Action plan to monitor the rights of people with disabilities

A plan for monitoring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Canada

Introducing our Action Plan

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international agreement. It is sometimes called the "CRPD" or the "Convention" for short. The goal of the CRPD is to protect the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. It makes sure they are safe from discrimination. It makes sure they are treated equally.

Canada agreed to follow the rules of the CRPD in 2010. These rules say that Canada will do the following things.

  • Promote the human rights of people with disabilities
  • Make sure people with disabilities can use and enjoy their rights
  • Make sure people with disabilities are treated with equality in Canada

In June 2019, the Canadian Human Rights Commission ("CHRC" or "Commission" for short) became responsible for monitoring Canada's implementation of the CRPD. When we do this monitoring work, we are officially called the National Monitoring Mechanism (NMM).

Monitoring the CRPD is an important responsibility. It means we will track how the CRPD is put into action in Canada. It also means that it is the CHRC's job to identify gaps and problems that need to be fixed. To do this monitoring work, we will work in close collaboration with people with disabilities, with organizations that advocate on their behalf, and with families and caregivers of people with disabilities. We want the monitoring work to be meaningful for people with disabilities and for this work to contribute to real change.

This Action Plan is informed by an Outcome Report from the CHRC's public engagement process in 2020. This is where people from across Canada provided their views on both what the CHRC should monitor and how the CHRC should conduct its monitoring work. As a result, the Action Plan serves two purposes.

  • It establishes that the top three priorities of the NMM are poverty, housing, and work and employment
  • It provides broad direction on how the NMM is going to do its monitoring work, which includes who should be involved, what information will be collected, how that information should be shared, and what supports might be needed for others to take part in the monitoring work

This Action Plan is an evergreen document. This means that it will change and be updated on an ongoing basis as we work with people with disabilities, with organizations that advocate on their behalf, and with families and caregivers of people with disabilities.

The NMM Action Plan is built on four key areas:

Our Guiding Principles

The CHRC's role in monitoring the CRPD will follow several key principles to help guide its work. The meaning behind these principles was further informed by the lived-experiences of participants in the CHRC's public engagement process.

Participation

Participation means making sure everybody can take part. It means getting people involved in an activity or event. People told us that they want to help with our monitoring work. They said that people with disabilities are usually not included in decisions that affect them. This could be due to cost barriers, a lack of funding for supports, and a lack of necessary accommodations. We heard that people with disabilities should not be left behind. They must be included in the monitoring process. All groups and people with disabilities must be given the chance to take part. There must be energy and effort put towards including them.

Accessibility

We heard that people are concerned about accessibility. Accessibility means that everyone has equal access. Barriers are one of the things that affect accessibility. People told us about the many barriers that people with disabilities face every day. A lot of times these barriers are overlooked. This is because not everybody understands what barriers are and how they impact people. This includes physical barriers in buildings and public spaces, as well as a variety of accessibility barriers in schools and the workplace. Improving accessibility is especially important in order to ensure the full participation of people with disabilities.

Equality and non-discrimination

Equality and non-discrimination mean that people are treated equally and fairly. It means that people are not discriminated against. People with disabilities experience discrimination and unfair treatment in many parts of their lives. This includes in their workplace and the community. People said that there needs to be work done to change public attitudes and behaviours towards people with disabilities. They said it would help if there was more awareness about how people with disabilities are treated. They also said that public education and training would help.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is a word used to describe an idea. The idea is about different parts of people's identity. A person's identity includes a lot of things about them. People experience discrimination and unfair treatment due to a combination of factors related to their identities and situations they live in. More education and awareness is needed on how gender, race, and poverty can play a role in the way people with disabilities are treated. People told us that intersectionality is important. They said that it should be taken into account when making decisions that affect people with disabilities.

1. Advocate

The CHRC is committed to supporting advocacy efforts for all people with disabilities. This includes facilitating opportunities for change, and holding people and governments accountable for real action on issues that impact people with disabilities.

Under this key area, the CHRC will do the following things.

  • Play a key role in advocacy efforts on issues impacting people with disabilities, including the top three (3) priority issues identified through the public engagement process:
    • Poverty
    • Housing
    • Work and employment
  • Advocate on priority issues at the international level to amplify the issues and concerns of people with disabilities in Canada.
  • Facilitate networking opportunities in communities across the country, with appropriate supports, so people with disabilities can come together to advocate for the solutions to the issues they face.
  • Act as a champion and facilitate advocacy efforts for people with disabilities, including speaking out about barriers and discrimination, and sharing information and stories.

2. Empower

The CHRC is committed to supporting and empowering people with disabilities so that they are able to participate in monitoring activities in an accessible and inclusive way.

Under this key area, the CHRC will do the following things.

  • Contribute to increasing awareness and knowledge of disability rights and the CRPD in Canada, including by promoting public education and campaigns, and through collaboration with civil society.
  • Broadly inform people across Canada about the CHRC's role in protecting and promoting the rights of people with disabilities.
  • Help to facilitate training opportunities for people with disabilities who want to participate in monitoring work and provide financial support for their time.
  • Create monitoring materials in a variety of accessible formats.
  • Find diverse roles for people with disabilities to participate in monitoring, such as:
    • Staying informed
    • Reviewing drafts of final reports
    • Observing
    • Helping to make information accessible for people with disabilities
    • Reporting back to the community
  • Continue to engage with people with disabilities and organizations that advocate on their behalf to determine what people with disabilities require to participate in monitoring.

3. Collaborate

The CHRC is committed to building and fostering relationships with people with disabilities and organizations that advocate on their behalf. This includes seeking out diverse rights holders and those who we may not have yet engaged with, to ensure that the CHRC's monitoring work is informed by as diverse a perspective as possible.

Under this key area, the CHRC will do the following things.

  • Find opportunities for people with disabilities to further collaborate on the development of the CHRC's monitoring work, including the implementation of this Action Plan.
  • Seek out and make deliberate efforts to remain in touch with those who are interested in monitoring.
  • Develop a stakeholder outreach tool to map, organize and prioritize outreach efforts, with particular emphasis placed on reaching certain marginalized groups.
  • Continue to collaborate with international disability groups and networks to learn and share good practices.

4. Communicate Results

The CHRC is committed to making sure that the results of monitoring are available and accessible to everyone. The CHRC also recognizes the importance of ensuring that the monitoring work contributes to real change for people with disabilities.

Under this key area, the CHRC will do the following things.

  • Create a web presence for the NMM on the CHRC's website.
  • Use a variety of accessible and inclusive mechanisms to communicate results.
  • Enact a strategy to capture data that is meaningful to people with disabilities, such as lived experiences, stories and other forms of qualitative data.
  • Ensure a comprehensive approach to monitoring and establish clear measures of success.
  • Communicate updates and results from Canada's review under the CRPD, including progress made with respect to its implementation.
  • Explore options for providing regular updates on the work of the NMM.
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