Open Letter to Justin Trudeau: We Need a Canadians With Disabilities Act

Dear Justin Trudeau

You have just been elected as our new Prime Minister. Since Monday’s election, you have been in the news a lot. Today, I came across a story about how you helped carry a wheelchair user down the stairs to a subway station platform. I assume this was necessary because the station elevator was broken, though the Montreal Metro is notoriously inaccessible so it could really be anything.

While the media is applauding your “random act of kindness”, I can’t help but be more convinced that we really need a Canadians with Disabilities Act. I know we disabled people were thrown a legislative bone when we were explicitly included as a protected group under Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (after a lot of activism to fight governmental unwillingness, I might add). The Charter is however clearly not sufficient to meet the needs of disabled Canadians.

Physical access is still a huge issue. As are issues of social and economic access. I want to know that you and your government will work to help disabled people even when we aren’t right in front of you. I want legislation that will specifically address the needs of disabled Canadians, yet when I search the Liberal website, you have no specific policies dealing with disability. If you search for it, you will find only a statement on Veteran’s Pensions (which is important). I would however like to point out that by only dealing with disability directly when it is to do with veterans.

By doing this, you are basically creating classes of disabled people. This is likely not your intent but it is the result.

Ideally in a country where disabled citizens are truly equal, a story about a man having to be carried down the stairs–even if it is by Justin Trudeau–would be met with shock and outrage at the inherent inaccessibility of society. Not by celebrating a “random act of kindness” that should never have been necessary in the first place.

A few things I humbly think a CDA should cover,

Increased funding to ensure public transit is accessible, so that we don’t have to repeatedly hear how renovations are delayed due to budget restrictions. If you can afford to get able-bodied people on the subway, you better do the same for disabled people.

Limit bureaucratic barriers to services. As far as I’m concerned, I should only have to continuously prove that I have permanent brain damage if and when you produce peer-reviewed and repeated studies proving the existence of widespread medical miracles. Barring that, requiring constant documentation should only be required for people whose conditions are not permanent and then only at intervals suggested by their doctor not an arbitrary bureaucratic timeline.

Don’t allow provinces to penalize disabled students who travel out of province for school. We shouldn’t have to worry that we won’t be able to get a service in Ontario that we get without question in Saskatchewan.

Disabled Canadians deserve better, so do better,

Kim