We Need Your Support
Donations are tax deductible and you will receive a charitable tax receipt for 100% of your gift.
Support CCD's work on the Carter case. Donate to the Disability Rights Defense Fund.
Act Now
The Government of Canada is leading consultations to inform planned accessibility legislation.
In-person sessions are coming soon to your community. Now is the chance to have your say. Read more.
Human Rights Archives
Human Rights
November 15, 2011
Factum in the D.A.I. Case
In the D.A. I. case, the Supreme Court of Canada was asked to consider whether people with intellectual disabilities should be allowed to testify in court. Specifically, the question before the Court is whether people with intellectual disabilities are required to demonstrate an understanding of the concept of a “promise to tell the truth” in order to be permitted to testify. CCD was been granted intervener status in this case. CCD argued that courts should not impose a test to allow people with disabilities to testify that is not imposed on others. Courts should focus scrutiny on the testimony given by individuals not the individuals themselves. Read more.
May 27, 2010
Factum in the Caron Case
Fighting a case in court is costly and CCD learned this lesson during its litigating against VIA Rail in support of accessible passenger trains. The Caron case focuses on the court's power to award interim costs while a case is in progress rather than waiting until its conclusion. An interim award provides a litigant with some of the resources it needs to present its case to the court.
CCD, working in coalition with other organizations (LEAF, Charter Committee on Poverty and the Poverty and Human Rights Centre), is intervening in the Caron case. Read more.
Litigation
April 24, 2018
S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation
On April 25, 2018, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) is intervening in a very important case before the Supreme Court of Canada. This case could have a significant impact on persons with disabilities, affecting their autonomy, independence and inclusion. The case is called S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation. It raises the question: can absolute discretionary trusts, also known as Henson Trusts, be taken into account in eligibility criteria for social programs, like a housing subsidy or social assistance? Read more.
February 27, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), the ODSP Action Coalition and the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) will be at the Divisional Court - Superior Court of Justice to intervene in an appeal hearing on a case called Abbey v. Ontario on February 28, 2018. ARCH Disability Law Centre (ARCH) and ISAC are representing the interveners. Read more.
September 22, 2016
Charter challenge of forced psychiatric treatment filed in BC Supreme Court
April 19, 2016
A Modernised Court Challenges Program of Canada: A perspective from the Council of Canadians with Disabilities
The Court Challenges Program of Canada (“CCPC”) is essential to ensure access to justice for persons with disabilities in accordance with article 12 and 13 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. If persons with disabilities do not have the means to access the courts, the rights to equality guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and in human rights legislation are hallow and meaningless. Read more.
September 5, 2014
Factum in the Carter Case - August 2014
CCD/CACL want the public to understand the concerns of the community assisted suicide/euthanasia is said to benefit. To learn more you can access the CCD/CACL factum submitted to the Supreme Court. Read more.
January 2, 2014
Affidavit of Michael Bach in Carter Case
CCD and CACL filed affidavits concerning the Carter case with the Supreme Court of Canada. Read more.
Promoting Human Rights
November 26, 2016
Strategies for Competent and Ethical Disability Law Advocacy
Featured panel speakers will include Ms. Morgan Rowe, Ms. Helen Ries, Dr. Jihan Abbas, and Mr. Charles Ng. Read more.
May 11, 2013
Yvonne Peters, Gwen Brodsky, Ravi Malhotra Discuss Inclusion After the Moore Case
Along with others, some members of the CCD Human Rights Committee share their views on the impact of the Moore case. Read more.
January 29, 2013
CMHR to feature the most inclusive design in Canadian history
“The exciting thing for people with disabilities is not only that a space is being created for a new understanding of human rights, but that it will also be fully accessible,” Laurie Beachell, CCD national coordinator said. “As our understanding of human rights evolves, so will our understanding of access and inclusive design. The disability community is pleased to be part of something that can raise awareness about what inclusion really means.”
April 17, 2012
Constitutional Equality Rights: People with Disabilities Still Celebrating 30 Years Later
“CCD celebrates the anniversary of the Charter and all those who have been using it to remove barriers to the full and equal participation of people with disabilities,” states Tony Dolan, CCD Chairperson. “April 17 is an important anniversary which we must celebrate every year.”
