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The Choice is Ours | | May 14, 2012 | | The Choice is Ours - A National Conference and Dialogue
September 27-29,
Viscount Gort Hotel, Winnipeg, MB
People with intellectual disabilities are growing up in communities and living good lives - as brothers, sisters, parents, neighbours, friends, students, employers, co-workers, and voting citizens. Yet the genetic technology revolution, continued institutionalization of people with disabilities, and new pressures for euthanasia threaten the progress we have made towards an inclusive society.
Join us.
Be part of the conversation.
Be part of the solution.
The choice is ours...
REGISTER ONLINE NOW! | | Link: The Choice is Ours | |
| Charter of Rights & Freedoms | | April 17, 2012 | | For Immediate Release:
Toronto and Winnipeg
April 16, 2012
People with Intellectual Disabilities and their Families Celebrate
The Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) and People First of Canada are proud to join the celebrations across Canada today marking the 30th Anniversary of the signing of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. For thirty years, the Charter has been a beacon for the right to inclusion of all people in Canadian society, including people with intellectual and other disabilities. The various cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada under the Charter have given us both a message of hope, and a path to inclusion – people have a right to equality before and under the law without discrimination on the basis of disability and other prohibited grounds, and this means equal respect, recognition, dignity and belonging. It means children with intellectual disabilities have a right to the accommodations they require to participate and belong in neighbourhood schools with their peers. It means that the long history of institutionalization of people on the basis of disability absolutely does violate the norm of inclusion in community life that is a bedrock value and principle in Canada. It means that people have a right to the supports they need to live in the community. It means the people can take their rightful place in workplaces and community life. It means, with Justice LaForest in the landmark Eldridge v. British Columbia Supreme Court of Canada judgment, that we can finally speak ‘truth to power’ when it comes to the historic exclusion of people with disabilities. As he wrote in that ruling:
It is an unfortunate truth that the history of disabled persons in Canada is largely one of exclusion and marginalization. Persons with disabilities have too often been excluded from the labour force, denied access to opportunities for social interaction and advancement, subjected to invidious stereotyping and relegated to institutions… This historical disadvantage has to a great extent been shaped and perpetuated by the notion that disability is an abnormality or flaw. As a result, disabled persons have not generally been afforded the “equal concern, respect and consideration” that s. 15(1) of the Charter demands.
CACL and People First of Canada celebrate today because the Charter and its values of equality and inclusion are weaving their way into the public and political consciousness of Canadians. We aren’t fully there yet. But with the headway we have made in Charter cases CACL and People First of Canada have been involved in to struggle for the equal recognition of Canadians with intellectual disabilities, we know we will one day find ourselves in the fully inclusive Canada we aspire to. This is a great day for people with intellectual and other disabilities, and other equality-seeking groups. This is a great day for Canada.
– 30 –
For more information, contact Michael Bach (CACL – 416 209 7942) and Shelley Rattai (People First of Canada – 204 612 0518) | | |
| Radio Documentary on Huronia Class Action Lawsuit | | November 23, 2011 | | A radio documentary on the Huronia (and Rideau and Smiths Falls) class action lawsuits plays this coming Sunday, November 27 in the first hour of The Sunday Edition on CBC radio one across Canada and on Sirius Satellite radio 159 across North America. | | |
| Never Forget | | December 06, 2010 | | Convicted murderer Robert Latimer will be released on full parole
today after serving the minimum sentence for second-degree murder. Latimer killed his 12 year-old
daughter Tracy in 1993 through carbon monoxide poisoning. The murder and the debate on justice
that followed it had a huge impact on persons with disabilities in Canada.
“Tracy’s story reminds us that we have to remain vigilant when it comes to the rights of persons with
disabilities,” said Shelley Rattai, Executive Director of People First of Canada. “When this happened,
Robert Latimer was viewed as the victim. But with the work of the disability community, we believe
that today that view has changed and he is seen for who he is and what he did,” Rattai further stated.
The murder itself is a matter of fact and was never denied. The debate that followed this murder was
about justice. The initial conviction was for second-degree murder but the recommended sentence
was only one year. The nation was divided and Canadians with disabilities were outraged. For those in
the disability community, such a light sentence meant that the lives of people with disabilities were
regarded as ‘less than’ those without disabilities.
Today, almost two decades since the murder, we have come a long way as a country that believes in
the value and rights of all of its citizens. Canada supports and has ratified the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on March 11, 2010.
“We believe that Canadians have a better understanding of the abilities of people with disabilities, to
respect our rights, to make our own decisions, and to have our voices heard,” said Richard Ruston,
President of People First of Canada. “Although Robert Latimer has served his time, and the disability
community continues to move forward, we will never forget that Tracy Latimer’s life was taken simply
because she had a disability,” Ruston stated.
| | For more information, please contact:
Shelley Rattai [srattai@peoplefirstofcanada.ca] |
| United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities | | December 09, 2009 | | This paper is an EasyRead guide to the full
agreement. It is not a legal paper. You need to
look at the full agreement itself if you want to
know what exactly the agreement says, or what
countries have signed up to. | | Link: United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities | For more information, please contact:
Catherine Allix [callix@peoplefirstofcanada.ca] |
|
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