Human Resources committee  I would just like to say that we need to think about the timeliness of this in terms of the crisis it is for disabled people. We've done so many things in the last two years that we never thought we were going to have to do. We've rolled out a whole vaccination program. We've rolled out various benefits.

Human Resources committee  Are you okay if I pass it over to Rabia as well? She's probably more knowledgeable.

Human Resources committee  Following on from my good friend Julie, who is somebody with MS, obviously I support everything that relates to “episodic”. I just wanted to highlight what she was saying by saying that when people have any form of episodic disability and they jump in and out of the benefit system or a workplace system, it takes time for things to react.

Human Resources committee  On the question that Thomas just responded to in relation to an amount that would lift people out of poverty, in Canada we currently have something like 54 official poverty lines. To lift people out of poverty, presumably, it would be above that line; however, it costs to be disabled.

Human Resources committee  It's extremely real. I gave testimony to the MAID committee, the joint committee of the House and the Senate, earlier this year. The friend I mentioned is somebody with post-viral syndrome, basically, and, as we live in this post-COVID era, we don't know how many people are going to join that.

Human Resources committee  I know your time is short.... Do you mind if I pass it to Rabia?

Human Resources committee  Thank you for inviting us to speak today. My name is Michelle Hewitt, and I am the chair of Disability Without Poverty. With me is Rabia Khedr, the national director of Disability Without Poverty. We come before you today to talk about the Canada disability benefit bill, Bill C-22, and the need for it to reach disabled people living in poverty as quickly as possible, including Black, indigenous and racialized people with disabilities, who are even further marginalized in our society.