March 23, 2012
Factum in the Moore Case
CCD has intervened in this appeal because it is deeply concerned about the template for comparator group analysis adopted by the lower courts, reducing the right to accommodation to a right to the same treatment or same accommodation that others receive. The reasoning of the lower courts, if accepted by this Court, threatens to make the duty to accommodate meaningless, thereby profoundly eroding the human rights of persons with disabilities in a wide variety of settings. Read more.
March 21, 2012
Supreme Court of Canada Hears Access to Education in Disabled Student's Case
“Access to education, including effective accommodation, is fundamental to ensuring that persons with disabilities will become full and equal citizens, able to participate equally in the workforce and all aspects of Canadian society,” said Dean Richert, Co-chairperson of CCD Human Rights Committee. Read more.
Promoting Human Rights Archives
Ending of Life Ethics
September 4, 2018
CANADA'S MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING REGULATIONS FALL SHORT
The Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) strongly call on the federal government to strengthen the monitoring system for medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Read more.
July 12, 2018
TRACY LATIMER MUST NOT BE ERASED; HER MURDER MUST NOT BE PARDONED
Multiple news outlets are reporting that Robert Latimer has submitted a letter to the Minister of Justice seeking a pardon or a new trial following his conviction for the murder of his daughter Tracy in 1993.
Latimer has been free on parole since 2010. Contrary to some media reports, Latimer has been able to travel outside Canada since 2015, according to the Globe and Mail.
Disability rights activists are concerned that the pardon request is a “symptom and effect of the continuing devaluation of disabled people” as shown by the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia in 2016, according to Amy Hasbrouck, director of Toujours Vivant-Not Dead Yet. She notes that individual choice is supposed to be key to the suspension of homicide laws in cases of assisted suicide and euthanasia. “Yet Tracy was not given a choice.”
Dr. Heid Janz, Chair of CCD’s Ending-of-Life Ethics Committee, expresses profound dismay at the mainstream media’s continuing practice of disseminating entirely erroneous descriptions of Tracy Latimer’s condition. “Some reports on Latimer’s petition revived the decades’ old false description of Tracy Latimer as a bed-ridden quadriplegic,” Janz said. “But the fact, documented in all of Latimer’s trials, is that Tracy rode the school bus to her school program right up until the weekend that her father murdered her.”
July 28, 2017
CCD Alarmed by Blatant Disregard of MAID Legislation
Sheila Elson was offered Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) for her daughter who lives with spina bifida and cerebral palsy. Read more.
January 25, 2017
Media Advisory: CCD Available to Comment on "Mary Kills People"
On January 26, 2016, CCD representatives will be available to talk to the media about how "Mary Kills People" portrays people with disabilities and euthanasia and whether the program violates the CRTC’s Equitable Portrayal Code. Read more.
June 15, 2016
Media Advisory - National Forum for Robust Safeguards in Bill C -14 - Ottawa: Thursday June 16
On Thursday June 16th, join a Community Forum for Robust Safeguards in Bill C-14 hosted by the National Disability Rights Community. We will let Parliamentarians know what is at stake for disabled Canadians and their families. This event continues a national conversation, launched by the National Disability Rights Community. We are Canadians with disabilities, their families and supporters working to ensure that Bill C-14 protects vulnerable Canadians. Read more.
June 15, 2016
Share Your Voice: Community Forum for Robust Safeguards in Bill C-14 Thursday, June 16th
On Thursday June 16th, join a Community Forum for Robust Safeguards in Bill C-14 hosted by the National Disability Rights Community. We will let Parliamentarians know what is at stake for disabled Canadians and their families. Read more.
Some members of the CCD team at the Supreme Court of Canada on April 25, 2018 to intervene in S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation. (L. to R. Bob Brown, CCD Human Rights Committee member, Dianne Wintermute, legal counsel (ARCH), Dahlia James, a second year JD candidate at U. of Ottawa and Prof. Ravi Malhotra’s Research Assistant and Luke Reid, legal counsel (ARCH) , and Prof. Ravi Malhotra, a member of the Human Rights Committee, Prof. Anne Levesque, Chair of the Human Rights Committee, and Erin Carr, a second year JD candidate.
The Latimer Case
The Latimer case directly concerned the rights of persons with disabilities. Mr. Latimer's view was that a parent has the right to kill a child with a disability if that parent decides the child's quality of life no longer warrants its continuation. CCD explained to the court and to the public how that view threatens the lives of people with disabilities and is deeply offensive to fundamental constitutional values. Learn more.