House of Commons to Debate Bill C-22 Tomorrow to Create Canada Disability Benefit – A Great Idea but a Very Deficient Bill, Disability Coalition Tells Parliament – Read the AODA Alliance Brief

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

House of Commons to Debate Bill Tomorrow to Create Canada Disability Benefit – A Great Idea but a Very Deficient Bill, Disability Coalition Tells Parliament

 

October 17, 2022 Toronto: Tomorrow, the House of Commons begins Second Reading debates on Bill C-22, proposed to create the new Canada Disability Benefit which the Trudeau Government promised two years ago. In a detailed brief set out below that was submitted today to Parliament, a disability coalition applauds the creation of a long-overdue Canada Disability Benefit, but calls for the bill to be dramatically improved. This is because Bill C-22:

 

  • Sets no minimum amount for the Canada Disability Benefit or a start date for the Government to start paying it. It could be delayed for years and only amount to $1 per month.

 

  • Excludes almost one third of people with disabilities age 15 or older from qualifying for the Canada Disability Benefit solely because of their age, and regardless of their poverty. The Benefit can only be paid to “working-age” people with disabilities. Disproportionately, people with disabilities are seniors, whom this bill excludes.

 

  • Gives Cabinet the power to make all the decisions if and when it wishes, over the size of the Benefit, when it will start, how much if any it will be increased due to inflation, and who is eligible for it. It imposes no deadlines for Cabinet to ever act.

 

  • Allows a future Cabinet to unilaterally gut or cut the Benefit, in a secret vote at a secret Cabinet meeting.

 

  • Doesn’t ensure a fair, swift, barrier-free process for people with disabilities to apply for the Canada Disability Benefit or to appeal a refusal of the Benefit.

 

“Far too many people with disabilities are languishing in poverty, and they deserve swift, strong Federal Government action to fix this,” said David Lepofsky, Chair of the non-partisan AODA Alliance which spearheads the campaign for accessibility for people with disabilities in Ontario. “Bill C-22 is too weak. Under it, no people with disabilities may ever receive a Canada Disability Benefit, no matter how impoverished they are. If they do receive a Canada Disability Benefit, it could be a pittance, and could be unilaterally cut or reduced at any time. People with disabilities deserve better!”

 

The AODA Alliance’s brief offers 13 practical recommendations to strengthen the bill. It calls on Canada’s minority Parliament to work together to make it a priority to swiftly hold public hearings, fix the bill and then pass it.

 

“People with disabilities should not have to simply hope and trust that Cabinet will quickly bring forward strong regulations, once this bill is passed,” said Lepofsky. “In a strikingly similar situation, we’ve seen the Federal Government moving far too slowly to bring forward regulations needed to implement the Accessible Canada Act.”

 

Too many people with disabilities have said that to escape their unbearable poverty, they are considering resorting to doctor-assisted suicide. It is deeply troubling that Parliament acted far more quickly to liberalize doctor-assisted suicide. It should instead be doing far more, and acting far more quickly, to help impoverished people with disabilities successfully live.

 

Contact: AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky, aodafeedback@gmail.com

Twitter: @aodaalliance

 

For background:

Bill C-22, set out below at the end of the AODA Alliance’s brief to Parliament.

The AODA Alliance website’s Canada page.

 

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update

 

United for a Barrier-Free Society for All People with Disabilities

 

Web: www.aodaalliance.org

Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com

Twitter: @aodaalliance

Facebook: www.facebook.com/aodaalliance/

 

 

 

 

Bill C-22 The Proposed Canada Disability Benefit Act Must Be quickly and Substantially Strengthened

 

A Brief to Parliament by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance

 

October 17, 2022

 

 

Introduction

 

Far too many people with disabilities languish in long-term cruel poverty. It is harder for them to escape this poverty. That is because of the many disability barriers in Canada that impede equal access to jobs, transportation, goods, and services.

