Mark Davison was assured he had the correct total: $53.36.
That sum is the monthly payment he was approved to receive from the new Canada Disability Benefit, billed by the federal government at the outset as a tool to lift hundreds of thousands of Canadians with disabilities out of poverty.
“Quite honestly, I thought that was just like a sick joke,” Davison said. “Just like a slap in the face.”
Davison, 53, had a stroke two years ago. Now, he struggles to walk and has lost function in his left hand.
A Vancouver resident, Davison receives provincial disability payments, an early disability pension and a few hundred dollars for a workplace injury — all of which amounts to less than $1,500 per month.
He was optimistic when the federal disability top-up was first announced, but he’s now one of many Canadians with a disability who say a tumultuous rollout, an arduous application process and a meagre payout have soured their view of the program.
Payment delays addressed with urgency, department says
In mid-August, Davison received a letter from Service Canada, which administers the benefit, informing him it may have miscalculated his payment.
Davison said he was told by an agent over the phone that he had not been overpaid and could stand to receive closer to the $200 monthly maximum allowed under the benefit.
Through two months, however, Davison has received a little more than $100 — enough, he said, for perhaps “half a bag of groceries” a month.
The House of Commons passed the Canada Disability Benefit in 2023, and the government committed $6.1 billion over six years to the program in the 2024 federal budget.
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, depending on their income and other factors.
The first round of money went out in July, and many people faced payment delays with the second instalment.
In an email statement, Employment and Social Development Canada said the majority of recipients received their payments on time, and the delay happened because the “data contained within the direct deposit file for a limited number of client payments did not meet the specific technical requirements set out by financial institutions.”
The spokesperson said Service Canada addressed the situation with urgency, and all the delayed payments have now been successfully re-issued.
“The August payment cycle was completed within less than three business days from the time the issue was identified and all payments have been issued,” the department said.
Program working ‘as intended’
For Jay Woodruff, it all amounts to the program working “as intended.”
“It was purposefully created to be confusing, and to have barriers and to be demotivating,” Woodruff said, referring to a “wave” of stories from people who faced issues receiving the money. “A lot of people dismissed even bothering to apply.”
Before the legislation passed, Woodruff advocated for excluding the disability tax credit from the eligibility requirements for the benefit.
Woodruff said he hasn’t yet applied for the benefit himself, as he’s stuck in the process of getting approved for the tax credit.
“There’s a lot of issues for people who have applied and have been accepted, but there’s still a very big backlog of people who aren’t even currently technically in the system,” he said.
Not everyone who received the first payments is frustrated by the system.
Kristina Hedley of Toronto is on ODSP and receives $1,049 per month. She said in an email both her payments came through on time and the extra $200 was a huge help for her to afford groceries and other essentials.
She would like to see the payments increased moving forward.
According to numbers released by the federal government last year, the benefit is expected to lift 25,000 people with disabilities and 15,000 of their family members out of poverty each year by 2028 — well short of earlier promises.
Davison said he doesn’t want to sound ungrateful for any amount of financial relief, but he would like to see the government keep its word.
“If you’re going to help us deal with being disabled, then do it,” he said.
