How should the new Canada Disability Benefit interact with existing disability supports?

Recognizing this reality, in June 2023, the Parliament of Canada passed Bill C-22, establishing the Canada Disability Benefit to “reduce poverty and to support the financial security of persons with disabilities.”3 The Bill is a “framework 1 This paper assumes that the amount of the Canada Disability Benefit will not, by itself, meet the threshold of an adequate standard of living for people with. [...] Ensuring that the new CDB interacts favorably with existing supports – notably social assistance and the Canada Pension Plan disability benefit (CPP-D) – will be necessary to eliminate poverty and guarantee the right to an adequate standard of living to people with disabilities in Canada. [...] What are social assistance and the Canada Pension Plan disability benefits? The CPP-D is a benefit within the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) – the retirement pension run by the federal government. [...] How CDB and CPP-D should interact Since the CPP-D and the CDB are both federal programs, it is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that they supplement each other without any clawbacks. [...] How CDB and social assistance should interact In recognition that the intent of Bill C-22 is to reduce the poverty of people with disabilities, the federal government should seek assurances from all provinces and territories that social assistance benefits will not be reduced because someone is eligible for the CDB.