Ottawa/CMEDIA: Technical delays reportedly in a new program in just its second month for low-income recipients caused many Canadians with disabilities to be left waiting for a monthly federal payment days after it was supposed to arrive,
After having passed the Canada Disability Benefit in 2023 by House of Commons passed, the government committed $6.1 billion to the program in the 2024 federal budget.
Those Canadians between the ages of 18 and 64 who have been Approved for a disability tax credit are eligible for the benefit and can receive up to $200 per month for the first year. The first round of payments went out in July.
But many recipients, just last week, did not receive their second instalment.
“We’re really dumbfounded that this technical glitch happened after a successful implementation in July,” said Rabia Khedr, national director of advocacy group Disability Without Poverty.
‘Deep, deep, deep poverty’
With many low-income people with disabilities living well below the poverty line with expenses that far exceed it. Khedr said even a short delay in the payments can be harmful,
“People with disabilities are in deep, deep, deep poverty, and this [missing] $200 is inching closer to that poverty line,” Khedr said.
“They were counting on this money, they had plans for this money, and then for this money not to show up into their accounts is a huge disappointment.”
The majority of Canada Disability Benefit payments for August have been completed, Employment and Social Development Canada said in an email Monday,
“A limited number of client payments remain outstanding due to an isolated systems issue,” the statement read.
To ensure remaining payments are issued within the next few days, Service Canada, which administers the program, addressed the situation “with urgency”, the spokesperson said.
The agency added it is working diligently with partners to “secure the smooth implementation of this new benefit and prevent system issues from happening in the future.”
Khedr said she’d like to know exactly what went wrong and what safeguards have been put in place to prevent something similar from happening in the future, and hopes the issue is resolved quickly.
“People need a lot of reassurances,” Khedr said. “This kind of mistake, this kind of glitch, this kind of failure breaches trust.”
