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Disability is part of the Equality program. You can find more information about it on its main program page. |
Disability
By Noa Mendelsohn Aviv on February 17, 2011
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has been granted leave to intervene before the Supreme Court of Canada in Attorney General of Canada, et al. v. PHS Community Services Society, et al., a legal battle to protect safe injection sites. CCLA’s intervention will focus on the rights of marginalized people who use this site (and other such sites) and the surrounding community, to life, liberty and security of the person. Insite, located in Vancouver’s downtown east side, is part of a provincial program to create medical, social and other services for the disadvantaged people living in this area. This medical facility has been providing users of injection drugs with clean needles, medical support, and access to various services. However recently, the federal government refused to extend an exemption that would protect users of the site, nurses and other staff from potential prosecution under the criminal law. In its submission to the Supreme Court of Canada, CCLA will argue that this threat of criminal sanction would deny people access to this provincially-run health service and deprive them of their fundamental rights. This is particularly acute in light of the vulnerabilities of people who use these kinds of services: addiction, poverty, mental and physical disabilities, racial and ethnic discrimination and homelessness. Finally, CCLA will argue that the government should not be able to use drug laws – intended to protect people’s health – to deny them access to such medical treatment.
By Noa Mendelsohn Aviv on February 15, 2011
According to a new policy of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), individuals who suffer a work-related injury or illness can now be forced to relocate within Ontario in pursuit of job opportunities – whether or not any actual job offer exists – or else lose benefits they would otherwise be entitled to under a government-created workplace insurance scheme. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is concerned that this coercive relocation may cause economic, psychological and practical difficulties for the injured worker and their family. A person dealing with a new disability may be forced to uproot from their home and their community at a time when they are particularly in need of support. This will of course also have an impact on the worker’s children and partner, and may adversely affect other sources of income in the family. The coercive relocation of individuals because of mere job opportunities is antithetical to notions of individual choice, dignity and freedom. This is, furthermore, a discriminatory policy that serves to further harm an already vulnerable group, and as such is open to legal and constitutional challenge. Despite the fact that the WSIB’s public consultations are only taking place in full several months after the implementation of these new policies, CCLA has taken the Board on faith that it will consider stakeholder input seriously and written to the WSIB urging it to rescind its policy of coercive relocation, and to respect and uphold the autonomy, dignity, and equality rights of people with work-related impairments, temporary or physical disabilities. To view CCLA’s letter to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, please click here.
May 5, 2010
The CCLA is concerned about difficulties that voters with disabilities have had in exercising their basic civil right to vote in elections. New legislation recently passed by the government of Ontario takes some steps to ensure voting accessibility, but does not go far enough to ensure that Ontarians with disabilities will have barrier-free access to polling stations, and will be able to vote and independently verify their ballot in the next provincial election. The legislation gives Elections Ontario time to study accessible voting technologies and also requires that polling station locations be announced six months in advance of an election. Unfortunately, the new law does not require Elections Ontario to re-locate any stations where accessibility issues are identified in advance. The legislation bans the use of any voting technology that is connected to a network, thus prohibiting the use of internet and phone voting at the provincial level, despite the fact that some Ontario municipalities have already experimented successfully with some of these technologies. The CCLA has urged Elections Ontario to move promptly in studying accessible voting technologies and will be monitoring its progress. Read the CCLA’s letter to Elections Ontario. Read a Word version of the letter here. |
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