Love or benefits? Some people with disabilities face a choice

UPDATE Sept. 13, 2024:Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmsontold CBC News that the Canada Disability Benefit will top up provincial benefits and will not be clawed back by the B.C. government when it is introduced in July 2025.

Jessica Gordon met her person in 2021.

It's a time in someone's life that's meant to be overwhelmingly exciting but when she wanted to take the next step with her partner and live together, she had an awful realization.

Gordon is on provincial disability benefits because she has fibromyalgia andcan no longer work as a massage therapistand she learned she would risk losingthose benefits as soon as she entered a common-law relationship with her non-disabled partner.

It's a problem that's far too common among people with disabilities and a factor that can lead many to avoid pursuing or entering relationships, say people with disabilities and their advocates.

"I learned that so many people either just hide that they have a partner altogether or stay single forever because they can't deal with lying," said Gordon, who lives in Victoria.

Right now, a person with a disability can receive up to roughly $1,400 per month in provincial benefits. But if they're married or common law and their non-disabledpartner makes net earnings of more than $19,440 per year, the government withholds those benefits as soon as their combinedearnings reach thatthreshold in a calendar year.

Gordon says"this de-incentivizes the disabled person from working because it's collective how much you can earn."

WATCH |Why people with disabilities in B.C. are avoiding getting married:

Why people with disabilities in B.C. are avoiding getting married

2 months ago

Duration 10:23

Some British Columbians with disabilities say they're avoiding tying the knot in order to stay on disability assistance. Helaine Boyd from Disability Alliance B.C. says the provincial government needs to change its benefits structure.

Helaine Boyd, executive director for Disability Alliance B.C., said the benefit cut also has unfair and potentially unsafe consequences.

"What it creates is a scenario in which the PWD [person with disabilities] becomes beholden to their non-disabled partner for their livelihood and well-being," she told CBC's On The Coast.

Brent Frain, a Victoria resident who hosts the PWD Allies podcast, said the laws are outdated and have held him back from relationships.

"I just haven't really found the right relationship because at the same time too, as many disabled people fear, that if you get into a relationship status I would basically lose my income," said Frain, who is legally blind and was diagnosed with ADHD by his doctor in the 1990s.

He said many people he speaks to also avoid getting into a serious relationship or they lie about it when they do and, for example, don't declare themselves part of a common-law couple.

Boyd says she's been advocating for years to remove the spousal cap, or at least increase the earnings threshold from $19,440.

"We need a provincial government that will make those changes and boldly disrupt poverty and be humble enough to recognize when their own government has been complicit in keeping within a cycle of poverty," she said.

B.C. Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson said the policy is one she inherited from previous governments and it's been in place for a long time.

"Families look after each other. I think that was the way that things were viewed in the past," she told CBC's On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko.

But she agrees it's not the right rule and says her ministry hopes to tackle it.

"We are coming from a system where disability rates were frozen for a decade," she said.

Medical services, health supplements and transportation support remain available for people with disabilities who pass the annual earnings exemption threshold.

Gordon said she finally decided to move in with her partner when the Canada Disability Benefit Act was passed last year. Bill C-22 will introduce a maximum benefit of $200 per month for low-income Canadians with disabilities, starting in July 2025.

On The Coast10:26Disability Alliance B.C. on benefits

After learning from people with disabilities about a growing fear to marry because of fear of losing their benefits in B.C., we check in with Helaine Boyd, executive director of Disability Alliance B.C., who has been advocating for the removal of a spousal cap for a while.

"And that was like a big celebration day for us because in theory the federal government discussed what the disabled community needed to bring us out of poverty," Gordon said. "I actually believed that they would do that."

However, while the federal benefit is meant to be a top-up in addition to provincial benefits, B.C. has yet to confirm that it won't deduct that amount from what the province provides.

CBC News has asked Malcolmson and her ministry several times whether the province intends to claw back the federal benefit, but has yet to receive a reply.

On The Coast9:16Disability benefits for British Columbians

Gloria Macarenko is joined by Sheila Malcolmson, B.C.'s minister of social development and poverty reduction, to discuss whether or not tying a persons household income to calculate the benefits they receive is the best choice.

In a statement sent to CBC News, the ministry said the Canada Disability Benefit's regulatory details have only recently been issued.

"The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction is evaluating the federal approach and what it will mean for people receiving disability assistance in B.C. An update will be provided once more information is available," the statement said.

Frain said he's not optimistic that people in B.C. will see the federal benefit.

"I think that the government has shown a history of loving clawbacks," he said.