Celebrating Our Accomplishments

Thirty years ago a group of dedicated Canadians made history by entrenching the rights of people with mental and physical disabilities in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Their story is told in a new publication produced by the Council for Canadians with Disabilities, entitled Celebrating Our Accomplishments. The following is an excerpt:

“When the Joint Committee of the House of Commons and the Senate on the Constitution of Canada, chaired by the Honourable Jean Chrétien, then Canadian Minister of Justice, met to hear

the views of Canadians, CCD and its allies presented arguments for the inclusion of physical and mental disabilities in the equality rights section of the Charter. CCD also coordinated a night telegram campaign urging all parties to support the inclusion of disability in the Charter. Fortuitously, CCD’s national coordinator had been seconded to the House of Commons Committees Branch as special advisor to the all party Special Committee on the Handicapped and Disabled. This committee was persuaded to make a preliminary report to the House of Commons recommending, “Should it be the will of Parliament to entrench Human Rights in a patriated Constitution, your Committee believes that full and equal protection should be provided for persons with physical or mental handicaps.” The members of this Special Committee on the Handicapped and Disabled then undertook a consistent and committed lobby in each of their respective party caucuses for party support of this recommendation. The opposition New Democratic and Progressive Conservative parties were quick to support the recommendation but the governing Liberal party was more difficult to convince.”
After all it’s part of our Canadian history. Entrenching the rights of people with disabilities in the Charter set the ball in motion and since then countless advances have been made by people with disabilities and their advocates.  Thirty years of work and accomplishments are documented in Celebrating Our Accomplishments.

We’re particularly pleased at the recognition afforded to the Registered Disability Savings Plan, an advocacy initiative lead by Planned Lifetime Advocacy Networks, but there are many stories worth reading.

Minister James Flaherty is recognized by Laurie Beachell of CCD for his work on the RDSP