Supreme Court of Canada has rejected the Province’s application to appeal
(photo; Wikimedia, public domain)
Today the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Province’s request to have the Court hear an appeal of the recent Nova Scotia Court of Appeal decision that found the Province has been systematically discriminating against people with disabilities for decades.
“I am glad that the Supreme Court of Canada saw through the Province’s delay tactics. The Premier has claimed he cares about people – now is his chance to prove it – and end the decades long systemic discrimination against people with disabilities who are in need of social assistance” Vicky Levack, DRC spokesperson
The systemic discrimination includes ongoing unjustified segregation and isolation of persons with disabilities in institutions. Nova Scotia is among the last province in Canada to fund institutions rather than community-based settings.
The systemic discrimination also includes indefinite and years long delays in receiving social assistance including services and supports to allow people to live in community.
It also includes the denial of any form of assistance to eligible applicants who find themselves in homeless shelters and other inappropriate settings. Currently, there are well over 500 persons with disabilities who have been found to be eligible for assistance but who are not receiving a penny from the Disability Support Program because of a Budgetary Cap that the Province has chosen to maintain.
This is a human rights disgrace that must stop.
The DRC is calling upon the government to sit down to find an immediate solution to this human rights emergency.
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