 

It is very good that the Federal Government committed to create a national Canada Disability Benefit. However, Bill C-22, introduced into Parliament to create that new payment, is exceedingly weak. Under it, no people with disabilities may ever receive a Canada Disability Benefit, no matter how impoverished they are. If they do receive a Canada Disability Benefit under this weak bill, it could be a pittance, and could be unilaterally cut or reduced at any time.

Bill C-22 should be substantially strengthened and then quickly passed. This brief explains why the bill is so weak. It offers 13 practical recommendations for swiftly and effectively fixing these problems. At the end of this brief is the text of Bill C-22.

 

In summary, here is what’s wrong with the bill as it is now written:

 

  • The bill leaves out and provides nothing for almost one third of people with disabilities who are age 15 or older, solely because of their age. This is because it only allows the Canada Disability Benefit to be available to “working-age” people with disabilities. Among those whom it leaves out are seniors, children and youth with disabilities. Disproportionately, people with disabilities are seniors.
  • The bill guarantees nothing whatsoever to people with disabilities. Everything is left to the absolute discretion of the federal Cabinet, working in secret, and holding no public debates or votes.
  • Under the bill, Cabinet might never create the Canada Disability Benefit. Cabinet could create it, but make it as low as $1 per month. A Future Cabinet could reduce it even more.
  • The bill lets Cabinet define which “working-age” people with disabilities are eligible for the Canada Disability Benefit. Cabinet could only make a small fraction of working-age people with disabilities eligible for it.
  • The bill lets Cabinet make regulations, if and when it wishes, to set the amount of the Canada Disability Benefit, to decide who is eligible for it, and to create an appeal process for those who apply for it and are refused. It does not require that Cabinet ever make any of these regulations, or that they be any good. It sets no deadline for Cabinet to make these regulations. Cabinet may choose to never make any of these regulations. A future Cabinet could go behind closed doors and make new regulations that overturn anything that the current Cabinet chooses to do. That could wipe out in one secret vote all of what was gained under this bill.
  • The bill does not ensure that there is a swift, fair, non-bureaucratic and accessible way for people with disabilities to apply for the Canada Disability Benefit, or a fair and swift appeal process for people who apply for it, and are refused it.
  • The bill’s stated purpose is itself impoverished. It does not seek to eliminate poverty among people with disabilities. It does not even seek to significantly reduce poverty facing people with disabilities. It only aims to “reduce” that poverty. The most tiny improvement for people with disabilities would entirely fulfil that paltry goal.

 

This bill must be substantially strengthened before it is passed. We cannot simply hope that Cabinet promptly passes good regulations, and that no future Cabinet ever undoes them, or that a future Parliament will at some future time fill these glaring gaps in the bill.

 

It is completely understandable that there are people with disabilities who are very impatient for the Canada Disability Benefit to be quickly enacted. However, there is ample reason why we cannot just trust that after this weak bill is passed, the Federal Government will promptly pass good regulations that will plug all the holes in this bill:

 

  • The Federal Government had ample time to develop a more detailed bill. The Government does not need to wait until Parliament passes this bill before it can decide those important questions, like who is to be eligible for the Canada Disability Benefit, and how much money people with disabilities will receive. This bill has been very long in coming. On September 23rd, 2020 the Federal Government committed to a Canada disability Benefit in a federal Throne Speech. The benefit was then included in the 2021 Budget. It was not until June 22nd, 2021 that this bill was first introduced into Parliament. It had to be re-introduced once again this year on June 2nd,
  • Recent history shows that good intentions in this area can take a very long time to turn into real action. During an earlier phase in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government committed to issue a disability benefit for people with disabilities since they have faced added hardships during the pandemic. However, only one such payment was made. It took months for the Government to get it paid.
  • Three years of Federal Government delays in implementing the Accessible Canada Act also proves that hoping and good intentions are not enough.
  • Given how long it has taken to get this far, there is no reason to believe that this Parliament or a future one would act any more quickly to fix the bill, if it is not fixed before it is passed.

