april's blog

Le nouveau Comité de direction du CCD :

Lors de son Assemblée générale annuelle du 9 juin 2012 à  Winnipeg,  le Conseil des Canadiens avec déficiences a élu un nouveau Comité de direction :

CCD Has New Executive

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Winnipeg on 9 June 2012, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities elected a new Executive Committee:

•  Tony Dolan, Chairperson
•  Pat Danforth, 1st Vice Chair
•  Steve Estey, 2nd Vice Chair
•  Marc Workman, Secretary
•  Anne McPhee, Treasurer
•  Carmela Hutchison, Member at Large on Executive Committee

Committee Chairs

On 30 May 2012, the Federal Court of Appeal made public its decision in the case between the Attorney General of Canada and Donna Jodhan and the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, intervener.  Donna Jodhan, who has a vision impairment, discovered that Government of Canada web sites were inaccessible to her.  For example, the web sites’ barriers prevented her from filling out job applications online.  This violation of her rights prompted Ms. Jodhan to undertake legal action to remedy the barriers.  Ms.

Sous l'égide du CCD, la collectivité des personnes handicapées s'est acharnée à faire inclure les personnes handicapées dans les groupes visés par l'article de la Charte sur les droits à l'égalité. Une grande aventure avait été lancée.

The disabled community, led by CCD, had worked hard to ensure that disability was included amongst the groups enumerated in the equality rights clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And so a great experiment was begun. Believe it or not, even as the Charter became the supreme law of Canada, there was not yet a consensus about what Charter equality meant and how it would be applied in actual cases. Almost anything was possible.

Le 31 octobre 1980, j'arrivais à Ottawa pour participer à une réunion de fin de semaine du Conseil national des organisations provinciales Ombudsman des handicapés(COPOH) (connu maintenant sous le nom de Conseil des Canadiens avec déficiences). J'assistais à cette réunion sous les protestations de ma famille car ma sœur se mariait et j'avais décidé de ne pas y assister afin de pouvoir discuter sur la Constitution et l'enchâssement des droits des personnes handicapées.

On October 31, 1980, I arrived in Ottawa ready to participate in a weekend meeting of the National Council of the Coalition of Provincial Organizations of the Handicapped (COPOH) (now known as the Council of Canadians with Disabilities). I attended this meeting under much protest from my family. My sister was getting married, and here I was, choosing to miss her wedding so I could discuss the Constitution and the inclusion of disability rights.

If you are looking for something to read, consider The Voice of People with Disabilities: Making a Difference in Manitoba, an anthology in which people with disabilities describe their efforts to make Manitoba accessible and inclusive.  In her Foreword to the book, the Honourable Jennifer Howard, Minister Responsible for Persons with Disabilities, stated, “Just a short time ago, it was widely believed that people with disabilities had little to offer society.

Le 22 mars 2012, la Cour suprême du Canada a entendu un important appel portant sur le droit à l’égalité des étudiants handicapés en matière d’éducation.  L’appelant, Jeffrey Moore, un étudiant ayant des troubles d’apprentissage, s’est battu pendant des années pour s’assurer que les étudiants handicapés puissent avoir accès à l’éducation en toute égalité.  À l’élémentaire, Jeffrey fut forcé

On March 22, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada heard an important appeal about the equality rights in education for students with disabilities. The appeal involved Jeffrey Moore, a student with a learning disability who has fought for years to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to education.  When Jeffrey was in elementary school, he was forced to go to private school after being denied the educational services he needed.