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Empower U: Learn to Access Your Disability Rights Training on Canadian Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol (OP) training aims to increase awareness of how to address discrimination using more familiar Canadian human rights laws such as Human Rights Codes and the newer international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This is training for persons with disabilities by persons with disabilities. The training is part of a project funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and implemented by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) in collaboration with Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc. (CMDCI), Citizens With Disabilities – Ontario (CWDO), Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities (MLPD) and National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS). Read more.
Canada and the CRPD
Canada has ratified the CRPD. Ratification means that a country agrees to abide by the standards set in a Convention.
Recent Work
June 6, 2023
UN Conference of State Parties: Connecting Disability Organizations
The 16th session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD (COSP16) will take place at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, from 13 to 15 June 2023. Read more.
June 13, 2022
Canadian Civil Society Supports Dr. Laverne Jacobs for the UN Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities
Dr. Laverne Jacobs is Canada’s first-ever nominated candidate to the UN CRPD Committee. This demonstrates unparalleled commitment and confidence in her nomination by the Government of Canada and highlights the recognition of Dr. Jacob’s intersectional approach and life-long vision to the realization and expansion of international disability rights for all. A law professor at the University of Windsor, Dr. Jacobs has and continues to work to see the evolution of law incorporate the full realization of disability rights. Her work as lead author of the first Canadian disability law textbook ushered in a new, vibrant generation of disability rights scholars. Dr. Jacobs' disability and anti-racism advocacy work advances an intersectional approach to legislation and policymaking, and her work directly led to the creation of the Accessible Canada Act - a landmark federal legislation promising barrier-free access by 2040. These are but a few of her accomplishments. Read more.
June 22, 2021
CCD Applauds Dr. Laverne Jacobs' Candidacy for UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), a national human rights organization of people with disabilities working for an accessible and inclusive Canada, applauds the Government of Canada’s naming Dr. Laverne Jacobs as a candidate for the 2022 election of members for the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Read more.
More on Canada and the CRPD
December 16, 2020
Disability Rights Online
November 6, 2020
Human Rights Training for People with Disabilities by People with Disabilities: Nothing about us without us!
December 21, 2018
Open Letter: Recognizing Two Important Human Rights Milestones of 2018
May 23, 2017
Review of Canada's Accession to the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
December 23, 2016
Canada to Ratify CRPD's Optional Protocol
June 22, 2015
Advocate for Change: Disability/Deaf Issues and the Federal Election
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, far left, observes as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, second from left, meets members of the Canadian delegation including Steven Estey, center, with the Council of Canadians with Disabilities; Traci Walters, second from right, with Independent Living Canada; and the Canadian Association for Community Living President Bendina Miller, far right, at the United Nations in New York, Thursday March 11, 2010. Canada ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a historic first international treaty that comprehensively recognizes the rights of persons with disabilities. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)