 

It is horrific and inexcusable that some people with disabilities have said that because of their abject poverty, they are turning to or considering doctor-assisted suicide to cope with their hopeless plight. It is a serious concern that Parliament acted far more swiftly to amend the Criminal Code to broaden the power of physicians to assist people with disabilities to commit suicide. Parliament needs to act much more quickly to pass effective legislation that makes it easier to live with a disability. No people with disabilities should be left to feeling that they must resort to doctor assisted suicide to escape poverty.

 

We therefore call for public Parliamentary hearings on the bill, where substantial improvements can be debated and passed. In a minority Parliament such as Canada now has, people with disabilities have their best chance to win improvements in the bill.

 

Who Are We?

 

The AODA Alliance is a non-partisan grassroots community cross-disability coalition. We have advocated in Ontario since 2005 for the effective implementation and enforcement of Canada’s first comprehensive provincial accessibility law, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. We are the successor to the community coalition that successfully campaigned from 1994 to 2005 for the AODA’s enactment. We have advised many, including several provinces, a United Nations conference, the European Union, Israel and New Zealand.

 

In 2018 and 2019, we actively advocated for amendments to Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act. See our website’s Canada page for our extensive federal advocacy efforts.

 

We strongly commend the disability poverty and income support advocates who have led the charge to get Canada to create a Canada Disability Benefit. On Bill C-22, we defer to the advice and recommendations of those advocates on important issues like the actual amount that should be paid as the Canada Disability Benefit. We here enter the public discussion of this topic, by offering our expertise and experience in ensuring that legislation is strong, effective and barrier-free.

 

 What’s Wrong with Bill C-22 and How to Fix It

 

1.     From the Start, the Bill Excludes Almost One Third of People with Disabilities Age 15 or Older from the Canada Disability Benefit Solely Because of Their Age, and Regardless of Their Poverty

 

The bill’s preamble begins:

 

“Whereas working-age persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than working-age persons without disabilities, because of economic and social exclusion;”

 

Poverty is most certainly not limited to working-age people with disabilities. It includes any people with disabilities, regardless of age.

 

This preamble and the terms of the bill that follow it together eliminate children, youth and seniors with disabilities, solely because of their age. This cuts out almost one third of all people with disabilities  age 15 or older from the Canada Disability Benefit. Disproportionately, seniors have disabilities. People with disabilities disproportionately are seniors.

 

In the preamble, and throughout the bill, the term “working-age” should be removed, lest this bill exclude up to one third of people with disabilities age 15 and older.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#1. The first line of the bill’s preamble should be amended to delete the words “working-age” so that it would read:

 

“Whereas persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than persons without disabilities, because of economic and social exclusion;”

 

#2. The term “working-age” should be eliminated from all the other sections of the bill where it appears.

 

2.     The Bill’s Purpose is Itself Impoverished

 

Section 3 sets out extremely weak, impoverished purposes for the bill. These purposes drive the operations of the entire bill, as follows:

 

“3 The purposes of this Act are to reduce poverty and to support the financial security of working-age persons with disabilities.”

 

This unfairly and arbitrarily limits the bill to “working-age” people with disabilities, which, as stated above, leaves out almost one third of people with disabilities age 15 or older. Moreover, the bill merely attempts to “reduce” poverty for them. The slightest most inconsequential reduction of poverty for those people with disabilities covered by the bill would fully achieve this weak objective. It does not require disability poverty to be eliminated, or even cut in half or by one quarter.

 

As well, this bill sets no timeline or deadline. Thus, an entire generation or generations of people with disabilities could be left languishing in poverty.

 

A significant improvement to the Accessible Canada Act at the insistence of the disability community was the addition of the 2040 deadline for Canada to become accessible to people with disabilities. The lack of such a deadline was widely condemned by disability advocates throughout the public hearings on that bill in the House of Commons and Senate. The Government resisted that amendment until it was passed by the Senate.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#3. In addition to removing the term “working-age” as recommended above, section 3 should be amended to:

 

  1. Substantially strengthen the bill’s purpose, so that its purpose is to achieve the elimination of poverty by people with disabilities, or to substantially reduce it, or at the very least, to cut it in half, and
  2. To set a deadline for achieving the bill’s purpose, such as within ten years.

