By: Gabriella Rabaa
On June 22, 2023, the Canada Disability Benefit Act received Royal Assent and officially became federal law. The Act lays out general expectations for the benefit, but the detailed design of the program was intentionally left out and will be established by Cabinet through regulations. The Government chose this approach to take a co-creation process for persons with disabilities in the spirit of “Nothing About Us Without Us.”
The planned timeline of the engagement process for the Canada Disability Benefit Regulations was recently announced. The process will move in two phases:
- Phase 1 — Regulatory Design: This phase will be from August until the end of 2023 and will include a series of engagement opportunities to inform the design details and implementation of the Canada Disability Benefit. The Regulations will be drafted during this phase.
- Phase 2 — Review of Draft Regulations: The second phase will begin following the publication of the draft Regulations, which will be open for public comments. Based on the feedback received, the Government may make final changes to the Regulations, which will become official once finalized and published in Part II of the Canada Gazette.
As the Government begins transitioning from the legislative process to the regulatory building process, CNIB is assembling a Canada Disability Benefit Consultation Panel. As a participant on the Consultation Panel, you will share your views on different parts of the benefit, such as:
- Eligibility criteria
- Application processes and requirements
- Payment amounts
- Income testing requirements (i.e., whether eligible benefit recipients should fall below a certain household or individual income threshold)
- Appeals processes for application denials
- And much, much more!
Those interested in joining the CNIB Canada Disability Benefit Consultation Panel can express their interest by emailing advocacy@cnib.ca. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis.