Big things are happening and your voice matters more than ever. As the federal election approaches, SCIO’s public policy team is pushing for real change on the issues that impact our community most. Here’s what you need to know.
Peter Athanasopoulos, Director of Public Policy
Canada Disability Benefit to be Implemented July 2025
After many years of advocacy work by the disability community across the country, the Canada Disability Benefit is set to come into effect in July 2025. The benefit will provide up to $200 per month to eligible persons with disabilities. The amount will be adjusted annually to take inflation into account.
Eligibility:
Recipients must be working age individuals (18-64) with disabilities who have been approved for the Canada Disability Tax Credit and meet the income and tax filing requirements.
If you have not applied for the Disability Tax Credit, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible in order to qualify for the benefit once it is implemented.
While we recognize that this is a celebratory moment after many years of advocacy and government relations work, we are fully cognizant of the fact that $200 is still quite low, given the additional expenses that come with having a disability. Moreover, we know that working persons with disabilities who earn over $33,000 are ineligible for the benefit.
We intend to continue our advocacy and government relations work to increase the amount over time and to improve the eligibility criteria. We know that employed individuals are facing extra financial hardship as a result of disability-related costs.
Disability Air Travel News
The Federal Court of Appeal made a precedent-setting decision recently, ordering Air Canada to accommodate persons with disabilities who use mobility devices. The court upheld the decision that it would not cause the airline undue hardship to substitute accessible aircraft when provided with 21 days of notice and when it cannot book a passenger on any other accessible flight. Moreover, the airline was ordered to report on its accessibility plan under the Accessible Canada Act – specifically, on how it will approach accessibility for those who use power wheelchairs.
Air travel challenges have been appearing in the media for years, highlighting major barriers people with disabilities continue to face on a regular basis. While this moment marks a victory in Canadian air travel, we know there is a long way to go for fully inclusive and equitable air travel. That is why SCIO is sits on an accessibility advisory committee with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, as well as a broader research team that includes members from across the country in academia.
As research opportunities become ready and available, we will share them with our community, as well as continue to provide updates on how accessible air travel is progressing.
Federal Election on April 28th
Canada’s Federal Election takes place on Monday April 28th. We strongly encourage everyone in our community to get out there and vote to make your voice heard.
Information on how to vote can be found at this link.
On April 8th, 2025, we attended the Candidates’ Debate on Disability Issues hosted by CNIB. The Green Party, Liberal Party and New Democratic Party each sent a representative to speak for their party.
Most prominent discussion points were:
- The Canada Disability Benefit and how each party plans to address poverty in the disability community.
- Accessible Housing and the decades long waiting lists for housing, and the severe need to build with universal design in mind.
- Funding for essential medical supplies and assistive devices.
The full debate can be viewed at this link.
Accessible On-Demand Transportation
We are continuing to move forward in our advocacy work related to accessible on-demand transportation in the GTA and Ontario. In recent weeks, we achieved a small victory and were able to get an expiration date extension on accessible vehicles that are currently on the road, however, we need to continue pushing forward to bring accessibility back to the table at City Council for approval.
This started with a change.org petition that collected over 1500 signatures from the disability community in Ontario, urging the City of Toronto to prioritize accessible on-demand transportation. We remain optimistic that new policies will be put into place to make vehicle conversions easier for drivers and will keep the community updated on all progress made.
Ongoing call for stories
Storytelling is a key component of SCIO’s advocacy work. This is why we are eager to hear from you, members of our community, on various topics. If you have a story you would like to share with us, reach out at [email protected], and we will contact you.
