Legal arguments in the appeal of a Nova Scotia human rights board decision about the institutionalization of people with physical or intellectual disabilities continued today. Intervenors in the case argued that the systemic nature of the discrimination must be acknowledged. There is no discrimination, lawyer Kevin Kindred countered for the province.
A Nova Scotia Human Rights Board of Inquiry was wrong when it denied the systemic causes underlying the institutionalization of people with disabilities in Nova Scotia. It was also wrong in how it determined the damages it awarded to three individual complainants. That, in a nutshell, is the case against the province being argued in front of Nova Scotia Court of Appeal judges today and tomorrow. This is what happened on day one.
The Disability Rights Coalition, along with Beth MacLean and Joseph Delaney and others, is appealing a bad decision by the NS Human Rights Commission on institutionalization of people with disabilities. In this editorial the coalition explains the reasons for the appeal, and how you can follow the court case on line.
A short documentary released earlier this week by Accessible Media Inc. features poverty activist and award-winning Nova Scotia Advocate journalist Kendall Worth.
27 institutionalized residents of Harbourside Lodge, an adult residential centre in Yarmouth, will move into community settings. We speak with Donnie MacLean, president of People First Nova Scotia, and Patricia Neves, executive director of the NS association for Community Living to rejoice while also putting this move in perspective.
Join us Tuesday, Oct 27 at 6 pm ADT for our second event in the Criminal Justice Speakers Series – Social Justice Advocacy in Women’s Prisons.
Kendall Worth: “We shouldn’t have to depend on an income assistance system with lots of obstacles for people who live with visible and invisible disabilities.”
Judy Haiven: As women had been all but shut out for the last four years, many people in HRM decided to vote for diversity. And that shift should manifest itself in a council more interested in listening to the people, less prone to making quick decisions on development, and more likely to make a dramatic start to finding a way forward for affordable and accessible housing.
“It’s not every day I get to listen to eight local political wannabes—full of fury, full of testosterone and frankly, full of themselves.”
We do have an exceptionally low percentage of women on council, but in keeping with many other cities we also have a low percentage of Black, Brown or Indigenous councilors. Halifax has no noticeably disabled councillors. All this is to say that when you cast your ballot in 25 days, think about equity.