 

3.     No Person with a Disability is Guaranteed that They Are Eligible for the Canada Disability Benefit

 

The bill is also very weak because it establishes no eligibility criteria at all. Under it, no people with disabilities, including no working-age people with disabilities, are entitled to a Canada Disability Benefit. It delegates to Cabinet the sweeping discretion to set the eligibility criteria through regulations.

 

As a result, Cabinet’s eligibility regulations could substantially reduce which people with disabilities are entitled to the Canada Disability Benefit to an even smaller proportion of people with disabilities than those which the bill now includes within the term “working-age people with disabilities.”

 

Those regulations are not subject to any public debates, public hearings, or public votes. Even in a minority government, the opposition is entirely excluded from this process.

 

People with disabilities will not know from one year to the next what benefits they can expect to receive. At a secret Cabinet meeting, a subsequent Cabinet or Government could arbitrarily and unilaterally gut the eligibility requirements that a previous Cabinet had established. It could also do that with no public debate, public hearings, public vote, or participation by any opposition parties.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#4. Section 4 of the bill should be amended to:

 

  1. Set mandatory statutory criteria for who is eligible for the Canada Disability Benefit.
  2. Ensure that if any limited discretion is granted to Cabinet to enact regulations on eligibility criteria, those regulations must be strictly limited. They must not override the mandatory criteria to be set out in the bill itself or disqualify persons with disabilities from the benefit, who meet the bill’s statutory criteria.

 

 

4.     The Bill Does Not Guarantee a Minimum Amount of the Canada Disability Benefit

 

The bill does not set the actual amount of the Canada Disability Benefit, or fix a minimum floor amount below which it cannot be dropped. It gives the federal Cabinet complete open-ended discretion to set it as high or low as it wishes. It could be as low as $1 per month.

 

The bill gives Cabinet the power to reduce it whenever it wishes, all in secret, without any public debate or vote.

 

The bill does not require any fixed timeline for the amount to be reconsidered or raised, and provides no protection against it being reduced. It does not require the Canada Disability Benefit to annually be indexed to inflation. At most, section 11 of the bill gives Cabinet the power to make regulations:

 

“(d) respecting the manner in which a benefit is to be indexed to inflation;”

 

It provides no public accountability for any of this. It is a blank cheque handed to Cabinet to give people with disabilities as little as Cabinet wishes.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#5. The bill should be amended to:

 

  1. Set a mandatory minimum amount for the Canada Disability Benefit in the legislation itself, and provide that the Canada Disability Benefit can not be lowered by regulation.
  2. Require Cabinet to annually review the Benefit’s amount, according to strict criteria to be spelled out in the bill, solely tied to the bill’s goal regarding disability poverty.
  3. Require public accountability and openness in connection with the review of the amount, with the outcome to be announced within a prompt legislatively set timeline.
  4. Require Cabinet to annually raise the amount of the Canada Disability Benefit at least to accord with the inflation rate for the previous year.

 

5.     The Bill Does Not Ensure that People with Disabilities Will Have a Swift, Fair, Accessible and Non-Bureaucratic Process for Applying for the Canada Disability Benefit

 

The bill does not establish the process for people with disabilities to apply for the Canada Disability Benefit. It is important for that process to be fair, accessible, swift, easy to navigate and non-bureaucratic. Public funds should not be diverted from the size of the Canada Disability Benefit itself to finance some big new bureaucracy to assess claims.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#6. The bill should be amended to establish a swift, fair, barrier-free, easy to navigate and non-bureaucratic process for people with disabilities to apply for the Canada Disability Benefit.

