Nova Scotia Disability Rights are Human Rights
Jen Powley, author and advocate for people with disabilities, has died. She was 45. [photo: contributed]
Having filed its human rights claim in 2014, the Disability Rights Coalition is very happy to report that we have achieved what we feel is a tremendous remedy to the systemic discrimination found by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in October 2021.
On June 28, 2023, the human rights Board of Inquiry approved an Interim Consent Order, which will start a step by step 5 year plan for the government to end the systemic discrimination of persons with disabilities in their access to social assistance including supports and services to live in community.
A settlement agreement has been approved in the case of the province’s systemic discrimination against disabled Nova Scotians, stipulating the closure over the next five years of all institutions for people with disabilities. [photo: Ryan Taplin]
Plan based on recommendation to move most people in institutions into housing in communities by 2025, [photo: Evan Mitsui/CBC]
The Board of inquiry will hear from the parties with respect to a systemic human rights remedy and the details of an interim agreement with respect to monitoring and enforcement of that agreement to end discrimination against persons with disabilities in their access to social assistance.
The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Holiday Inn Express & Suites Halifax-Bedford, 980 Parkland Drive, Halifax.
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson formally apologized in the legislature Thursday to former residents of the Manitoba Developmental Centre, one of the country’s last large institutional facilities for people with intellectual disabilities. [photo: Manitoba Archives]
Interim agreement reached on a systemic human rights remedy for persons with disabilities.
The DRC is today releasing the Expert Report that formed the foundation of its Interim Settlement Agreement with the Province and the NS Human Rights Commission. In the wake of the landmark October 2021 NS Court of Appeal ruling finding systemic discrimination by the Province against persons with disabilities, the DRC and the Province agreed to obtain independent expert advice as to how the systemic discrimination identified by the Court of Appeal in its provision of supports and services could be resolved in a human rights compliant way. Here’s their Expert Report along with a five-page plain language Summary.
The pages below will introduce you to the recent Human Rights Case in Nova Scotia:
This is the documentary The Freedom Tour of Nova Scotia (1:11 hours)
Media Coverage of EH Human Rights Complaint
The case is a legal discrimination complaint about the Province’s failure to treat people with disabilities in a way that ensures that all persons with disabilities are supported to live in community.