A Journey to the UN

Traci Walters Explains How Canada’s Ratification of the CRPD Was One of the Most Memorable Events She Almost Missed

While in Vancouver for the Accessibility Showcase on March 9th, I received an unexpected email from HRSDC inviting me to come to the United Nations on March 11th. Anticipating final confirmations from provincial governments, the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was (hopefully) going to announce Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Representatives from the two main disability groups responsible for Canada’s participation in the development of this international treaty, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) and the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL), were also invited.

I was told that a flight from Vancouver to New York was available on March 10th and that I was to check my email first thing in the morning for confirmation. At some point that night, it suddenly dawned on me: My passport was in Ottawa! I made alternative arrangements to fly to New York via Ottawa so that someone could bring my passport to the Ottawa airport.

After receiving confirmation at 6:00 a.m. PDT, I threw my things together, hopped on my scooter and raced off to the airport. I boarded the plane and sat back in my seat with my coffee, marvelling at how smoothly everything had worked out. But less than 45 minutes into the flight, the pilot announced that we were going back to Vancouver to make an emergency landing because of a broken wing flap—just what my nerves needed.

A flurry of panicked communications began and by the time I finally arrived in Ottawa, hours behind schedule, no more planes were leaving for New York. Exhausted, discouraged and hugely disappointed, I was sure I had missed my chance to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Later, and somewhat miraculously, I discovered a 6:00 a.m. flight set to arrive at 7:40 a.m. (thank you, international business travellers!). If all worked out, I would make it with less than half an hour to spare. I managed to get myself on the plane the next morning, but I was convinced that there was no way to get from the airport to the UN in time.

After anxiously asking the flight attendant for advice about ground travel, a distinguished-looking gentleman leaned across the aisle and asked me if I was Ms. Walters. As if to make up for my incredibly bad luck the day before, Minister Cannon was sitting across the aisle from me! He assured me that since they would not be starting without him, we would certainly make it on time.

The Minister was right, and after meeting up with Anna MacQuarrie and Bendina Miller of CACL and Steve Estey of CCD, we were escorted through security to a stately room. Within minutes we were shaking hands with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as Minister Cannon hand-delivered the papers confirming Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. And that was that: In less than a minute, five years’ worth of planning and advocating became a reality. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this would be the event that capped the end of my career as the National Director for IL Canada. I was over the moon.

I made a crash landing back on Earth approximately 10 minutes later when we discovered that the press conference to announce the ratification had been scheduled in an inaccessible location. Staff managed to change the venue at the last minute, but the incident provided us all with the reminder that most of the hard work is yet to come.

Canada has now opened up the possibility of genuine equality for people with disabilities and now it’s time to turn opportunity into reality. The next step involves creating a plan to implement the convention, monitor our progress and report back to the UN on a regular basis—and we need to decide who in Government will be responsible for coordinating that plan.

Disability groups will need to start reminding Government that they are obligated to work directly with us to start the process of law review and reform to ensure Canada’s compliance with the minimum standards set out by the Convention and that “disability rights” are in fact “human rights.” To that end, IL Canada would like to congratulate the CCD and the CACL for all of their hard work and expertise, which directly influenced Canada’s contribution. We would also like to thank the Government of Canada and all of the provinces and territories for supporting the ratification.

Now, it’s time to get to work and make real and meaningful positive changes in the lives of Canadians with disabilities based on the framework of the Convention.