 

6.     The Bill Has No Legislative Prescribed Fair, Swift and Accessible Appeal Process for People Who are Refused the Canada Disability Benefit

 

Experience shows that application processes for such social assistance benefits can be unfair, bureaucratic and hard to navigate. Deserving people with disabilities can at times arbitrarily be unfairly refused benefits, and have to appeal this refusal.

 

Section 11 of the bill gives Cabinet the power to make regulations for an appeal process for a person who is refused the Canada Disability Benefit. It does not require Cabinet to ever do so. It sets no deadline for Canada to do so. It sets no mandatory statutory requirements for this appeal process.

 

Cabinet could choose never to create an appeal process. It could create one that is hard to use, and that is replete with disability barriers, and then leave it to people with disabilities to have to challenge those barriers in court.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#7. The bill should be amended to set out a mandatory appeal process that is fair, swift, easy to use, and barrier-free for people with disabilities. If it gives Cabinet any power to make regulations regarding the appeal process, these should be very narrow in scope e.g., giving Cabinet the power to adopt forms to be used in the appeal process.

 

7.     The Bill Wrongly Gives Cabinet Power to Create Prosecutable Offences

 

Section 11(q) gives Cabinet the extraordinary power to create a host of prosecutable offences. Conviction could lead to a fine and/or imprisonment.

 

If there are to be any new offences for which a person can be prosecuted, convicted and then fined or sent to prison, it should be Parliament, debating and voting about them in public, that creates them, and not Cabinet, debating and voting in secret. The power to create a prosecutable offence that can lead to imprisonment is the most intrusive power that Parliament has.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#8. The Bill should be amended to remove Cabinet’s power to pass regulations that create prosecutable offences. Any offences should only be created by the bill itself.

 

8.     The Bill Guarantees No Date for the Bill to Come into Force and for the Canada Disability Benefit to Become Available to People with Disabilities

 

Section 14 of the bill leaves it to Cabinet to decide when, if ever, this bill will come into force. It sets no timelines for the Disability Benefit to become available. It sets no timelines by when necessary regulations must be passed.

 

People with disabilities have waited far too long for a Canada Disability Benefit. We pressed for the Accessible Canada Act to include mandatory timelines. Despite this, very few were included. As a result, progress under that legislation has been painfully slow. People with disabilities should not face the risk of similar delays under this bill.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#9. Section 14 should be amended to provide that the bill comes into force no later than three months after Parliament passes the bill.

 

#10. The bill should be amended to set a deadline for the Canada Disability Benefit to become available.

 

#11. The bill should be amended to set mandatory deadlines for necessary regulations to be enacted.

 

9.     The Bill Affords the Disability Community No Meaningful Voice in this Bill’s Implementation

 

It is very good that the bill’s preamble states:

 

“Whereas, in the spirit of “Nothing Without Us”, the Government of Canada recognizes the importance, in developing support measures for persons with disabilities, of engaging with the disability community, in accordance with the Accessible Canada Act, which specifies that “persons with disabilities must be involved in the development and design of laws, policies, programs, services and structures”;”

 

However, nothing in this bill implements those good ideas. For example, all the powers that Cabinet has under this bill, exercised in secret, with no public debate or vote, flies in the face of those good thoughts.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#12. The bill should be amended to require effective input from people with disabilities, and especially from those living in poverty, without creating months or years of further delays in the Canada Disability Benefit being paid to people who desperately need it.

 

10.   The Bill Should Be Subject to Periodic Mandatory Independent Reviews, But Not by a Parliamentary Committee Which May Never Occur

 

It is good that this legislation would be subject to reviews over time. Section 12 of the bill provides:

 

“12 As soon as feasible after the third anniversary of the day on which this section comes into force and after each subsequent fifth anniversary, a review of this Act and of its administration and operation is to be undertaken by a committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses of Parliament that may be designated or established for that purpose.”

