Disability Rights

The Province of Nova Scotia imposes a budgetary cap on social assistance for persons with disabilities that it does not impose on social assistance for the non-disabled.

With the budgetary cap in place, the government cannot meet what the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has identified as its legal obligation to provide social assistance to persons with disabilities under the Social Assistance Act.

This government has the chance to put this right and respect its legal obligations by removing the budgetary cap.

A lawyer representing the province basically conceded Wednesday that the Nova Scotia government has systemically discriminated against people with disabilities, as the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found in an October 2021 decision.

“We are not going to relitigate the issue (that was) before the Court of Appeal,” said Kevin Kindred, one of two lawyers representing the province at an independent human rights board of inquiry pre-hearing.

Instead, the province will argue that the widespread discriminatory practices, identified by the Disabled Rights Coalition and confirmed by the court, were justified. (photo: Francis Campbell)

Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Advisory Board calls for the Province to drop its appeal and take action on systemic discrimination