateway to important financial supports that reduce poverty, I argue that the design of these programs should include cultural awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities in poverty face.
The promised Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) symbolizes an official acceptance by the federal government of a national public responsibility to address known risks of low income and poverty among hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities.
During successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and provincial governments’ responses to support social groups and economic sectors pointed to serious limitations and gaps in the complex jumble of social security programs to provide timely, comprehensive and effective financial support to many Canadians with disabilities.
Public policy objectives for the CDB, theoretically and practically, could be a combination of four purposes. These are first, and most familiarly, as the provision of monthly cash payment for persons with a low income to meet basic needs. Secondly, as an additional partial compensation for the extra costs of everyday living with a disability in a society of multiple and systemic barriers. Thirdly, as the promotion of social inclusion of individuals and families in various aspects of community life, and fourthly, as an investment in future personal advancement and economic development.
The argument of this paper is that the design of the CDB must concern itself with all four of these purposes in some explicit fashion. The history and present reality of so many programs for persons with disabilities involves the felt effects of poverty, unmet needs, exclusion, indignity, alienation and stigma. Both the policy objectives of the CDB and the organizational means of its implementation from application, through administration to adjudication need to consider how to foster experiences of accessible, respectful and fair interactions between program officials and women with disabilities (as well as men with disabilities, and trans people with disabilities).
The paper discusses the socio-political context of disability in Canada, noting opportunities and challenges in artfully mobilizing around significant reform for a new income benefit program. From the perspective of federalism, a key issue is how to ensure the new benefit actually supplements and thus augments the income of low persons with disabilities, rather than replaces or substitutes income support from existing provincial assistance programs. The paper will also identify design principles and pose important questions and choices in determining eligibility to get the CDB, on what basis and why.
The Québec government will be implementing a Basic Income program on January 1, 2023. This program is intended for people who have “Severely Limited Capacity for Employment” and have been on the Social Solidarity program for at least five and a half years. The Basic Income Program should help about 80 000 people be lifted out of poverty, providing them with an individualized benefit, and thus allowing them to work (with limited clawbacks), study, and live a fuller life.
While the bylaws and inner workings of the Quebec Basic Income Program will not be perfect, and some aspects are being criticized by disability advocacy organizations, the Basic Income Program can be used as a good canvas for a benefit at the federal level on what to do and what not to do. This presentation will highlight which policy components should be retained from the Quebec program, and which could be improved on in regards to the Canadian Disability Benefit
In this paper, I paper consider two programs, the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) with its associated grants and bonds, as well as the temporary Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), with attention to lessons for the design and implementation of a proposed Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). The RDSP is a highly targeted program that relies on proof of eligibility through tax-filing and receipt of the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). By contrast, CERB was more widely available and relied on applicant attestation of eligibility with verification later on. Both programs have suffered from important challenges in implementation with consequences for users and eligible non-participants. I review the extant program literature and provide new analysis of administrative data and the Survey of Financial Security. In discussing implications for a CDB, I pay particular attention to the role and capacity of the Canada Revenue Agency in benefit delivery, problems with the use of the DTC as a proxy measure for disability, the use of family versus individual income-testing, and the feasibility of attestation in lieu of retrospective income verification.
The Guaranteed Income Supplement was introduced in 1967 to provide a stronger income security network for seniors in Canada. It was an early example of a negative income tax plan, or basic income guarantee in modern terms, delivered through the tax system as a refundable tax credit. There has been significant resistance to this form of assistance for other Canadians but two comparable plans have emerged: The federal income tax credit, now known as the GST credit, and the Child Tax Credit, now known as the Canada Child Benefit. These refundable tax credits, which provide income security to families and especially those with children, are administered in an efficient, effective and non-stigmatizing way that offers useful lessons for a future Canada Disability Benefit.