Concerns raised about potential gaps as N.S. overhauls disability support

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia is overhauling the way it supports people living with disabilities. Instead of funding organizations, it’s going to send money directly to individuals.

It’s a sweeping change the province says empowers people to live more independently. It’s also part of a five-year court-ordered transformation of the disability support system and how funding and services are delivered.

“We are the last jurisdiction in the country to actually move to a process of making sure that persons with disabilities have the ability to live in community,” said Craig Beaton, the deputy minister with the Department of Opportunities and Social Development.

“Many other jurisdictions did this over decades. And we’re doing it over a five-year period.”

The province has entered year four of the Human Rights Remedy, which is essentially flipping the funding model upside down. Instead of directly funding community support programs, the province is shifting to individualized funding and giving money directly to individuals with disabilities so they can live more independently.

In 2021, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled the province had committed “systemic discrimination” against people with disabilities and failed to support their living in the community.

The province says the foundation for the new funding model is there, and it is still working on helping people find homes outside of institutional settings.

“This is a transformational change in terms of how we deliver disability supports,” said Beaton.

But some families are concerned about the funding transition and support gaps that may be left in the community.

Beaton said they’re “committed to addressing those gaps when we see them.”

Earlier this year, the province cut nearly $12 million in funding from the Department of Opportunities and Social Development budget that went to directly to community programming and services.

The cuts were part of a larger $150 million in cuts across the departments – a move the Progressive Conservative government said was necessary to address the growing $1.2-billion deficit.

But the cuts caught providers and those who rely on the services off guard and triggered large-scale protests.

Premier Tim Houston later apologized and reversed some of the cuts, including the disability support program funding.

One family says they support the independence of those living with disabilities but worry about what will happen to community programming during this new transition.

“I am concerned that core funding will be cut for day programming before individualized funding is in place,” said Anne Louise Desrosiers, who lives and takes care of her 28-year-old son Luc, who has a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder.

Desrosiers said she’s still not sure what individualized funding will mean for her son and is worried about impacts to day programming she and her son rely on.

“I think it’s rushed,” said Desrosiers. “I think they’re trying to do too many transitions at once.”

The department said it will continue to work with community support groups and grants and other funding will remain available.