English

By Sharon Murphy, A Member of the Research Team for the Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship Research Project and a Board Member of Canada Without Poverty

(The Presentation was made at the Canadian Social Forum 2009.)

I hope to set the tone for this presentation by focusing on the realities of the lives of those who are disabled and living in poverty. I want to make the invisible visible. I want to talk about three men I met who panhandle on the main street in Halifax.

30 November 2009

The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail
Wednesday, 25 November 2009

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national human rights organization, applauds the athletic victories of South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who uses prosthetic limbs, and the dedication to excellence of all the athletes with disabilities who will be competing in the Paralympics and the Olympics. We also commend the contributions of those who create the technical aids which assist athletes with disabilities compete in their chosen sport.

For Immediate Release

December 2, 2009

Now is one of the best times to be living with a disability and also one of the most challenging.

Pushing and Pulling A Disability Strategy

In this edition of the Update, I will share information with you about how we are pushing an agenda on disability while few people outside the disability community are pulling the same agenda forward along with us. The lack of support outside our own community means progress on disability issues tends to be incremental rather than strategic and comprehensive. However, in instances when some are pulling in our direction, it is clear our messages do have an impact.

End Exclusion

Volume 27, Issue 4

As Canada commemorates November 11th, Remembrance Day, CCD would like to remind everyone that war is a major cause of disability. We are all aware of the Canadian soldiers who are killed in Afghanistan. In addition to those who are killed, there are those who are being disabled by the warfare in Afghanistan both Canadian soldiers, the soldiers of other countries and citizens of Afghanistan. We need to remember both those who have lost their lives due to war and those who have acquired a disability as a result of war.

Statistics Canada’s Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) is the most important and comprehensive source of disability statistics in Canada and is seen as a best practice model internationally. CCD is concerned that Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has not yet committed funding for a PALS for the 2011 census.

The conference entitled "Connection, Collections, Communities—Making Museums and Galleries in Canada Inclusive and Accessible", which was held at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa from October 1st until October 4th, 2009 was the first national conference of its kind in Canada and it appears to me a number of other countries are far ahead of Canada when it comes to museum and art gallery access. It was timely and, hopefully, it will stimulate leaders in that field in Canada to make their facilities, collections and programs accessible to persons with various disabilities.

Tribunal File No.: T1373/10308
Complaint No.: 20080351