Earlier this year you hosted a national aviation accessibility summit. The accessibility commissioner welcomed the event but wrote afterwards, “progress overall is slow. People with disabilities are rightly fed up...We need concrete changes. Quickly.”

How can anyone trust what is being accomplished, when you host a summit and come away without any deliverables or timelines?

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Please provide a short answer.

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

After years of Conservative lack of interest in persons with disabilities, we were able to put forward the first-ever Air Accessibility Summit. We were working a lot with experts on the ground and with industry, ensuring that persons with disabilities—

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

There's no action—

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

We have committed to better data.

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you.

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

I'm happy to come back to this later.

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you, Mrs. Gray.

Before I move to Mr. Long, I would simply say that it is the member's time, and I respect the member's time and the questioning. For the benefit of the interpreters, I will ask that not everybody speak at the same time. I'll be diplomatic.

We'll now go to Mr. Long for six minutes.

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB

Thank you, Chair, and good morning to my colleagues.

Minister, thank you so much for coming in.

I have a couple of comments. As members of this committee, I think we've done some fantastic work for persons with disabilities, whether it's the Canada disability benefit, which does come forth very soon, or the work that we've done with MP Falk and MP Chabot on Bill C-81, which was the Accessible Canada Act. That's transformational work that we all came together on, and we did great work on behalf of Canadians.

I'm proud of the work that our government has done. Is it ever enough? No, of course not, but we are making great strides forward. Certainly, when I talk to persons with disabilities in my riding of Saint John—Rothesay, they're appreciative of what we are doing with the steps we are taking to move this forward.

Minister, last week, the chief accessibility officer, in talking about accessibility, said that, in her 30 years, she had never felt such momentum in the right direction.

Would you like to take an opportunity to remind the committee of the government's overall approach to the Accessible Canada Act and the amazing progress that we have made?

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

Thank you for that, Mr. Long.

Allow me to also take a moment to thank members of this committee, particularly, who worked extremely hard.

It's been five years since the Accessible Canada Act came into force. We celebrated five years this year. The Accessible Canada Act is fundamentally one of the most transformative and significant pieces of legislation that any government, whether it's a past government or the current one, has ever passed when it comes to moving the dial forward on disability inclusion in this country. It is the foundation for all of the things we talk about to make those systemic changes for disability inclusion in this country.

The goal of the act is to ensure that we build a barrier-free Canada by 2040. The way we're doing that is through the foundation of a couple of things.

First, I want to talk about the disability inclusion action plan. This plan really has been a road map to get to that. It is the road map to get to building that barrier-free Canada by 2040. In the first year, we announced strengthening financial security. That's one of the biggest pillars in this.

I think we all know—and you know this from the studies you have done at this committee—that some of the most vulnerable and the poorest people in this country, who live in deep poverty, are persons with disabilities. We need to make sure that we do everything possible to close that poverty gap.

One of the things we have done, as you know, has been to put forward Canada disability legislation. The Canada disability benefit is going out to over 600,000 Canadians with disabilities. That is $6.1 billion that we have put forward. It's the single largest item in the budget this year. That's $2,400 per year for some of the most vulnerable in this country. It's the first-ever federal benefit of its kind.

The second point is around employment. It's really important that we help find meaningful employment for people living with disabilities and make sure that we remove those barriers.

The reality, Mr. Long, is that we don't know. Anyone can have a disability at any given time in their lifetime. We need to make sure, if we really want to build inclusive economies, that we're removing those barriers. We have put forward Canada's first-ever employment strategy for persons with disabilities, working with employers, working with employees and working with the community to remove those barriers.

I talked about the opportunities fund, which is working alongside the community to match the skills of persons with disabilities and be able to get them meaningful work. At the same time, within ESDC and with our labour agreements that we have with the provinces and territories, hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities are able to get these meaningful jobs—and it's not just about getting those jobs; it's about keeping those jobs.

We know we can't do this work alone. That is why we have a Canada disability business council. This is corporate Canada. We said governments can't do this work alone. It's a network of businesses in the private sector that has formed and is saying, “Do you know what? We'll give you the best practices for including persons with disabilities in our economy.”

I fundamentally believe that, when you include people, Canada and Canadians win.

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB

Thank you for that.

Obviously, it's been in effect since 2019. It has been five years. I think of my own riding, my own airport and my own bus station, and 10 years ago, they really didn't even have a ramp for people to get on a plane or to get on a bus. It's amazing how far we have come, but we have a lot farther to go.

Finally, can you expand on how leading by example and influencing culture change are built into the Accessible Canada Act?

Thank you.

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

Absolutely. That's a really important question.

The act is about changing and making systemic changes within our institutions. You can't put a band-aid solution on something and say you fixed accessibility or you removed barriers. You have to change systems.

That's why we have the chief accessibility officer, who is doing incredible work across governments with different provinces and territories and with the private sector to move the dial forward. We have the office of the chief accessibility commissioner, who is working alongside community members and with federal entities to make sure that there are plans in place for federally regulated entities across government. This is about the tangible work to move forward.

