Milestone Moments

Independent Living Canada Celebrates 25 Years of Promise and Progress
By Steve Carroll, National Director

Independent Living Canada is celebrating a number of important milestones including our 25th anniversary as the national voice of Independent Living (IL) and our 10th anniversary as the lead organization in Canada promoting the United Nation's (U.N.) International Day of Persons with Disabilities! Here are just a few highlights of the past 25 years…

1980: Gerbon de Jong introduces the IL Movement at a national conference in Canada.

1982: The feds release the “Obstacles Report,” which recommends a special funding initiative to support the development of IL Resource Centres (ILRC).

1985: Five ILRCs are established— those involved with the ILRCs quickly identify the need for a national association for the Canadian IL Movement.

1986: The Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres (CAILC) is formally incorporated.

1988: CAILC, with federal support, announces the “Special Initiative on Independent Living,” a five-year project to create a national infrastructure of community-based ILRCs.

1993: “Special Initiative” funding ends; CAILC succeeds in securing a three-year funding renewal.

1993–1996: CAILC secures funding to study family violence and develops key resources: Responding to Family Violence and Abuse: An Independent Living Approach; Prevention of Abuse Against Elderly Citizens with Disabilities; Youth Speak UP!; and Youth Speak Out!

1996: CBC/D-Net/CAILC produce and air Double Jeopardy, a powerful documentary featuring stories of women with disabilities who are survivors of family violence; Funding cuts end the “Special Initiative” and organizations are advised that all federal funding will end by 1999; Community outcry leads to the “Federal Task Force on Disability Issues.” National Director Traci Walters is selected as one of three official participant observers. This leads to the release of Equal Citizenship for Canadians with Disabilities: The Will to Act. Subsequently, funding for national disability organizations is retained. CAILC publishes the Impact of [ILRCs] in Canada.

1997: CAILC and Corrections Canada launch “Opening Doors: Supporting the Re-integration of Offenders with Disabilities,” a CAILC/Halifax-ILRC project; A national employment initiative for CAILC/ILRCs (“Navigating the Waters: an IL Approach to Employment for Persons with Disabilities”) launches.

2001: An evaluation of “Opening Doors” concludes that ILRC programs and supports play an important role in reducing the recidivism rate of offenders with disabilities; CAILC begins the first national and local IL awareness campaign through the U.N.’s International Day of Disabled Persons (Dec. 3).

2002: CAILC is represented at the Disabled People’s International 6th World Assembly in Sapporo, Japan; CAILC produces the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Package, which includes: An Agenda for Change; Best Practices for Delivering Entrepreneurial Services to Canadians with Disabilities; Control Your Destiny: Entrepreneurship—A Career Alternative for Persons with Disabilities; and A Service Provider’s Guide: Working with Prospective Entrepreneurs with Disabilities.

2003: A new IL-based policy governance framework is established for the national association.

2004: An “Accreditation Tool” is piloted in three sites; “The Independent Living Business Case: A Strategic Investment into the Human and Economic Potential of Canadians with Disabilities” is launched; Completion of the National Literacy and Disability searchable database is made accessible to the public.

2005: The “National Crime Prevention and IL Conference: Crime Prevention and People with Disabilities” is hosted in Ottawa; The Federal government agrees to support three new ILRCs developed in under-serviced areas in Canada over three years.

2005-2008: CAILC conducts participatory action research on substance use/misuse and persons with disabilities; The Access to Recovery Project hosts a national Access to Recovery training symposium.

2006: CAILC’s 20th anniversary! The national IL Information and Data Collection System is launched; There are now 29 ILRCs serving Canadians with disabilities across the country; A three-year national financial literacy initiative to educate persons with disabilities on the Government’s Registered Educational Savings Program is launched.

2007: CAILC implements a rebranding exercise and adopts a new logo and slogan—Promoting a New Perspective on Disability!; “Making a Connection— A National Literacy, Disability & Quality of Life Participatory Action Research Initiative” is launched.

2008: Ground-breaking participatory action research on healthy eating is initiated; Final research results and partnership guide from “Making a Connection” is released.

2010: IL Canada publishes a book about the evolution and impact of the Canadian IL Movement—Impact:Changing the Way We View Disability, by John Lord; IL Canada secures government contracts to educate persons with disabilities on the Registered Disability Savings Plan; The Federal government invites Traci Walters to the U.N. to witness Canada’s presentation of their ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Nothing about us without us? This is IL in action!