Our Key Messages
One Vision and Voice
People First of Canada is the national voice for people who have been labeled with an intellectual disability. People First of Canada board members control and direct the organization and its activities.
What do we do?
- We promote equality for all people who have been labeled.
- We speak for ourselves and make our own decisions.
- We educate the community about our movement and our issues.
- We promote plain language.
We have a vision of a Canada that values diversity, inclusion, and the equality of rights and freedoms of all its citizens.
Our mission is to support each other to reclaim our right to be recognized as full citizens. We do this through peer support, sharing our personal stories, developing leadership skills, advocating for our right to choose where and with whom we live, and by making sure that our voices are heard and respected.
We want to work together to educate and influence communities and government to ensure that all people labeled with intellectual disabilities are fully included and supported to live as equal citizens in Canada.
Our Principles
Our principles include:
- Freedom
- Equality
- Choice
- Empowerment
- Respect!
We believe human rights belong to everybody. We believe in and follow the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or CRPD.
Our Priorities
People First of Canada focuses on six priorities that affect the lives and rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Each priority connects to a right in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The CRPD says that people with disabilities have the same human rights as everyone else. It also tells governments what they need to do to protect those rights.
Our work also supports the goals of the Accessible Canada Act, which works to identify, remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities.
Our six priorities are as follows:
- Raising awareness of the issues people with intellectual disabilities have in our country
- The right to make your own decisions / Being equal before the law (legal capacity)
- The right to live in and be included in the community
- The right to an inclusive education
- The right to be able to get a job and be employed
- The right to an adequate standard of living
Across All Our Work – Nothing About Us Without Us
There are two things that are important across all six of our priorities: accessible information and meaningful inclusion.
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities need information that is easy to find, understand, and use. Plain language is an important accessibility accommodation for many people.
People must also be meaningfully included when governments, organizations and communities make decisions about issues that affect our lives. This means being involved from the beginning, having the information and support needed to participate, and knowing that our ideas and experiences are valued.
This is what Nothing About Us Without Us means to us.