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Reserve 28 and 29 November 2012 on your calendar for End Exclusion.  This public forum is an opportunity to engage with members of the disability community, researchers and Federal Government representatives about poverty and related issues of concern to people living with disabilities in Canada. 

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.

Ending of Life Ethics

31 May 2012

For Immediate Release

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national organization that works for an accessible and inclusive Canada, applauds the efforts of Donna Jodhan, who has waged a long, and often frustrating, legal battle against the Federal Government to convince it to make its web sites accessible to Canadians with vision impairments. 

Report Prepared for CCD by Joëlle Pastora Sala
Law Student, Faculty of Law University of Ottawa

With the end of March, we said goodbye to the old fiscal year, and made our acquaintance with the new fiscal year.  In this Update, we look back on the accomplishments of our 2011-12 fiscal year and provide a bird’s eye view of some things to expect during the next 12 months.

April 2012 and the Coming Months

30th Anniversary of Charter of Rights and Freedoms

During the month of February, CCD’s attention was focused on human rights issues.  CCD spoke out in support of access to justice by persons with disabilities, access to employment and accommodation of students with disabilities by the public school system; shared a disability rights perspective on an end of life issue; and promoted knowledge dissemination on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

CCD and DAWN Canada Celebrate Victory at Supreme Court

For immediate Release

April 17, 2012

April 17, 1982 signalled a new era beginning for Canadians with disabilities, as Canada’s new Constitution came into force. In the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada made a constitutional commitment in Section 15 to equality before and under the law for those living with disabilities.  (Section 15 came into force in 1985.)  Canada’s constitution was the first to include equality rights protection of people with disabilities.

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.