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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Pauline Cotchilly is 39 years old and doesn't know how long she can keep working to support her kids.

The Yellowknife woman, originally from Fort Good Hope, was born with cerebral palsy - a brain disorder that affects her motor control. Those stricken with the disease commonly suffer from arthritis and osteoporosis as they age.

Pauline Cotchilly sews some beadwork while sitting at the kitchen table with her one-year-old daughter Angel. The mother of three, who suffers from cerebral palsy, worries she won't be able to continue working to support her kids. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

"With my disability I've noticed as I'm getting older, I'm getting slower, my legs get weak and my speech is not good," said Cotchilly.

"My right side is useless."

Disabled or not, Cotchilly is the principal breadwinner in her family.

Her unemployed common-law partner stays at home with the kids while she works. She juggles caring for her three young children while working full-time as a housekeeper at a Yellowknife hotel where she earns $13 an hour.

Cotchilly also gets occasional work as a seamstress, sewing traditional beadwork onto moose hide clothing.

Her fear is that her disability is getting to the point where she will no longer be able to work and have no choice but go on income support, which would provide an even more meager income than she receives right now.

A few years ago, Cotchilly applied for a Canadian Pension Plan disability benefit but her claim was denied because she hadn't worked enough to qualify for it. She said it hasn't always been easy to find an employer willing to hire her.

"The government says you have to work into it," said Cotchilly, referring to the pension plan benefit.

"How do you work into it when (employers) turn us away," she asked.

The Canadian Pension Plan offers a maximum disabilities benefit of $1,077.52 a month plus $208.77 for each child.

If she were out of work, her family's only reliable income is a $832-a-month Child Tax Benefit payment from the federal government, she said. The duplex she lives in is also subsidized by a the Yellowknife Housing Authority. The rent used to be $32 a month but that was bumped up to $250 after she found the housekeeping job last summer.

Heather Clarke, an information referral and support officer with the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, said there very few options for people like Cotchilly.

"It's not a pretty thing," said Clarke. "The Canadian Pension is very difficult to get."

Clarke said if Cotchilly couldn't work anymore she could apply for income security with the territorial government, which offers $300 a month to persons with permanent disabilities on top of regular family income support to pay for food, clothing and utility bills.

"There are some things that are very positive up here, but the reality of assistance for day-to-day living is very difficult," said Clarke.

Officials with the Canadian Pension Plan and Education, Culture and Employment could not be reached for comment before press time.