Advocacy toolkit: Preventing Canada Disability Benefit clawbacks
The Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) is intended to help people with disabilities. Tell your provincial or territorial representative to change social assistance regulations to prevent the CDB from clawing back social assistance.
Introduction to the toolkit
It is essential that provinces and territories exempt the CDB from clawing back social assistance. This modification requires governments to add the CDB to the list of exempt unearned sources of income in the social assistance regulations. However, by default, social assistance will be clawed back if no action is taken.
To ensure that people with disabilities will receive the full value of the CDB, we need to request meetings with and advocate to provincial/territorial ministers, influential politicians, and senior civil servants.
This toolkit contains several documents meant to help you advocate and engage with government decision-makers to prevent clawbacks related to the new CDB in your province or territory. The documents are designed to be used together but may be used individually if it better suits your needs. We also encourage you to tailor the documents to your organization.
The toolkit contains:
- Instruction sheet on how to use the toolkit
- Contact list and FAQ that can be used by all jurisdictions
- Letter to government that you can send to the government official with a clear call-to-action
- Meeting handout that you can hand to the person you’re meeting with and talking to
- Talking points that you can use to prepare for your meetings with decision-makers
- Flyer that you can use to inform the public and for a general campaign
- Social media shareables that you can use on your preferred social media channel
- Maytree policy brief on benefit interaction that you can use for background reading
Download the toolkit by jurisdiction
Note: The files are downloadable as a ZIP folder. To make them your own, please download and expand the folder on your hard drive. If you have problems accessing the files, please contact us at info@maytree.com.
Jurisdictions that have committed to prevent the Canada Disability Benefit from clawing back social assistance are marked. The toolkit is not needed for them.
- Alberta
- British Columbia*
- Manitoba*
- New Brunswick – English
- New Brunswick – French
- Newfoundland and Labrador*
- Northwest Territories
- Nova Scotia*
- Nunavut*
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec – French
- Saskatchewan*
- Yukon
*COMMITTED to prevent Canada Disability Benefit clawbacks. For more information, access the CDB Clawback Map by Disability Without Poverty.
Further resources to help you engage with government
Refer to the following sources for tips on how to engage decision-makers in your advocacy work:
- Lobbying is not a dirty word… | The Ontario Nonprofit Network
- Sparking Change: 3 Ways to Engage in Advocacy | Imagine Canada
Frequently asked questions
The Canada Disability Benefit is a new federal benefit of up to $200 per month starting in July 2025, for low-income people aged 18-64 who have a disability. The benefit is intended to address the poverty faced by many people with disabilities and to increase their financial security.
- You must qualify for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) in order to receive the Canada Disability Benefit.
- The federal government anticipates that about 600,000 Canadians will be eligible.
A clawback happens when a person’s social assistance benefit is reduced because they have income from somewhere else, such as the new Canada Disability Benefit. Clawbacks can leave a person no better off even though they receive the new Canada Disability Benefit.
According to a Toronto Star article, Manitoba’s provincial government has confirmed that it would not claw back social assistance supports in response to the CDB.
According to a CBC article, Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial government has confirmed that it would not claw back social assistance supports in response to the CDB. In addition, the government has announced a new income top-up for people with disabilities who will be receiving the CDB, valued at $400 extra per month for low-income recipients.
According to the Toronto Star, Nunavut has also been added to the list committing against clawbacks of the CDB.
According to unofficially established correspondence with Nova Scotia’s provincial government, the province has also confirmed that it would not claw back social assistance supports in response to the CDB. This commitment has not yet been made public.
According to an official letter from the Government of Saskatchewan addressed to Maytree, the province wrote that its “intent is for the CDB to be exempt from Income Assistance benefits.”
According to an Information Bulletin released on September 12, 2024, the Government of British Columbia announced its decision that “people receiving disability assistance can keep all of the new Canada Disability Benefit (CDB).”
Refundable tax credits, such as the GST/HST tax credit, are received when you file your tax return. If a person is eligible, they can receive these credits regardless of whether they owe taxes: the amount of the credit either reduces the amount of taxes owed or is provided as a transfer if no taxes are owed.
Benefits, such as the Guaranteed Income Supplement, are income supports that an individual can apply to at any time if they are eligible. While they are typically not linked to taxes owing, most benefits are income-tested and, therefore, require a completed tax return to assess eligibility.
According to the recently released regulations, the CDB is expected to be treated as a benefit and not a refundable tax credit. Many social assistance regulations already exempt refundable tax credits from determining social assistance benefits. However, benefits typically have to be added to the list of exempt “unearned income,” otherwise they can claw back social assistance.
Currently, disaggregated data for the number of people with disabilities living in poverty by each province or territory is not available.
Welfare income encompasses a household’s entire income from all government transfers. For eligible households, this may include social assistance payments where individuals and families who receive benefits from a social assistance program may also receive additional support through tax credits, child benefits for eligible households, and additional automatic social assistance payments. These jointly comprise the welfare income of a household. Note that the amounts differ based on the jurisdiction, other income, and household composition. You can find more information in Maytree’s annual Welfare in Canada report.