Applications open for new disability benefit program, payments start next month

Canada's new disability benefit — a program that provides eligible people with up to $200 a month — is now open for applications.

The program is available to people with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 64 who already have been approved for the disability tax credit.

The government says applications will be reviewed by June 30 and payments are set to begin in July.

The payments are meant to supplement provincial and territorial programs and Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said all provinces and territories except for Alberta have pledged not to claw back their own benefits.

The benefit was part of the Trudeau Liberal government's promise to help lift people with disabilities out of poverty.

Many advocates for people with disabilities have panned the benefit, saying it will do little to actually address poverty.

Hajdu, whose new portfolio covers disabilities, said she has heard that criticism.

"I don't think that disability (benefit) is what a person needs to sustain themselves, and I don't think it was designed in that way," she said in a recent interview.

"But it is a payment that allows for a fuller autonomy of people with disabilities in that it's not directed towards any specific thing. It is a benefit that people can use to supplement whatever other earnings or income that they have."

As part of the program, the government is providing funding to community organizations to help people who may need guidance on applying for the tax credit or the benefit program.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle