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Empower U: Learn to Access Your Disability Rights Training on Canadian Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol (OP) training aims to increase awareness of how to address discrimination using more familiar Canadian human rights laws such as Human Rights Codes and the newer international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This is training for persons with disabilities by persons with disabilities. The training is part of a project funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and implemented by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) in collaboration with Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc. (CMDCI), Citizens With Disabilities – Ontario (CWDO), Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities (MLPD) and National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS). Read more.
Accessibility Canada Act Archives
Federal Disability Act
May 4, 2019
Senate Committee Corrects Some Weaknesses in Bill C-81
CCD calls on the Government to accept the SOCI Committee’s amendments and to incorporate them into Bill C-81. Read more.
April 11, 2019
CCD Calls on Senate to Address Significant Silences in Bill C-81, An Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada
On April 3, 2019, Accessibility Minister Carla Qualtrough told the Senate Social Affairs Committee she wants Bill C-81 to be "the best it can possibly be" and that she is open to amendments. The Minister and the Senate have the Open Letter, endorsed by 95 organizations, calling for 9 amendments to improve Bill C-81 and the recommendations of the Federal Accessible Legislation Alliance. These documents provide the formula for achieving the goal set out by Minister Qualtrough. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Study on Bill C-81, An Act to Ensure a Barrier-Free Canada
CCD shares this written submission to the Committee as a way of further elaborating on the recommendations it made at its appearance before the Committee on October 22, 2018. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Wednesday November 7, 2018
Please find a summary of the November 7, 2018 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA). Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Thursday October 25, 2018
Please find a summary of the Parliamentary Committee study on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Wednesday October 24, 2018
Please find a summary of the Parliamentary Committee study on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Tuesday October 23, 2018
Please find a summary of the Parliamentary Committee study on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Monday October 22, 2018
Please find a summary of the Parliamentary Committee study on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Thursday October 18, 2018
Please find a summary of the Parliamentary Committee study on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Thursday October 4, 2018
Please find a summary of the Parliamentary Committee study on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Read more.
November 12, 2018
Summary Note: Bill C-81 Parliamentary Study - Tuesday October 2, 2018
Please find a summary of the Parliamentary Committee study on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Read more.
October 30, 2018
Open Letter Regarding the Need to Strengthen Bill C-81 - Accessible Canada Act
We the undersigned commend the Federal Government for committing to enact national accessibility legislation. As provincial and national disability rights organizations, we write to express significant concerns regarding Bill C-81. The following highlights our key concerns and reflects the concerns raised by our communities before the HUMA Committee. Amendments are essential to effectively remedy these concerns. Read more.
June 20, 2018
Accessibility Legislation a Way for Canada to Realize Its International Human Rights Commitments
Today Canada’s disability community welcomes the tabling of the federal accessibility legislation, by Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, the Hon. Kirsty Duncan. A key election promise in the 2015 election, Canadians with disabilities, nation-wide, have been deeply engaged in discussion about the new law for the past 18 months, and we are pleased that Minister Duncan has taken this important step before the House adjourns for the summer. By doing this, we now have the summer to study the legislation and ensure that it meets the standards we have recommended to Government. In 2015, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) responded to the promised law by making it known that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which Canada ratified in 2010, provides a roadmap for the government to follow for the achievement of robust accessibility legislation that will significantly improve disabled people’s enjoyment of our human rights. “We have been clear from the beginning of the process that we have no appetite for a “light accessibility law,” states Jewelles Smith, CCD Chairperson, who went further to say: “This new law must be robust and comprehensive to achieve what it sets out to do and we look forward to the opportunity to review and work with Parliamentarians as needed to ensure this vital objective.” Read more.
November 6, 2016
Consulting with Canadians on Planned Accessibility Legislation
The Government of Canada is seeking your ideas to inform the development of planned accessibility legislation. Read more.
October 31, 2016
Youth with Disabilities Advise on the Creation of an Accessible and Inclusive Canada
At the National Youth Forum, Natalie Spagnuolo, a member of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities' (CCD) Social Policy Committee, will provide recommendations on where the Government of Canada should provide leadership to improve opportunities for participation by people with disabilities as it moves forward with promised accessibility legislation. Read more.
October 30, 2016
Advertisement - Project Manager
The Council of Canadian with Disabilities (CCD) is seeking a Project Manager. CCD is the lead organization on a multi-agency research collaborative, The Alliance, whose purpose is to consult Canadians on the Development of Federal Accessibility Legislation. Read more.
October 20, 2016
6 Things to Keep in Mind When Talking about Federal Accessibility Legislation
The federal Government plans to pass an accessibility act to make Canada more inclusive and, until March 2017, it will be consulting Canadians about the legislation through a survey and in-person consultations. 6 key points to emphasize at consultations are: 1. Use the act to implement the CRPD, 2. NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US, 3. Name the Act: the National Accessibility and Inclusion Act, 4. Focus on federal issues, 5. An Act must have teeth to remedy barriers, so it must deliver more than voluntary standards and awareness raising activities, 6. Strong measures to support implementation. Read more.
October 13, 2016
What does an Accessible Canada mean to you?
In-person consultation sessions are taking place across Canada to inform the development of planned accessibility legislation. All Canadians are encouraged to take part in the consultation process, either by attending an in-person session or by participating in the online consultation. Read more.
October 1, 2006
A Federal Disability Act: Opportunities and Challenges
May 14, 1999
A Canadians with Disabilities Act?
October 7, 1998
Disabilities Act must have teeth
End Exclusion supporters rally in support of an accessible and inclusive Canada.