Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship (CURA) Archives

October 29, 2010

Disability Poverty: An Unacknowledged Reality

In Ottawa, at a national forum called End Exclusion 2010, people with disabilities and their allies are challenging the myth that people with disabilities are "well taken care of in Canadian society." We are speaking out about the realities of living in poverty with a disability. People with disabilities, researchers and policy analysts will present new knowledge and policy alternatives to existing Canadian income security programs. End Exclusion is coordinated by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) and Canada Without Poverty (CWP). Read more.

October 28, 2010

Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship: End Exclusion 2010

At End Exclusion 2010, people with disabilities will be speaking out about the realities of living in poverty during an economic downturn. In addition to explaining how poverty limits the choices and opportunities available to Canadians with disabilities, the organizers of this event will be sharing policy for addressing disability poverty. Read more.

September 16, 2010

END EXCLUSION 2010

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities and the Canadian Association for Community Living in partnership with Canada Without Poverty invite you to add your voice to a national dialogue on poverty and disability: END EXCLUSION 2010. Read more.

June 16, 2010

Income Programs and Social Rights and Wrongs

Social rights & citizenship--These terms have public meaning and political significance in Canada. Full citizenship is a core objective and key message of the disability movement. Social programs, such as health care, seen as contributing to national identity and sense of belonging. Read more.

March 16, 2009

Disability, Poverty and Citizenship: A Short Note

Yvonne Peters and Michael J. Prince present a shared understanding of three key concepts—poverty, substantive equality and economic independence—to guide future work in CCD's CURA research project. Read more.

December 10, 2014

Understanding the Poverty and Exclusion of Canadians with Disabilities

Cam Crawford explained the socio-demographic characteristics of Canadians with disabilities who live in poverty at CCD's Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship Forum on 2 December 2014 in Ottawa. Read more.

November 30, 2013

Looking Into Poverty: Income Sources of Poor People with Disabilities in Canada

This report provides a statistical look at the personal income sources of people with disabilities who live in low income households in Canada. These are people who live in "straightened circumstances," are sometimes referred to as living below the "poverty line" and are here referred to as "poor" or as having "low income." Read more.

November 1, 2011

Gender, Disability and Low Income

This fact sheet compares the rates at which men and women with and without disabilities experience low incomes. Read more.

November 1, 2011

Trying to 'Make the Grade': Education, Work-Related Training

This fact sheet looks at the education, work-related training and low-income status of Canadians with and without disabilities. Read more.

November 1, 2011

From Coast to Coast: Provincial Rates of Low-Income among Canadians With and Without Disabilities

This fact sheet looks at the low income rates of people with and without disabilities in each province, and also compares the rates of low-income among people living in rural and urban communities who do and do not have disabilities. Read more.

June 22, 2011

On the Home Front: Poverty, Disability, Housing and Help with Everyday Activities

This fact sheet looks at the relationship between poverty, disability, living arrangements and residential needs of Canadians with and without disabilities. Read more.

June 22, 2011

Low Household Income and Disability: Income Sources, Employment and Employment Discrimination

This fact sheet looks at the relationship between poverty, disability and income-related characteristics of Canadians with and without disabilities. Read more.

June 22, 2011

Personally Speaking: Poverty and Disability in Canada

This fact sheet looks at the relationship between poverty, disability and selected other personal characteristics of Canadians. Read more.

June 30, 2010

Disabling Poverty and Enabling Citizenship: Understanding the Poverty and Exclusion of Canadians with Disabilities

Despite Canada’s obligations under international agreements and the staggering costs associated with the non-employment of people with disabilities, relatively little has been written about people with disabilities who are living on low incomes. The present report aims to help close that knowledge gap. The research draws primarily from Statistics Canada’s Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) of 2006 and provides a profile of people with disabilities in terms of their general socio-demographic characteristics such age, gender, visible minority and Aboriginal person status, education level and labour force status and in terms of selected disability-specific characteristics that are discussed in the body of the report. Read more.

September 23, 2009

As a Matter of Fact: Poverty and Disability in Canada

Based on the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) of 2006, people with disabilities make up 16.5% of the adult population 15 years and older in Canada, or nearly 4.2 million people. PALS is Statistics Canada's 'flagship' survey on disability. Read more.

November 6, 2014

Making Poverty a Human Rights issue for People with Disabilities

This paper argues that the poverty experienced by people with disabilities must be regarded as more than a social policy issue. The fulfillment of true equality and human rights recognition for people with disabilities demands that economic barriers be regarded as equally pernicious as those that impede access. Read more.

