Litigation
CCD intervenes in test cases so that the judge/judges hearing cases will have the opportunity to benefit from the collective experiences of the disability rights community and the analysis of human rights by legal experts fully informed by disability experience. (A test case is one which is likely to lead to a legal precedent and alter a law or practice.) CCD has been involved in many of the landmark cases that helped to bring down barriers that were preventing the full and equal participation of Canadians with disabilities. For example, CCD has used the Canadian legal system to advance jurisprudence on the following issues:
- the accommodation of people with disabilities in employment (Bhinder, O'Malley, and Grismer cases)
- access to long term disability benefits (Gibbs case)
- how equality is defined under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Andrews case, the Lovelace case)
- inclusive education (Eaton case)
- the right of deaf people to have interpreters in medical settings (Eldridge case)
- the application of the proscribed legal penalties when the victim of a killing is a person with a disability (Genereux and Latimer), and
- the equal protection of the law (Latimer case)
Recent Work
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.
October 21, 2009
CCD Affidavit in the Hughes Case
Mr. Peter Hughes encountered barriers when he went to cast his ballot in a Canadian Federal election. As a result, he made a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission regarding the inaccessibility of his local polling station. Elections Canada is responsible for access at polling stations in Federal elections. This case is to be heard by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. CCD submitted an affidavit seeking recognition as an interested party in the case. CCD has an in-depth understanding of the barriers experienced by persons with disability in the context of voting. In its affidavit, CCD shares its perspective on the fundamental importance of voting and the impact on people with disabilities when they experience barriers that prevent them from voting on an equal basis as people without disabilities. Understanding these barriers is critical for the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in order to interpret the duty to accommodate and the factors to be considered in assessing undue hardship. Read more.
July 27, 2009
CCD Factum in the Moore Case
CCD intervened in the Moore case because the case is about ensuring the legal duty to accommodate persons with disabilities is interpreted in a manner that serves its remedial purposes. Specifically, CCD intervened in the appeal because of a concern that the comparator group analysis adopted by the learned Chambers Judge has the potential to undermine the rights of all persons with disabilities to accommodation in a variety of settings. CCD respectfully submitted that the Court erred in determining that to establish discrimination, a student with disability, seeking accommodation in public education, needed to demonstrate differential treatment of students with disabilities in special education. CCD argued that remedial purpose of the duty to accommodate means there is a constant comparison inherent in the duty to accommodate. The comparison is between persons with and without disabilities. Read more.
More on Litigation
June 19, 2008
Groups Call for Complete Restoration of Court Challenges Program
April 7, 2008
People with Disabilities Appear in Federal Court and Argue that Two Agencies of the Federal Crown have Failed to Accommodate Their Needs in the York Steps Project
March 1, 2008
Responding Memorandum of Fact and Law of Joanne Neubauer and the Council of Canadians With Disabilities
February 25, 2008
Groups in Court to Seek Restoration of Funding to the Court Challenges Program
January 1, 2008
Factum of the Intervener, Council of Canadians with Disabilities, in the Supreme Court of Canada Case Honda Canada v. Kevin Keays
February 1, 2007
Factum of the Intervener, Council of Canadians with Disabilities, in the Federal Court of Canada Case Brown v. Public Works.
Jim Derksen views inaccessible York Street Steps in Ottawa. CCD intervened in the Brown Case, which challenged an inadequate accommodation developed for the Steps.
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.