Mr. Speaker, MS is the most common neurological disease affecting young Canadians. The incidence is three times higher among women. COVID-19 has amplified the income insecurity faced by women with disabilities.
Diagnosed with MS in 2008, Michelle Hewitt shares how difficult it is to make ends meet. She says, “I regularly speak to women....no longer able to work [WITH] no avenues for income once their medical employment insurance is finished...they are not seen as ‘disabled enough.’ The system is failing them.”
Our government, in the Speech from the Throne, vowed to introduce a new Canadian disability benefit to support Canadians with disabilities and lift them out of poverty.
Today, in honour of MS Awareness Month, I will join with MS Society's carnation pinning campaign to support a world free of MS. I encourage all to join in this effort.