In 2005, Canadian federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Social Services identified disability issues as a major concern. In Canada's federal state, constitutional responsibility for disability supports and services are shared across 13 provincial/territorial jurisdictions and the federal government. The CESCR and the CEDAW have recommended that Canada should establish a national program of cash transfers designed for social assistance/services, which includes universal entitlements, national standards, a legally enforceable right to adequate social assistance, a right to freely chose work, a right to change jobs, as well as a right to appeal. Indeed, the Treaty Bodies associated with CESCR, CEDAW, and CRC have expressed concern about the loss of national standards of social welfare. Instead, those who require income assistance and services rely on a patchwork of local/provincial/territorial and federal programs that overlap, grab back, and fail to provide adequate income and the basic supports required to remove barriers associated with disability. Across the country, there is no coordinated policy response in place to address the poverty of people with disabilities.
Poverty is an even greater problem for Aboriginal persons with disabilities. A disproportionate number of Canadians with disabilities live in poverty (Fawcett 1996).
In Canada, as elsewhere around the globe, poverty and disability are largely synonymous poverty can lead to disability and disability can lead to poverty. Founded in 1976 by people with disabilities, CCD has a long history working to promote the equality of persons with disabilities and CCD's human rights/equality rights expertise has been recognized by Canada's courts (See Appendix Three for a summary of CCD' s contribution to disability policy.) In Appendix Two, CCD provides a summary of concerns and recommendations made by Treaty Bodies regarding the human rights of persons with disabilities.
As an organization with unique expertise regarding the conditions that are necessary for people with disabilities to have full enjoyment of their human rights, CCD is sharing with the UN Human Rights Council its analysis of Canada's human rights record as it pertains to persons with disabilities. The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) supports the Joint NGO Submission titled "Promise and Reality: Canada's International Human Rights Implementation Gap", because we are deeply committed to improved human rights protections for all Canadians. More on Promoting Human Rights A Submission by CCD to the Human Rights Council in Relation to the 2009 Periodic Review of Canada (8 September 2008) Introduction
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