May 8, 2012

How the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Might Be Used in Canadian Litigation

This paper examines the intersection between the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”) and Canadian litigation. Read more.

April 5, 2012

Accommodation in the 21st Century

July 8, 2010

Canadian Legal Literature Addressing Social and Economic Rights of People with Disabilities: An Annotated Bibliography

CURA team members have created an annotated bibliography which is intended as a resource for academics, students, advocates, and community members interested in the role that law has played—and can play—in remedying poverty experienced by people with disabilities. Read more.

June 30, 2010

How Human Rights Legislation is Dealing with Serious Disabilities that Tend to Result in Social Judgment and Social Exclusion

This report considers whether statutory human rights litigation is serving the needs of persons with permanent, lifelong disabilities who are chronically unemployed, underemployed, and marginalized in Canadian society. Read more.

June 30, 2010

Overview of Complaints under Human Rights Legislation Regarding Access to Services for Persons with Disabilities

The report addresses issues, trends, and obstacles facing complainants in cases involving discrimination in services and accommodation. These cases tend to be critical for persons with disabilities, as they often have far-reaching implications regarding accessibility to, and the inclusivity of, core institutions, facilities, and services (e.g. education, transportation, communication, public buildings, etc.). Read more.

June 30, 2010

An Overview of the Duty To Accommodate and Undue Hardship in Human Rights Jurisprudence

This report highlights the key human rights cases that have contributed to the principle of the duty to accommodate and the defence of undue hardship under human rights legislation. It further assesses how the duty to accommodate has affected the claims of persons with disabilities. Read more.

June 29, 2010

An Overview of the Comparator Group Analysis in Human Rights Jurisprudence

The report addresses a relatively recent trend in Canadian human rights jurisprudence: the importation of the comparator group analysis from the section 15 Charter context into the analytical framework for statutory human rights adjudication. The comparator group analysis, which requires claimants to prove that they have been treated differently than a specific group which mirrors their characteristics save for the alleged ground of discrimination, has been sharply criticized for being antithetical to substantive equality. The details of this argument and the pitfalls of the comparator group analysis are provided elsewhere, and are not the focus of this report. Suffice it to say that this development is particularly troubling for persons with disabilities and other equality-seeking groups who have spent years fighting for judicial recognition that equality is not always achieved by same treatment, but rather often requires that true differences be taken into account and accommodated so as to render society inclusive and accessible. Read more.

June 29, 2010

An Overview of the Human Rights Jurisprudence Underpinning the Test for Prima Facie Discrimination

This report highlights the key human rights cases that have contributed to the current test for establishing prima facie discrimination under human rights legislation. It further assesses how the test for prima facie discrimination has impacted on the rights claims of persons with disabilities. Read more.

June 28, 2010

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In 50 articles, the CRPD clearly articulates what existing human rights mean within a disability context and establishes reporting and monitoring procedures for States Parties. Read more.

March 25, 2015

Review of Extra Costs Linked to Disability

This study helps identify situations in which the existence of additional costs is more than a hindrance to the emancipation of disabled people; disability costs cause significant negative impacts on the social and professional integration of individuals. In a context of fiscal austerity in which not only the services to the most vulnerable citizens are threatened but also the allowances to the middle classes, recognition of general and specific additional costs by the government would be a strong symbol: a concrete lever for social participation of people with disabilities and, at the same time, an acknowledgement of their right to self-determination. Read more.

May 16, 2014

Research Report on the Québec Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, a Case of Democratic Co-construction of Public Policy

The objective of this paper is to analyze the Quebec Law to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, passed in 2002, as an example of a democratically co-constructed social policy. This Law is the result of a large and intensive mobilization of Québec civil society over a seven year period. Read more.

August 19, 2013

What is Happening to Disability Income Systems in Canada?

This paper summarizes findings on recent expenditures on persons with disabilities in Canada. Nationally, social assistance disability income expenditures are growing faster than other programs overall. This is not the case in the eastern provinces and Quebec. Why are there such divergent patterns between the provinces? Read more.

November 8, 2012

The Welfarization of Disability Programs

John Stapleton presented research produced by the Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship research project. Read more.

April 11, 2012

The Fight Against Poverty and Exclusion in Québec: Mixed Results, Including for Persons with Disabilities

Although it is too early to pass final judgment on the success of the Québec strategy to fight against poverty and social exclusion, we will attempt in this paper to evaluate the progress made since the adoption of the law regarding the evolution of poverty and inequality in income distribution in Québec. Read more.

