1.5 Million Disabled Canadians Live in Poverty: A National Disability Insurance Plan Can Fix That
Disabled people across Canada continue to feel the weight of the cost-of-living crisis, often struggling to pay rent, find stable housing, and put food on the table. A report released December 2024 by Campaign 2000 and Disability Without Poverty found that 1 in 6 disabled Canadians live in poverty: approximately 1.5 million disabled people (as of 2022). In addition to the daily expenses the average able-bodied person has, people with disabilities often have more expenses related to medication, mobility aids, and other assistive devices. Because of this, Campaign 2000 and Disability Without Poverty found that disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty compared to their able-bodied counterparts.
In response to concerns around disability poverty, the federal government has not done nothing, but it also has not done much. As one part of their Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), the federal government introduced the Canada Disability Benefit in July 2025. It is described on their website as “a new monthly benefit for low-income working-age persons with disabilities.” But what was once promised as a life-saving benefit was reduced to a meager $200 a month.
Every Canadian Counts is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization that sees the lack of support for people with disabilities and proposes a new solution, one where everyone’s needs are met: a National Disability Insurance Plan. “In a nutshell, what we are trying to do is bring in a publicly funded National Disability Insurance Plan for all those with lifelong disabilities, from cradle to end-of-life,” says ECC Executive Director Hubert van Niekerk. “An NDIP would redefine the disability support space by making it a permanent pillar of Canada’s nation-building, on par with Universal Healthcare. With this new model of support, Canada can live up to its duty to Canadians with disabilities and Human Rights by providing adequate and accessible care and
Benefits.”
A National Disability Insurance Plan would provide funding directly to individuals based on an assessment of their needs, not their income (or lack thereof) as well as provide connections to health and community services. As van Niekerk puts it, “Disability is not your fault. Why should you have to pay for it?...That should be a societal cost. And as a society, if you look after the vulnerable, then it helps everybody.” He also says the benefits won’t only extend to those with disabilities. “It’s a win-win. There’s less burden on the healthcare system, the prison system, and better for the education system. People are healthier. People are more likely to contribute when they're healthy. They’re happier and it’s good for everybody, all Canadians.”
The idea of a National Disability Insurance Plan hasn’t come out of nowhere. It’s modeled after Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme. Introduced in 2013, the NDIS is a publicly-funded scheme that provides funding directly to disabled individuals to cover disability support costs. According to the NDIS website, the NDIS “provides funding to eligible people with disabilities to gain more time with family and friends, greater independence, access to new skills, jobs, or volunteering opportunities in their community, and an improved quality of life.” It also “includes connections to doctors, community groups, sporting clubs, support groups, libraries, and schools, as well as information about the supports provided by each state and territory government.”
Van Niekerk says, “We have this wonderful, wonderful position now to look back on Australia, get advice from Australia…to be able to take what they’ve learned there and put in our own plan here in Canada. So we’re in a great position. It’s been done, it’s been tried, it’s proven.”
As of the end of 2025, no major political party in Canada has included a National Disability Insurance Plan as part of their party platform, but van Niekerk says there is interest amongst individual politicians and that people are open to the discussion. “Three years ago, we approached a lot of the Liberals, when they were having their convention, and there were 6 electoral district association ridings that voted it as their number one priority to put this into place…at least to do that initial research piece…Every politician I’ve talked to, there’s maybe one that says ‘it’s too big, we can’t do it now.’ There’s very few people you could talk to that say ‘this is a stupid idea, this could never fly.’”
He says what needs to happen now is more awareness about the idea of a National Disability Insurance Plan. Political parties won’t support a new policy – especially something as substantial as a NDIP –unless they think there will be public interest.
A well-funded National Disability Insurance Plan in Canada would not only lift 1.5 million Canadians out of poverty, it would also increase the quality of life for all disabled Canadians. An NDIP would meet disabled people where they are at and would provide them with the supports they need to live a dignified and thriving life.
As Hubert van Niekerk states it, “This is not about tinkering at the margins, as has been the case, it is about Canada creating a bold new system that reframes disability, not as a cost to contain or charity, but as an investment in people that transforms our society and our economy.”
You can find ECC’s petition for a National Disability Insurance Plan here.
Written by Emily Pot (Co-Editor)
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