Jennifer Robson on food insecurity among Canadian adults with disabilities | The Hub
December 11th, 2024 | Jennifer Robson,聽in a commentary for The Hub, highlights the alarming fact that Canadians with disabilities are more than twice as likely to face food insecurity as those without disabilities.聽She argues that this disparity is not caused by factors like age or education but by systemic policy failures. With poverty rates for working-age adults with disabilities much higher than the general population and additional costs, such as dietary needs, further exacerbating the problem, many individuals struggle to afford proper nutrition.
Jennifer critiques Canada鈥檚 disability benefits, including the long-promised Canada Disability Benefit, which has fallen short of its potential. She also points out the inadequacies of provincial welfare programs, which fail to meet even basic living standards and often come with complicated, stigmatizing application processes. She calls for increasing income supports, simplifying access to benefits, and creating a national, portable disability certification system. Jennifer suggests shifting the responsibility for disability certification from the Canada Revenue Agency to Service Canada, which would streamline the process and make it more accessible.聽
