Mainstream 92

By Laurie Beachell

For the past year, federal, provincial and territorial governments have been involved in a "Review of Fiscal Arrangements Affecting Persons With Disabilities". This review is now nearing completion and a final report will be submitted to the Minister of Health and Social Services sometime this winter. Persons with disabilities and their organizations have been involved in the review by several processes:
- at the national level, a reference group of national organizations was established to provide input to the review’s "working committee",
- organizations were asked to identify individuals for participation in focus group discussions in a number of issue areas;
- organizations were asked to submit written proposals to the Review Committee.

Employment-related services, empowerment, transitions,prevention and promotion, income support/replacement and community/independent living were the major issue areas discussed during the Review.

What do we want out of this Review? The scope is rather daunting, as is evident from the above issue areas to be reviewed. What is really being discussed is the entire disability service provision and income support system. Whether significant change will occur in the near future is a political decision; what was useful in the process was the opportunity to hold discussions and work collaboratively with other organizations of persons with disabilities and government to outline a new system based on full citizenship and quality. In this very short space, I will try to provide some understanding of the basic positions put forward by the community of people with disabilities with regards to the development of a new system.

What principles must underpin a new system?

Many within the disability community in the early 80’s put considerable energy into ensuring that the rights of people with disabilities were protected within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was felt that such protection from discrimination on the basis of disability, guaranteed within the supreme law of Canada, would remove many barriers to full participation of persons with disabilities. While realized to some extent, this hope has not resulted in major changes to the income support and service delivery systems that persons with disabilities depend upon. Certainly there have been improvements since that time. But being a Canadian with a disability still means living in poverty, being unemployed and being served outside the mainstream by an outdated delivery system. It was hoped that Charter protection would require governments to amend legislation and programmes to ensure equality of opportunity and full citizenship, but this has not happened. Thus, in looking toward the development of a new system, the disability community once again is reiterating its message that full citizenship and equality of opportunity must be the fundamental underpinnings of the system.

How would a "new service" income support system be different? Any new system must empower individuals with disabilities. It must ensure that the central decision maker on what and how services will be provided is the person with the disability. People with disabilities would identify their own needs, which could be reviewed or validated by a "peer review" committee. There would be self identification, dispelling the requirement for "validation" by the medical profession. The new system would provide direct cash transfers to individuals or their designates. With control of the dollars, persons with disabilities would also have ultimate control of the quality of service through their purchasing power. No longer would persons with disabilities be at the mercy of those professionals who determine what you need and where and when you’ll get it. This would certainly be a radical departure from the present system. The new model being proposed by the disability community is one where the person with the disability controls the development and delivery of services which he or she requires.

What is the potential for substantive change? Certainly there is some recognition within governments that the present service-delivery model is outdated and does not reflect the current status of persons with disabilities in Canada. The last federal/provincial Ministers of Health and Community Services meeting agreed that "disincentives to employment" experienced by persons with disabilities must be removed. Many provinces continue to see change as too costly. Our response is that it is more costly to keep people dependent on antiquated systems than to have them act as full citizens, participating in the social and economic life of our communities.

It is critical that as ministers receive the report of the federal/provincial working group, they also hear directly from individuals with a disability as to the changes they see as fundamental to insuring a commitment to full citizenship and participation.


Laurie Beachell is the National Coordinator of COPOH.