 

However, the first review should take place three years after it is enacted, not five. Moreover, the review should be conducted by an independent person appointed for that purpose, and who must hold public hearings, not a committee of Parliament. There is no way for people with disabilities to force Parliament to appoint a review committee if the Government of the day does not establish one. Moreover, in a majority government situation, a parliamentary committee is fully controlled by the majority party in the House. This provides no independent check or balance.

 

We therefore recommend that:

 

#13. Section 12 of the bill should be amended to require an Independent Review to be conducted by an independent person, appointed for that purpose, who has a duty to consult people with disabilities and to hold public hearings, with the first such review to begin within three years after the bill is passed.

 

 

Text of Bill C-22 at First Reading

 

BILL C-22 Canada Disability Benefit Act

An Act to reduce poverty and to support the financial security of persons with disabilities by establishing the Canada disability benefit and making a consequential amendment to the Income Tax Act

 

Originally posted at https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-22/first-reading

 

First Reading

 

First Session, Forty-fourth Parliament,

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

 

FIRST READING, JUNE 2, 2022

MINISTER OF EMPLOYMENT, WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND DISABILITY INCLUSION

 

 

SUMMARY

 

This enactment establishes the Canada disability benefit to reduce poverty and to support the financial security of working-age persons with disabilities. It sets out general provisions for the administration of the benefit and authorizes the Governor in Council to implement most of the benefit’s design elements through regulations. It also makes a consequential amendment to the Income Tax Act.

 

Available on the House of Commons website at the following address:

www.ourcommons.ca

 

Preamble

 

Whereas working-age persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than working-age persons without disabilities, because of economic and social exclusion;

 

Whereas persons with disabilities often face barriers to employment, including work disincentives such as the loss of income and other benefits as a result of becoming employed;

 

Whereas the Government of Canada is committed to the economic and social inclusion of persons with disabilities, as evidenced by its introduction of the Accessible Canada Act;

 

Whereas the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees persons with disabilities the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination;

 

Whereas reducing poverty contributes to the progressive realization of Canada’s international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

 

Whereas Canada aspires to be a world leader in the eradication of poverty, and Parliament, with a view to this objective, enacted the Poverty Reduction Act;

 

Whereas progress made by Canada in reducing poverty for persons with disabilities and others contributes to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations;

 

Whereas the Government of Canada seeks to build on its successes in addressing poverty through providing benefits for seniors and for families with children;

 

Whereas, in the spirit of “Nothing Without Us”, the Government of Canada recognizes the importance, in developing support measures for persons with disabilities, of engaging with the disability community, in accordance with the Accessible Canada Act, which specifies that “persons with disabilities must be involved in the development and design of laws, policies, programs, services and structures”;

 

And whereas Parliament recognizes the leading role that the provinces and territories play in providing supports and services to persons with disabilities and the importance of engaging with them in developing income supports and other support services;

 

Now therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

 

Short Title

 

Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Canada Disability Benefit Act.

 

Definition

 

Definition of Minister

2 In this Act, Minister means the Minister of Employment and Social Development.

 

Purposes of Act

 

Purposes

3 The purposes of this Act are to reduce poverty and to support the financial security of working-age persons with disabilities.

 

Canada Disability Benefit

 

Eligibility

4 A person is eligible for a Canada disability benefit if they meet the eligibility criteria set out in the regulations.

 

Payment of benefit

5 The Minister must, in accordance with the regulations, pay a Canada disability benefit to a person who is eligible for the benefit, applies or has an application made on their behalf, in accordance with the regulations, and meets any other conditions set out in the regulations.

 

General

 

Obligation to provide information

6 An applicant or the representative of an applicant who is incapable of managing their own affairs must provide the Minister with any information that the Minister may require in respect of the application.

 

Social Insurance Number

7 The Minister is authorized to collect and use, for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act, the Social Insurance Number of an applicant.

 

Agreements

8 In order to carry out the purposes of this Act, the Minister may enter into agreements with any department or agency of the Government of Canada and may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into agreements with any department or agency of a province.

 

Payments cannot be charged, etc.

