zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Recipients of the Alberta Income for the Severely Handicapped may receive lower personal benefits this month.
The Alberta government’s clawback of $200 off personal disability benefits will begin affecting AISH recipients this month, whether they receive the $200 federal top-up or not.
In March, the federal government announced that the Canada Disability Benefit would come into force this summer. The CDB is a $200 top-up designed to augment personal disability credits administered provincially across the country. Shortly after, the Alberta government announced it would reduce the provincial benefit by the corresponding amount, reducing AISH from $1,940 to $1,740 per month.
In order to qualify for the CDB, applicants must already have applied for the Disability Tax Credit, another federal initiative. In the summer, the UCP government announced that AISH recipients had to declare the status of their application to the DTC to the province. Failure to do so by the deadline of Sept. 5 would result in the automatic reduction of the AISH benefit by $200 – whether the recipient had applied to receive the federal top-up or not.
“People are so stressed and don’t understand what’s happening,” said St. Albert NDP MLA Marie Renaud. “These rules keep changing all the time – I’m having trouble following it, and I have a pretty good idea about what’s going on. So when you think about the thousands of people with developmental disabilities, behavioural disabilities, autism, mental illness – it is just a disaster.”
There’s also a cost associated with the application. Applicants for the DTC are required to submit a medical assessment. The cost of assessment can be as high as $300.
The provincial government says it will cover the medical assessment costs in the form of a loan for those who show they can’t ay up front, repayable to AISH pending reimbursement from the federal government. To date, no information has been released by the federal government regarding this reimbursement.
Applicants in need of this assistance are directed to reach out to their AISH office for assistance. But since AISH no longer offers case workers, all inquiries reach the same general phone line. It’s unclear how exactly these loans will be administered.
October’s clawback represents the first in a series of changes to services available to Albertans with disabilities that critics describe as an attack on a vulnerable group.
Starting Oct. 1, the minimum basic rent for AISH recipients living in community housing or receiving Rent Assistance Benefits will face an increase of up to $220 per month.
“It’s another hit to the disability community,” said Zachary Weeks, a disability advocate. “By the end of 2026 everybody will be paying 30% of their income to rent, which is all fine and dandy if you are talking about wage dollars, but we know that disability dollars don’t stretch the same way.”
Starting in July 2026, all Albertans on AISH will be transferred to the new Alberta Disability Assistance Program. ADAP will see recipients receive $1,701 compared to $1,901 on AISH, including the $200 CDB top-up. All current AISH recipients will have to be reassessed and reapply to AISH following the transfer.
Applicants denied AISH at that time will not be allowed to appeal the decision. The eligibility criteria that will determine whether an applicant will be returned to AISH benefits is not publicly available.
Renaud says it’s not only cruel, but irrational to make AISH recipients prove for a second time that they are unable to work.
“All of this disaster is to reduce the core benefit of thousands of people that they’re going to say should be eligible for work, these very same people that were already assessed to be permanently, severely disabled to qualify for AISH in the first place,” she said.
Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon announced the program in February as an initiative designed to allow Albertans with disabilities to earn more income without forgoing their personal benefit.
“The reality is that Alberta does not want to see people have to choose between getting supports and having an opportunity to pursue meaningful careers, we don’t want to see people punished for participating in the workforce and not being able to undertake opportunities they may want to take because they are in a one-size-fits-all program,” said Nixon at a virtual town hall event held to listen to concerns about ADAP earlier this month.
The maximum amount recipients can earn on ADAP before losing their benefit will be $400 higher than on AISH. But the threshold that recipients can earn before being hit with clawbacks is being lowered.
On AISH, recipients can earn up to $1,072 before being subject to any reductions. That threshold is being reduced to $350 on ADAP.
“They lie,” said Renaud. “They used to spin it, and now they just lie.”
ADAP clients will, however, be allowed to retain health benefits if they earn more than the maximum income amount.
Renaud and Weeks have organized several virtual town halls to disseminate some of this complex information to the people directly impacted. At one such meeting on Sept. 17, more than a hundred participants shared concerns and asked for guidance navigating the new changes. One participant told the group she had severely disabled friends who were contemplating an application for MAiD.
“They feel they have no options left,” said the participant.
Renaud says it’s a sentiment she hears all the time.
“This is going to hurt thousands of people,” she said. “This is going to add more pressure in terms of homelessness, food bank usage, public unrest. People are going to die.”
