People with disabilities set to receive new $200 monthly benefit

People who qualify for the new Canada Disability Benefit will begin receiving their payments this month.

Haley Flaro, the executive director of Ability New Brunswick, is relieved they won't face reduced disability payments from the province as a result. Under the new benefit, eligible recipients can receive up to $200 per month or $2,400 a year.

Flaro says Alberta is going to claw back from the benefits people already receive in that province.

"They've decided to take it, claw it back from their social assistance benefits, which isn't going to help people move towards lifting them out of poverty," Flaro said.

"It's actually going to be a way to subsidize their own social assistance system, which is really unfortunate."

There was a fear that other provinces would follow Alberta's lead, but not New Brunswick says Social Development Minister Cindy Miles.

"It's more important than ever that our most vulnerable residents feel secure and supported," Miles said in a release. "I want to make it clear to New Brunswickers who receive disability benefits that receiving the Canadian Disability Benefit will not reduce their payments from the department."

Flaro says New Brunswick's commitment honours the spirit of what they're trying to achieve..

"It was really intended to help lift people with a disability out of poverty in New Brunswick," she said. "They're one of the two most impoverished populations, next only to single mothers."

According to the most recent data from Statistics Canada, 35.3 per cent of New Brunswickers are living with a disability, the second-highest rate in Canada.

Advocates had hoped for $2,000 a month

The national average is 27 per cent.

When the federal government announced the new benefit early last year, advocates like Flaro were disappointed by the low amount. They didn't think it would make a significant difference.

Flaro told CBC at the time that they were expecting something closer to $2,000 a month.

Now that the program is in place and payments are set to begin, Flaro says the organization wants to work with the government to make it more generous.

"It's certainly not the amount that people with disabilities were looking for, nor organizations like ours, but there's a lot of infrastructure and planning that goes into this type of benefit and it's in place now and there's nowhere to go but up," Flaro said.

People with disabilities face higher costs

Even though the amount is lower than what was sought, Flaro says it will make a huge difference for people facing rising costs in housing, food and power rates.

People with disabilities also face added costs for things like home support services, medications and transportation.

"We're facing many crises in New Brunswick and throughout Canada," she said. "This is going to be $2,400 a year helping people address their basic needs."

Flaro says the provincial government is open to talking about an income program that would pay a "living wage" to people with disabilities in need, something more like what they pressed Ottawa for in consultations last year.

She says the new Canada Disability Benefit is a step in that direction.

"This is a significant victory in New Brunswick," she said.