Thank you.
There's a real lack of coordination in governments among disability income support programs. Government, private, and quasi-government bodies spent an estimated $28 billion—please make note of this figure—in 2008 and 2009 in direct income support benefits to individuals with disabilities, without any comprehensive oversight respecting what the programs do as a whole or purport to achieve for Canadians with disabilities. Yet disability income programs are critical supports for people living with disabilities. Most of these programs do not recognize the episodic nature of many disabilities, and when they do, there are varying definitions, policies, and practices because these programs are designed for different purposes and by different jurisdictions.
I'd just like to go to our recommendations. We recommend that the federal government work with the provinces, territories, and the private sector to increase coordination and integration among the eight disability support program areas—Canada Pension, EI, veterans' benefits, disability tax credits, provincial programs, workers' compensation, employers' long-term income protection, and the RDSP, registered disability savings plan, the new program—and the five areas of support, which include disability supports, caregiver supports, employment and training, social services, and medical services.
Our next recommendation is that the federal government work with the provinces, territories, and private sector to develop a program or combination of programs that provide partial disability income support to complement earned income from part-time work.
Where do we go from here? A crucial next step would include convening a national multiple stakeholder policy dialogue, hosted by the Government of Canada to identify and develop a comprehensive response to barriers that inhibit the full integration of people living with episodic disabilities in Canada. It would result in financial and social advantages both for Canadians living with episodic disabilities as well as for Canadian society as a whole.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.