Benefit Backlog: Where Is My Canada Disability Benefit?

Some Canadians have been left wondering when their Canada Disability Benefit support will arrive

BC Disability

By Scott Imbeau

July 21, 2025

Three days ago I sent a message to news rooms and journalists in BC and across Canada.

It was about the serious backlog of applications for the federal disability benefit.

The problem isn't just that there's a backlog - it's that they are trying to use a broken system which was never designed for what they're trying to accomplish. 

When I called on Tuesday of this week looking for a status update on my application and a potential timeline for a decision, neither service Canada nor the phone bank workers had access to my application or could even prove that my application was in the system.

This is despite me having a confirmation code from when I applied nearly four weeks ago.

Neither service Canada nor the phone bank workers had access to my application or could even prove that my application was in the system

The workers also stated that I was far from alone in this matter and that this is a regular occurrence.

I get that this is a brand new system, but without being able to access the information that was input into the system digitally what good is the system at all?

Note that nobody I talked to said the system isn't working the way it was intended.

The system is not broken - it is just not functioning as is needed and is incredibly slow, in my estimate, likely due to the human factor of having to have a worker manually input the information which was already put in once digitally.

The first Canada disability benefit payment was supposed to go out yesterday for everyone who qualified.

Yet, according to the worker I talked to yesterday, there are people who applied on day one -over four weeks ago - who have not yet been approved for the support and as a result did not receive it yesterday.

Millions of people qualify for the tiny amount of support they will be receiving every month, and as much as it's not going to lift people out of poverty as claimed by the Liberal government, the $200 would still make people a little comfortable.

For me, who is now living in a basement with two other people which routinely has toilet water covering the floor of the bathroom, that small amount of funding would enable me to find a place to live which didn't put my health in jeopardy every day.

That small amount of funding would enable me to find a place to live which didn't put my health in jeopardy every day.

Worst case scenario for me at this point, assuming I will qualify for the benefit once they finally look at my file, is that I will have to wait up to another two months for any of the support I qualify for. 

And, as frustrating as that is, I'm still one of the lucky ones because my physical safety is generally okay and the other people living with me are respectful of me and my space. Many people in my situation aren't so fortunate.

In the lead-up to when the first payment was supposed to go out, I was extremely pessimistic that they had hired enough people to process the millions of applications they were going to receive.

But I never expected it to be this bad.

Through all of this, I am incredibly disappointed that no one, having been given this information, has made any attempt to contact me or to my knowledge inquire about it with the federal government.

No newspaper, website, news television program, web blog, or any social media from any news gathering person has commented about this situation in any way that I have been able to find.

If, during the pandemic, the CERB payments had been delayed this badly it would have been on every news dissemination service in the country and questions about the ability of the government to lead and support its people would be asked on a near constant basis.

But once again the low-income and the disabled aren't even getting a single question about this problem.

I am a left-wing voter and I'm at the point where I'm considering messaging the local federal Conservative members and asking them to try and get something done about this even though they don't want the payments going out in the first place.

At the very least they would love to attack the liberal government for its inability to support its most vulnerable citizens.

For another article around this topic, read: The Shifting Narrative Around the Canada Disability Benefit by Simon Spichak and Sarah Colero

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Spencer van Vloten is the editor of BC Disability. To get in touch, send an email to spencer@bcdisability.com!