The Charter of Rights’ Guarantee of Equality to People with Disabilities Went Into Force 40 Years Ago Today, but Canadians with Disabilities are Still Battling During this Election to Get These Rights Honoured

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE

News Release – For Immediate Release

 

The Charter of Rights’ Guarantee of Equality to People with Disabilities Went Into Force 40 Years Ago Today, but Canadians with Disabilities are Still Battling During this Election to Get These Rights Honoured

 

April 17, 2025 Toronto: It is a powerful message that today, the date of the federal party leaders national televised leaders’ debate, is also the 40th anniversary of the Charter of Rights’ equality rights guarantee in Section 15 going into effect. It includes a guarantee of equality before and under the law, and the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination on several grounds, including mental or physical disability. The Charter went into effect in 1982, but Section 15’s operation was delayed to April 17, 1985.

 

In 1980, people with disabilities had to fight to get disability added to the list of grounds of discrimination prohibited by Section 15. When the Federal Government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau introduced the Charter of Rights into Parliament for debate in October 1980, it included Section 15, the equality rights provision. However, that provision did not include equality rights for people with disabilities.

 

Four decades later, people with disabilities must once again wage an uphill battle in this federal election to get the party leaders to commit to effectively implement that right.

 

A recently published memoir tells the saga of how the 1980 uphill battle to get disability rights included in the Charter was won despite enormous obstacles, written by blind lawyer, AODA Alliance Chair and law professor David Lepofsky, one of the many grassroots disability activists who waged the campaign over four decades ago to win this ground-breaking constitutional right. In Swimming Up Niagara Falls — The Battle to Get Disability Rights Added to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” David Lepofsky explains how it happened, step by step. (Available for free download at https://www.aodaalliance.org/publications/)

 

“Just like we had to fight for the disability amendment to the Charter in 1980, Canadians with disabilities had to battle again to get Parliament to pass the Accessible Canada Act in 2019 and the Canada Disability Benefit Act in 2023. Now we must fight once more to get the federal party leaders to pledge to implement these rights,” said David Lepofsky. “In this election, only the Green Party has made the Accessible Canada Pledge so far, and we want all parties to do the same. It feels like trying to swim up Niagara falls again and again!”

 

“Trump’s trade war against Canada is an important election issue, but it’s not the only issue. We urge the journalists at tonight’s televised English language Leaders’ Debate to ask the party leaders what they’ll do to honour the urgent needs of over 8 million people with disabilities in Canada,” said Lepofsky. “That question is especially timely today, the 40th anniversary of our constitutional right to equality coming into force. Forty years is more than far too long for us to have to wait for our rights to become a reality!”

 

The AODA Alliance made the Accessible Canada Pledge public on March 20, 2025. The Accessible Canada Pledge aims to ensure that the sluggish implementation and enforcement of the Accessible Canada Act becomes swift, strong and effective, that air passengers with disabilities stop suffering horrific mistreatment by Canadian airlines, and that the Canada Disabilities Benefit Act fulfils its purpose of lifting people with disabilities out of poverty.

 

Contact AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky aodafeedback@gmail.com

 

For background, check out:

 

  • The Accessible Canada Pledge that we have asked all federal party leaders to make.
  • The archived video of the April 8, 2025 Candidates Debate on Disability Issues.
  • The April 2, 2025 column in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications on this election’s disability issues, written by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky.
  • The AODA Alliance website’s federal elections campaign page.
  • The AODA Alliance website’s Canada page to see our advocacy to strengthen the Accessible Canada Act.
  • The AODA Alliance website’s Bill C-22 page to learn about the AODA Alliance’s efforts to strengthen the grossly inadequate new Canada Disability Benefit.