Legal Case

A lawyer representing the province basically conceded Wednesday that the Nova Scotia government has systemically discriminated against people with disabilities, as the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found in an October 2021 decision.

“We are not going to relitigate the issue (that was) before the Court of Appeal,” said Kevin Kindred, one of two lawyers representing the province at an independent human rights board of inquiry pre-hearing.

Instead, the province will argue that the widespread discriminatory practices, identified by the Disabled Rights Coalition and confirmed by the court, were justified. (photo: Francis Campbell)

Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Advisory Board calls for the Province to drop its appeal and take action on systemic discrimination

When Nova Scotia’s top court ruled the province discriminated against people with disabilities — by housing them in institutions like nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals — Vicky Levack felt relief and hope for the future. The Oct. 6 ruling found systemic discrimination in how the provincial government placed Nova Scotians with disabilities in institutions, even though they could have lived in the community with support. But last week the province announced it intends to appeal. We hear from Levack, as well as Lawyer Claire McNeil, who’s a part of the Disability Rights Coalition that launched the appeal.

The Nova Scotia government has been “misleading” and “disingenuous” in its attempt to justify appealing a court ruling that found the province culpable of systemic discrimination against disabled people, says a disability lawyer.

“I find the government’s response, rationale as to why they are going to the Supreme Court of Canada misleading in the extreme,” said Claire McNeil, lawyer for the Disability Rights Coalition. (photo: Ryan Taplin)