Cross-Partisan Parliamentary Committee Releases a Landmark Report on the State of Disability Law in Canada

March 23, 2015

(Ottawa) – Today, the Parliamentary Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care (PCPCC), an ad-hoc, non-partisan committee released a landmark report titled “Not to be Forgotten: Rewriting the Disability Chapter in Canada: A Functional, Forward-Looking Approach” in an effort to foster and accelerate dialogue on disability law-making.

The first of its kind, the report offers a set of unanimous recommendations from MPs involved with the committee across party lines on how to improve the disability-rights framework in Canada.

“Over the last 5 years or so, we spoke with numerous Canadians across the country to discuss pathways to reform with respect to disability-rights. Using testimonials from individuals affected directly or indirectly by a range of disabilities, we drafted a series of recommendations to improve the social and economic structure currently available for disabled persons in Canada,“ explained Joe Comartin, MP (Windsor-Tecumseh), a co-founder of the non-partisan committee.

The report is divided into 5 parts and canvasses in detail: (1) changing attitudes towards persons with disabilities, (2) expert opinions on the pitfalls in disability policies, (3) Canada’s international obligations in respect of disability rights, (4) an assessment of international commonwealth frameworks for disability law, and (5) violence, abuse and crime against persons with disabilities.

“MPs were able to come together to produce a workable document with a common goal across party lines for the purpose of spearheading dialogue about disability rights in Canada, and advancing concrete areas for change,” said Harold Albrecht, MP (Kitchener Conestoga), also a co-founder of the committee.

“We witnessed firsthand the testimony from those marginalized due to their disabilities and I firmly uphold that their challenges can be overcome with the adoption of sound policy and better practices in a compassionate and practical way.” said Frank Valeriote, MP (Guelph), another co-founder of the committee.

Founded in 2010, the PCPCC is a multi-party group of MPs aiming to promote awareness of deficiencies in palliative and compassionate care in Canada. In 2011, it released a sister report on the state of palliative care and suicide prevention, which was endorsed by key organizations including but not limited to the Canadian Medical Association, and the Canadian

A copy of the disability report is available in both French and English on the PCPCC’s website. A copy of the report is available by clicking the following:

Disability Report 2015

Appendices ENG

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For further information, please contact:

Office of Joe Comartin, MP at 613 947 3445.

Office of Harold Albrecht, MP at 613 992 4633

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