Harpers abusive attitude toward the people of Canada includes those with disabilities

Thousands denied federal disability benefits waiting more than a year for appeals

Thousands of Canadians who have been denied federal disability benefits have been waiting more than a year to have their appeals heard by the federal government’s new Social Security Tribunal, which is clearing just a small fraction of the cases every month.

Allison Schmidt, a Regina-based consultant who helps sick and injured people appeal decisions of the Canada Pension Plan disabilities program, says one of her clients died before her hearing could be scheduled, and many others are declaring bankruptcy.

“It’s not a welfare program. These people paid into it,” Ms. Schmidt said of CPP disability benefits. The delays, she said, are a “disgrace.”

The federal Conservative government eliminated last year a board of more than 1,000 part-time referees who heard appeals of employment insurance, CPP and Old Age Security decisions. It was replaced on April 1, 2013, with the Social Security Tribunal, which has fewer than 70 full-time members – 35 of whom have been assigned to the income-security section, which includes CPP and OAS. The tribunal inherited 7,224 appeals of income-security cases from its predecessor – most of them launched by people who were denied CPP disability benefits. There were also 3,741 new CPP and OAS appeals filed last year. But the tribunal heard just 348 income-security appeals in its first 13 months of operation. So, even though more than 700 cases were settled without a hearing, there are nearly 10,000 still waiting in the queue.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/thousands-awaiting-appeals-before-social-security-tribunal/article19150798/