Legal Decision

A Disability Rights Coalition lawyer says there can only be one conclusion as to why the province does not do the right thing for Nova Scotia’s disabled.

“Fundamentally, they (government) don’t care about people with disabilities,” said Claire McNeil. “They say they do and you hear that all the time from this premier and previous premiers and ministers of community services but actions speak louder than words and the solution to this problem has been staring us in the face for decades and other provinces have done it and we haven’t.”

Nova Scotia’s application for permission to appeal a decision that found evidence it discriminated against people with disabilities has been dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Disability rights advocates are hailing a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada dismissing the Nova Scotia government’s appeal of a lower court ruling on housing discrimination.

The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed Nova Scotia’s bid to appeal a decision that found the province has for years been discriminating against people with disabilities.

A lawyer who represented the Disability Rights Coalition says the Houston government’s first budget doesn’t go far enough in guaranteeing that all Nova Scotians with disabilities are supported and can live in communities. (photo:CBC)

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)