January 17, 2012

Advancing the Participation of People with Disabilities in the Labour Market: International Practices and Lessons

This presentation by Michael J. Prince examines what policies act as barriers to labour market participation for people with disabilities and what policies act as facilitators. Read more.

December 21, 2011

IN UNISON: A Canadian Approach to Disability Issues

This report sets the stage for governments, persons with disabilities, disability advocates, communities, employers, labour and the non-profit sector to jointly focus on disability issues. It builds on the framework document entitled "In Unison: A Canadian Approach to Disability Issues," which was released in 1998 by federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for social services. Read more.

December 18, 2011

Highlights of End Exclusion 2011

Check out the information shared at End Excluison 2011. Read more.

December 18, 2011

Key Messages from End Exclusion 2011 Round Tables

Participants at End Exclusion 2011 shared their views with the Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship research team. Read more.

December 18, 2011

Notes from Presentation by Lived Experience of Poverty Panelist Laurence Parent

I was asked to speak about personal experiences, what it is like to be living in Quebec in 2011 with physical disabilities. Read more.

December 18, 2011

Notes from Presentation by Lived Experience of Poverty Panelist Laurie Larson

I am a caregiver with no pension of my own. How will I support myself? Will I be faced with living in poverty? Is that the price I will pay for loving and raising my children? Last night, we celebrated 30 years of achievements. With a little effort and commitment, and some political will, we could add ending the poverty of families raising children with disabilities to our list of achievements. Many families across this country are counting on us to do that. Read more.

December 14, 2011

IN UNISON: A Canadian Approach to Disability Issues

As Ministers of Social Services, we have developed this document together in response to the request by First Ministers in June 1996, and reaffirmed in December 1997, to make disability issues a collective priority in the pursuit of social policy renewal. Read more.

January 9, 2015

Québec Poverty Reduction

An overview of the Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship project's research findings concerning Quebec's poverty reduction strategy. Read more.

December 11, 2014

Policy Reform Options for Community Organizations to Consider

Recommendations are presented for the federal government and provincial/territorial governments. As well, a series of recommendations speak to cooperation among governments in Canada. Read more.

December 9, 2014

Christine Elliott's Vision of a More Inclusive Canada

So, building an inclusive society, yes, at times it may seem daunting.  At times it may seem a little bit too elusive.  But when you think about how much we can accomplish together, the goal of an inclusive society doesn’t seem quite so daunting, doesn't seem quite so elusive.  Our future will be one of full opportunity, of independence.  Our future will be one in which individuals with disabilities and their families are empowered where the threat of chronic poverty can be eliminated.  Our future will be an inclusive society.  There's no doubt about that, because I know that working together we can achieve that. Read more.

November 27, 2014

Media Advisory

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) wants to remind Canadians that having a disability must not mean a lifetime of living in poverty.  Key research findings and policy reform options will be presented in an open forum on Tuesday December 2nd at the Delta Ottawa Hotel.   The Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship forum runs from 9:30 until noon.  Ms. Christine Elliott MPP for Whitby-Oshawa will be our keynote speaker at 9:45AM.  Disability leaders and academic researchers will present their findings from 10:30 until noon. Read more.

November 19, 2014

MPP Christine Elliott to Address Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship Forum

MPP Christine Elliott will elaborate her vision of how to remove barriers and create a welcoming environment that empowers people with disabilities and their families. Read more.

September 17, 2014

Disabling Poverty, Enabling Citizenship: Recommendations for Positive Change

While this Community University Research Alliance project is soon completed, we intend for this paper to be used to encourage discussions beyond that timeframe to various groups and events across the country, including the 2015 federal election.

Tony Dolan, CCD Chairperson, Hon. Jason Kenney, Minister of Employment and Social Development, and Liam Dolan following a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Prince Edward Island.

August 4, 2013

Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship: income security reforms to advance dignity and inclusion in Canada

June 5, 2012

Rethinking Knowledge and Power: Reflections on the Disability Community in Canada (presentation)

Michael Prince explores the following questions: what kinds of knowledge circulate in and around the disability community in Canada? How does this knowledge connect the disability community with the Canadian state and other institutions in society? And, what might the future hold for more creative and innovative knowledge production for disability studies, disability activism and social change? Read more.

June 5, 2012

Rethinking Knowledge and Power: Reflections on the Disability Community in Canada

A politics of socio-economic redistribution is at the core of disability activism in Canada, complemented by a politics of recognition and a democratic politics of representation, the latter of which involves claims for more accessible, empowering, and accountable policy making structures and processes. Read more.