Celebrating Friends of the Disability Action Hall, sharing our gratitude!

On Thursday, March 20th, 2025, "Friends of the Disability Action Hall" met to help us plan our next steps since we received an unexpected email on January 7th telling us our contract ends 15 months early. 

We called upon the community to help us reimagine a better Alberta. We wanted to thank our friends and previous government leaders who support the effectiveness by investing in self-advocacy to help advise good policy changes that save lives and create a better Alberta for all. 

For the future, we want to help create a better plan. In October 2024, Municipal Affairs Minister MLA Rick McIver said, "There is plenty of work to be done." Beyond the built environment, more needs to be done to enhance accessibility for Alberta.

Light the Way, Alberta 

Since we lost our provincial funding on January 7th, 2025 (15 months too early on our contract), at least 830 Albertans have sent letters to the Province requesting that the contracts be honoured. 

We hope you will continue to help us 'Light the Way for Self-advocacy," a campaign to raise awareness and voice the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities from lived experience to help inform policy changes. We aim to connect with 4,500 Albertans to donate $25 or more to help us move forward and continue our efforts.

We are deeply grateful to all who have donated and spread the word. Your support is invaluable, and we couldn't have done this without you. #LightTheWayAB

An update on honouring our contracts, light the way for self-advocacy

Update: A message from the SAIPA, Self Advocacy Federation and Disability Action Hall, March 11^th, 2025

We are still here. But for how long?

Over 800 Albertans have sent letters to their MLA and Premier of Alberta and Minister of Seniors and Community Social Services via a letter-writing website to ask the Alberta government to honour the contracts to provide the self-advocacy groups more time to find alternate funding. We have also been told that many people have sent letters directly outside of the site.

While the Minister has claimed that this funding is being diverted to direct services, the community is well aware that our work also provides direct services to Albertans, as mentioned in the editorial letter by previous CEO of Edmonton PDD Hart Chapelle (Disabled Albertans Deserve Better,February 26, 2025, Lethbridge Herald.

Since the defunding was first made known on January 7, the Alberta government has announced changes to AISH which has left the disability community confused, fearful, asking questions and seeking information that is simply unavailable. 

Meanwhile, these self-advocacy groups, having served hundreds of individuals over the past 20 – 27 years, are likely to fold, as many foundation proposal deadlines have passed. Those with upcoming deadlines will not provide funding to successful applicants until early Fall, leaving a significant gap before supporting staff can be paid. As a result, SAIPA has announced it will close its doors until further notice.  Please see the Calgary Herald article dated March 7^th, 2025 

Disability Action Hall has launched a fundraising plan for the upcoming year.  Called “Light the Way for Self-advocacy,” its goal is to have 4500 people donate $25 or more to secure 1 year of emergency funding to replace what has been lost from prematurely cancelled contract. Those who donate through this website will get an immediate charitable tax receipt from Canada Helps.

Self-Advocacy Federation will pause its actions as of March 31, 2025, and has started a GoFundMe campaign to help them tie up some loose ends for projects they are still working on. Visit “Save the SAF” to contribute. They hope to develop a social enterprise to fund the group, but such plans take more time to develop than they have left. They have asked the Disability Advocate to advocate for their plan and are waiting to hear back from the Disability Advocate.

The groups have also met with several members of the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities to talk about how this has impacted the self-advocacy movement in Alberta. We have invited the Minister to come and speak with the group and await a response.

Alberta Budget 2025 Our initial thoughts

 

The Minister of Finance and Treasury released the Alberta Budget. Our first reactions to the Alberta Budget 2025-2028

Increases to Low-Income Transit Pass Funding

We are thrilled to see a significant increase in funding for low-income transit passes at $16 million ($12 million between Edmonton and Calgary and $4 million for municipalities that operate public transit). This investment helps municipalities guide us to our destinations and opening new connections, employment, good health, and community opportunities. We eagerly await how this money will be distributed across the province and hope it will be enough to maintain affordable fares. 

AISH is intact and has a declining budget; how assured is it? 

We are thankful that the monthly cheques for Albertans on AISH continue for 2025 and that the budget does not impact the monthly amount, yet the program still faces a $43 million cut in 2025. We are alarmed that the AISH budget declines yearly to a grand total of $77,000,000 until 2027-28. This decline could mean fewer applicants, possibly longer wait times awaiting approval and for those who have already received AISH and previously worked in precarious employment. We are now facing a tight labour market, with unemployment rates in Edmonton (7.2%), Red Deer (9.2%) and Calgary (7.7%) above the national average at the beginning of 2025.  

ADAP (Alberta Disability Assistance Plan) Unknowns

We face health challenges requiring adaptions and attitudinal shifts in the workforce. ADAP has many unknowns, especially when we do not have an 'Alberta Accessibility Act framework to assist and measure improvements in the job market and employers for persons with disabilities. Typically, people with disabilities are the last to be hired and the first to be fired and face attitudinal barriers to securing employment and being paid our worth. 

“I have had the same job for 17 years but don’t make enough even to sniff the limit.”

Canada Disability Benefit, Alberta claws benefit back

After months of letters asking to leave the benefit alone, Others reacted to the announcement that the “Canada Disability Benefit” (CDB) would be clawed back. This means that even though it is already challenging (only 1 in 4 Canadians with disabilities qualifies for the CDB), it effectively penalizes individuals for trying to improve their financial situation. We ask: Why do we even apply if there is no benefit to the benefit?   

The CDB is a federal program meant to supplement the cost of living and increase people’s income (to be a top-up). But when it gets clawed back, why bother? Seven provinces and territories (Saskatchewan, Nunavut, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Quebec, and British Columbia) have committed no clawbacks on the CDB.

Given our challenges, we must engage in dialogue as we uncover more details.

We have invited the Minister to talk with us and await a response.

Light the Way, Alberta 

Since we lost our provincial funding on January 7th, 2025 (15 months too early on our contract), we know at least 800 Albertans have sent letters to the Province to honour the contracts. 

We hope you will continue to help us 'Light the Way for self-advocacy" a campaign aimed at raising awareness to continue to voice the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities from lived experience to help inform policy changes. Our aim is to connect with 4,500 Albertans to donate $25 or more to help us move forward and continue our efforts.

We are deeply grateful to all who have donated and spread the word. Your support is invaluable and we couldn't do this without you. #LightTheWayAB