I'll come back to you on what this has meant for provinces and territories, because we saw more provinces and territories step up and put forward accessibility plans after we passed the Accessible Canada Act.

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you, Mr. Long.

Thank you, Madam Minister.

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB

Thank you very much, Minister.

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Ms. Chabot, you have the floor for six minutes.

11:20 a.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here, Minister.

To begin, I have to say that I believe the objectives of the Accessible Canada Act were decided in good faith and I believe in the work that has been done. Progress has been made; for example, we have a growing awareness of the importance of inclusion, and this must continue. We want everyone to be equal, regardless of disability. When we talk about persons with disabilities, we are not talking about a homogeneous group.

The reason the committee decided to do this study is that it was concerned about the progress made in meeting the objectives. It is fine to have objectives, but they have to be accompanied by strategies.

As you know, Minister, the Canada disability benefit, which is to start being paid next summer, is still causing a lot of concern and outcry. This is something we have discussed in the past.

I would point out that the Canada Disability Benefit Act that was passed in 2023 provided that the Governor in Council could make regulations respecting three things: the eligibility criteria, conditions that were to be met in order to receive a benefit; and the amount of a benefit or the method for determining the amount. You have already announced the amount of the benefit, $200 a month, which equates to about $6 a day.

Some groups are already saying that certain factors between when the bill passed in 2023 and when the payments announced for 2025 are made were not taken into account, including the rise in the cost of living, indexing of the payments, and the problems experienced by persons with disabilities.

Where the problem arises is that you had a year to table the regulations, and yet they are still not in force. They are in draft form. How do you explain the delays? Three major groups from Quebec that represent persons with disabilities came to Parliament Hill last week. How do we tell them that almost two years later, the amount of the benefit has been decided, although we don't know by whom, and the regulations are still not in force?

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

Thank you, Madame Chabot, for the question.

I want to say, first and foremost, that I had an opportunity to meet with the three groups you talked about when we celebrated the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on the Hill. It was wonderful to see an incredible group of organizations from around the country celebrated.

I will let you know, however, that I was a bit disappointed. I think all parties were invited, but only the Liberals showed up to the event and met with the incredible stakeholders and persons with disabilities who were there.

I think it's very important that absolutely anything we do is in consultation, because the work we're doing—

11:25 a.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

I apologize for interrupting, Minister.

I would just note that my party, the Bloc Québécois, never received your invitation, but I am very pleased that you invited the three groups from Quebec. That said, I am not wanting to talk about that reception, that event.

What explanation is there for the fact that regulations that take into account the "nothing about us without us" principle, and that were to provide the eligibility criteria, conditions, and amount of the benefit, have still not been made, a year later, although the act has received royal assent and the amounts for 2025 have been announced?

There are two concerns.

First, are the eligibility criteria going to be consistent with what is being done in Quebec and the provinces, that is, there will be no clawback and they will be a seamless fit? For example, Quebec has adopted a basic income benefit that allows persons who have disabilities but are in the labour market to earn up to $14,000 without losing anything. How will these fit together? How will we make sure there is no clawback?

Second, it is now December and the regulations were to have been made in June, 12 months after royal assent. What explanation is there for this not being done?

If we got answers to those questions, it would reassure people, or would mean that the groups that represent them could speak to it and take steps to be sure about it.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Kamal Khera Liberal Brampton West, ON

Thank you, Madame Chabot. First, I want to say that every party was invited.

With that being said, let me get to the crux of your questions. There have been no delays when it comes to.... Within the legislation and the framework that were put forward, there have been no delays in the timelines. We have been walking through the regulations. Whether it was through the preconsultation aspect, the first time that the draft regulations were put in place for feedback or the second time, there were no delays.

I met with my Quebec counterpart twice already, and I have reiterated, not once but at every meeting that I have had with her, the need to ensure there are no clawbacks for persons with disabilities in Quebec. In fact, when I had a conversation with the disability stakeholders from Quebec, they said the same thing, that they are all working together to make sure that they put pressure on the provinces to ensure there are no clawbacks.

We want to make sure that it's consistent from coast to coast to coast and that we're supporting people on the ground all across Canada, including Quebec.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

Ms. Zarrillo, go ahead for six minutes.

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Bonita Zarrillo NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the minister for being here today.

We have two hours with the minister today, so I hope that, at some point, we can have a back-and-forth conversation that's really helping Canadians with solutions for Canadians. Lots of people with disabilities, almost a million right now, are living in poverty, and we have some real challenges that we need to overcome, so we do need to have an open, honest and interactive conversation. I would say to the minister, who comes here and talks about receptions, that there are a million people with disabilities in this country who don't get to go to receptions in the evening, with their free food, their hobnobbing and their photographs and putting it all over social media. We're talking about real challenges, so my question for the minister is about the road map.

The minister said, in the opening statement, that there are four priorities. My understanding is that there are seven, so I'm just wondering how many priorities there are, because they published that there are seven. Then, also, we heard from witnesses about a real need for a culture change, and that's not something that's in one of the seven priorities in the road map.

I wonder whether the minister can tell this committee if there is a mechanism for continuous improvement, for checking in, for identifying things that aren't working and for adding things that need to be addressed.