Disability rights advocates laud N.S. premier’s apology for systemic discrimination

The Disabled Rights Coalition of Nova Scotia and longtime disability rights advocate Vicky Levack are applauding an apology from Premier Tim Houston for protracted and systemic government discrimination against people with disabilities.

“It was a very good apology it wasn’t just ‘sorry’ but then they said what they were sorry for,” said Levack, a 32-year-old with cerebral palsy who lived in Arborstone Enhanced Care in Halifax for a decade before moving last year into an apartment for the first time in her adult life as part of a provincial pilot program.

“Their actions, what they did in the past was wrong and I know a lot of people with disabilities have been waiting to hear that for decades,” Levack said. “I, myself, have been waiting to hear it for a decade. It was really meaningful to hear a person with so much power to make change acknowledge that what they did was wrong and that to me is the term, ‘we did wrong,’ that meant a lot.”

Speaking by video on Saturday to some 1,200 participants in the online Rebuilding Hope provincial conference related to the Nova Scotia human rights remedy, Premier Tim Houston apologized for the harm Nova Scotia’s disabled people have endured through years of institutionalization.

New beginning

“This conference is intended to represent a new beginning for persons with disabilities and their families,” Houston said.

“As part of that new beginning, I would like to offer an unreserved apology for the historic, systemic discrimination that persons with disabilities have experienced in Nova Scotia,” he said. “For decades, people living with disabilities in our province have not been afforded the right to choose where they live, who they live with and how they are supported. They have long been denied the choice that exists for other Nova Scotians.”

The basic human rights of people with disabilities have not been honoured nor respected, the premier said, referencing accounts he’s heard of young people with disabilities needing medical supports who are living in seniors facilities instead of living in community with people their own age, stories of people with disabilities being forced to live in locations far away from their home community, family and friends, and accounts of people being refused access to programs and services they are entitled to and instead being placed on a wait list.

“It is how we collectively treat our most vulnerable citizens that defines us as a society,” Houston said. “In particular, vulnerable people rely on their government to level the playing field and we have failed Nova Scotians living with disabilities in this regard. What has happened is deeply shameful, it is wrong, it is not what Nova Scotia stands for and I am sorry.”

Long time coming

Levack did not think she would ever hear such an admission.

“A lot of times, people will go, we don’t do it anymore so stop talking about it, so that apology was really meaningful and I didn’t think I was ever going to see or hear it from any premier.”

The apology is a product of the settlement agreement approved this summer, stipulating the closure over the next five years of all institutions for people with disabilities.

A decision by Donald C. Murray, chairman of the independent human rights board of inquiry, outlines a five-year resolution process and retains the jurisdiction of the board of inquiry to monitor progress as the parties — the province and the Disability Rights Coalition of Nova Scotia — work to fulfil the remedy under the supervision of an independent review panel and experts.

In the first year of the agreement, which began July 1, the province is to institute a policy of no new admissions to institutions funded by the Disability Support Program.

By the third year, 75 per cent of people currently housed in adult residential centres, regional rehabilitation centres and residential care facilities will be living in community-based settings.

Within five years, by March 31, 2028, the government will close all institutional settings for people with disabilities.

Long,winding road

The pathway leading to the settlement agreement and the board’s decision has been long and arduous.

It began with Joseph Delaney, Sheila Livingstone and Beth MacLean filing a complaint in 2014 with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission that they were forced to live in locked wards at a Dartmouth psychiatric hospital for years despite medical opinions that they could be housed in the community.

Claire McNeil, a lawyer for the Disability Rights Coalition, said the coalition is encouraged by the full recognition by the premier and government of the discrimination that people have suffered for decades and the apology is a genuine, first step toward reconciliation with affected communities.

“The Disability Rights Coalition fully acknowledges that gesture by the premier,” McNeil said.

“We acknowledge his voluntary, comprehensive apology. It follows in the wake of a long legal battle that’s resulted in some legal obligations that are imposed on government for the next five years but the apology gives us confidence that the province is genuine in its desire to comply with the terms of that order, that we are not going to find ourselves back where we started, having to pursue a different remedy.”

McNeil said the discrimination was not limited to institutions, including psychiatric hospital wards.

Better access

“What we need is better access to community-based supports and services that’s timely, that are located in the communities in which people want to live and are accessible so that we bring an end to the gridlock that’s been a reality for this government department (Community Services) for decades. The government is now going to respond to people based on their specific needs.”

The interim consent order sets out a five-year plan with indicators, targets and outcomes for each of the years that the government must meet to remedy the discrimination.

Levack said there are still 200 Nova Scotians with disabilities, who are just like her, “locked away in institutions.” 

“I’m healthy and safe, I can’t say the same for my allies that are currently incarcerated in institutions.”

Levack said it’s been a long haul but there are still five years to go.

“This is the beginning of the work,” she said.