Lupus Canada Advokit

Advocacy Rights

Everyone in Canada has certain rights that no one can take away from him or her. They are written into provincial and federal law as "human rights".

There are certain groups of people who are considered vulnerable. They are people who could be taken advantage of and who may need supports to defend their rights. They often don't have a lot of power in our society. Examples are: children, people with disabilities and elderly people.

For these people, specific rights are often put into the law. For example, provinces have laws that state how children in the care of the government should be treated.

The US has a law about the rights of disabled people called The Americans with Disabilities Act. While it does not apply in Canada, Canadian disability advocates are working hard to get Canada to create such a law. (That is a good example of the systemic advocacy.)

There are also international codes: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations over 50 years ago, and The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which applies to all children, was adopted in 1989.

It is important to remember that the human rights laws guarantee equal rights: no one can be denied a service just because they have a disability. These laws support the right of every person to dignity and respect.

In Canada, jurisdiction over human rights is shared between the federal government and the provincial and territorial governments. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of Canada's Constitution, forbids discrimination, listing as examples many grounds, including disability. The Canadian Human Rights Commission investigates complaints of discrimination. If the complaint is not in the Commission's jurisdiction, the person filing it will be directed to the appropriate authority.

Most workplaces are subject to provincial jurisdiction, and as such, most individuals are governed in terms of employment discrimination by provincial human rights codes (see the section 'Provincial Resources' for the contact for your specific province).These laws also forbid discrimination on the basis of disability in all ranges of goods and services that are not federally regulated.

Laws can be complicated and hard to understand, but a simplified version is often available through the library. We need to be aware of our rights, and make sure others understand and respect them.