Important events that impact people with disabilities in the news
Caroline Alphonso, Education Reporter, The Globe and Mail, January 6, 2019 A Globe and Mail analysis found that families with children who have intellectual and developmental disabilities are increasingly being asked to pick up kids early, start the school day later or simply keep them home for days. Most school districts don’t formally track these…
Andrew Vaughan, The London Free Press, December 19, 2018 The cautious optimism that prevailed in Canada’s disabled community when the federal government tabled historic accessibility legislation earlier this year has given way to widespread concern that the law won’t lead to meaningful change. Major disability organizations, grassroots advocacy groups and disabled individuals said they’ve raised…
Sameer Chhabra, MobileSyrup, DECember 14, 2018 Canada’s telecommunications watchdog has issued a decision mandating standards for message relay services. According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) December 14th, 2018 decision, groups that provide text-based message relay services (MRS) like teletypewriter relay (TTY) and internet protocol relay (IP relay) will be required to implement…
CNW, Employment and Social Development Canada, December 3, 2018 the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility, along with the ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs and Canadian Heritage, announced that, with the support of all provinces and territories, Canada has acceded to the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on…
Laurie Monsebraaten, Social Justice Reporter, The Star, December 3, 2018 Disability activists say Ottawa has ignored their calls to strengthen Canada’s first national accessibility legislation and are urging the Senate to intervene. More than 90 groups, including the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and Ontario-based ARCH Disability Law, say the proposed Accessible Canada Act, passed…
Greg Thomson, AODA Alliance Update, November 29, 2018 On Tuesday, November 27, 2018, Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted on Third Reading to pass Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act. A number of amendments were made to the bill while it was being debated at the House of Commons’ Standing Committee that held public…
Statistics Canada, The Daily, November 28, 2018 An estimated one in five Canadians (or 6.2 million) aged 15 years and over had one or more disabilities that limited them in their daily activities, according to new findings from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD). For many of these Canadians, challenges and obstacles in their…
Taylor Simmons, CBC News, November 13, 2018 Committees working on provincial accessibility standards say their work’s been paused for too long. Accessibility advocates say the government hasn’t put several Standards Development Committees (SDCs), special groups looking at how to get rid of accessibility barriers in the province, back to work almost five months after the spring…
Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed, November 6, 2018 Hundreds of colleges and universities across the country are currently under investigation by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights for failing to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities. Universities that receive federal financial aid are required by law to make reasonable accommodations to ensure…
Adrian Ghobrial, CityNews Toronto, November 2, 2018 Two visually-impaired Toronto women will have their complaint investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal more than three years after they were removed from a flight at Pearson airport because of their service dogs. The pilot told Peel police to remove the passengers as they weren’t complying with…
