Human Rights

Bring Evidence-Based ABA to school! A guide to advocate for your child’s access to education

• February 20, 2019
• Kimberly Srivastava
• Comments Off on Bring Evidence-Based ABA to school! A guide to advocate for your child’s access to education

Many children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis suffer from a lack of access to meaningful education. Meaningful access to education is a basic human right. Many school boards refuse to provide Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) in the classroom despite the research which demonstrates that evidence based ABA is an effective approach to teach students with ASD and other diagnoses. » Read the rest

Changes to the Ontario Autism Program

• February 7, 2019
• Kimberly Srivastava
• Comments Off on Changes to the Ontario Autism Program

On February 6, 2019, the Ontario government announced changes to the Ontario Autism Program. Read about the changes and the implications in the links below.

Toronto Star article (link).

Global News article (link).

Ministry of Education Gaining Power to Establish Service Animal Guidelines

• December 21, 2018
• Laura Lepine
• Comments Off on Ministry of Education Gaining Power to Establish Service Animal Guidelines

The Ontario Ministry of Education has recently introduced Bill 48, the “Safe and Supportive Classrooms Act, 2018”, which mandates revocation of a teacher’s teaching certificate if he or she is guilty of professional misconduct involving sexual abuse of a child.

One provision of Bill 48, however, seems unrelated: Schedule 2 of the Bill would amend subsection 8(1) of the Education Act, giving the Minister of Education the power to establish policies and guidelines respecting service animals in schools. » Read the rest

CHRT to Hear Complaint of Women with Service Dogs Forced off Flight

• December 21, 2018
• Laura Lepine
• Comments Off on CHRT to Hear Complaint of Women with Service Dogs Forced off Flight

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (“CHRT”) will hear the complaint of two visually-impaired Toronto women who were removed from a flight at Pearson Airport because of their service dogs.

Amal Haddad, Nayla Farah, and Farah’s daughter allege that, though they had all the necessary papers and had travelled with service dogs many times before, the flight crew on their Jet Airways flight had them removed for refusing to muzzle their service dogs. » Read the rest

The Ontario Human Rights Commission is hosting a FREE training on its new policy on Accessible Education for Students with Disabilities

• October 12, 2018
• Laura Lepine
• Comments Off on The Ontario Human Rights Commission is hosting a FREE training on its new policy on Accessible Education for Students with Disabilities

The policy addresses continued barriers to education that students face at all levels of the education system, including:

• inaccessible build environments
• inadequate resources and supports in the classroom
• long waiting lists for professional assessments
• inappropriate requests by educational institutions for medical information
• denial of disability-related accommodations
• persistent negative attitudes and stereotypes towards people with disabilities
• ineffective dispute resolution processes

Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, students with disabilities have the right to meaningful access to education comparable with their peers, and with accommodations commensurate with their needs. » Read the rest

Sexual Harassment and Assault at Work or School

• July 16, 2018
• David Baker
• Comments Off on Sexual Harassment and Assault at Work or School

The public attention being paid to high profile persons subjected to sexual violence and harassment has encouraged persons in lower waged positions with comparable experiences to speak up,  seek support from co-workers and  unions and exercise their rights to justice so they are not doubly violated. » Read the rest

Communication Disabilities Access Canada (CDAC) is offering a free online course, by and for individuals, who have communication disabilities

• May 10, 2018
• BakerLaw
• Comments Off on Communication Disabilities Access Canada (CDAC) is offering a free online course, by and for individuals, who have communication disabilities

Communication Disabilities Access Canada (CDAC) is offering a free online course, by and for individuals, who have communication disabilities, on ways to direct people to assist them communicating in their communities.  This course is for people who:

• have a communication disability (not caused primarily by hearing loss)
• want a person to assist them communicating in certain situations
• are over 16 years of age
• communicate using unclear speech, picture, symbol, letter board or communication device

The course is also open to people who want to support an individual to take this course. » Read the rest

Laurie Beachell to serve on Canada Revenue Agency’s Disability Advisory Committee

• December 15, 2017
• BakerLaw
• 1 Comment

Bakerlaw congratulates Laurie Beachell on his selection for the Canada Revenue Agency’s Disability Advisory Committee (DAC). The DAC will serve as a forum for persons with disabilities to communicate their perspectives to the Canada Revenue Agency as it works to revise the way it administers the tax measures designed to support people with disabilities. » Read the rest

Liberals to scrap policy that rejects sick, disabled immigrants

• November 27, 2017
• BakerLaw
• Comments Off on Liberals to scrap policy that rejects sick, disabled immigrants

“Canada is committed to ditching a policy that rejects immigrants because they’re sick or disabled and could be a drag on the health system, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says.

Calling it an “important and sensitive” issue, Hussen said the government will look at all options to revamp the 40-year-old policy, which bars entry to applicants when they could be costly to public health or social service systems. » Read the rest

Canadian Transportation Agency rejects Via Rail’s efforts to limit wheelchair, mobility access on trains

• November 16, 2017
• BakerLaw
• Comments Off on Canadian Transportation Agency rejects Via Rail’s efforts to limit wheelchair, mobility access on trains

Bakerlaw clients, Martin Anderson and Marie Murphy, continue their fight for increased capacity  for mobility aids on Via Rail trains.

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is rejecting Via Rail’s efforts to limit access on its trains for passengers using wheelchairs and other mobility aids.  » Read the rest