9 A benefit under this Act

 

(a) is not subject to the operation of any law relating to bankruptcy or insolvency;

 

(b) cannot be assigned, charged, attached or given as security;

 

(c) cannot be retained by way of deduction, set-off or compensation under any Act of Parliament other than this Act; and

 

(d) is garnishable moneys for the purposes of the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act.

 

Consolidated Revenue Fund

10 All benefits payable under this Act are to be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

 

Regulations

 

Regulations

11 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

 

(a) respecting the eligibility criteria for a Canada disability benefit;

 

(b) respecting conditions that are to be met in order to receive or to continue to receive a benefit;

 

(c) respecting the amount of a benefit or the method for determining the amount;

 

(d) respecting the manner in which a benefit is to be indexed to inflation;

 

(e) respecting payment periods and the amount to be paid each period;

 

(f) respecting applications for a benefit;

 

(g) respecting the amendment or rescission of decisions made by the Minister;

 

(h) respecting reviews or reconsiderations of decisions made under this Act;

 

(i) respecting appeals;

 

(j) respecting the circumstances in which retroactive payments may be made to persons who do not apply in the time specified in the regulations but are otherwise eligible;

 

(k) respecting applications made on behalf of persons who are incapable of managing their own affairs, payments to those persons and reviews, reconsiderations or appeals commenced on their behalf;

 

(l) respecting the circumstances in which the Minister may deem an applicant or beneficiary to be dead and may determine their date of death if the applicant or beneficiary has disappeared under circumstances that, in the opinion of the Minister, raise beyond a reasonable doubt a presumption that the applicant or beneficiary is dead;

 

(m) respecting the application of this Act when an applicant or beneficiary dies;

 

(n) authorizing the Minister to correct administrative errors;

 

(o) respecting the identification of debts due to Her Majesty in right of Canada;

 

(p) respecting the recovery of overpayments and debts due to Her Majesty in right of Canada, including limitation or prescription periods;

 

(q) establishing offences punishable on summary conviction for the commission of any of the following acts and setting fines or terms of imprisonment or both for such offences:

 

(i) knowingly using false identity information or another person’s identity information for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for themselves,

 

(ii) counselling a person to apply for a benefit with intent to steal all or a substantial part of it,

 

(iii) knowingly making false or misleading representations in relation to an application;

 

(r) establishing a system of administrative monetary penalties applicable to the commission of either or both of the following acts and setting the amounts of those penalties:

 

(i) knowingly making false or misleading representations in relation to an application,

 

(ii) making an application for, and receiving, a benefit while knowingly not being eligible to receive it;

 

(s) adapting section 44.‍2 of the Old Age Security Act for the purpose of applying that section as adapted to the verification of compliance or the prevention of non-compliance with this Act and to the use of copies as evidence;

 

(t) authorizing the Minister, for any purpose related to verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with this Act, to require an applicant, a beneficiary or the representative of an applicant or beneficiary who is incapable of managing their own affairs, to be at a suitable place — or to be available by audioconference or videoconference or in any other suitable manner — at a suitable time in order to provide any information or any document that the Minister may require in respect of the application; and

 

(u) generally, for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

 

Distinguishing — classes

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) may distinguish among different classes of applicants and beneficiaries.

 

Parliamentary Review

 

Parliamentary review

12 As soon as feasible after the third anniversary of the day on which this section comes into force and after each subsequent fifth anniversary, a review of this Act and of its administration and operation is to be undertaken by a committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses of Parliament that may be designated or established for that purpose.

 

R.‍S.‍, c. 1 (5th Supp.‍)

 

Consequential Amendment to the Income Tax Act

13 Paragraph 241(4)‍(d) of the Income Tax Act is amended by adding the following after subparagraph (vii.‍5):

(vii.‍51) to an official solely for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of the Canada Disability Benefit Act or the evaluation or formulation of policy for that Act,

 

Coming into Force

Order in council

14 This Act comes into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.