The Initiative
The CHRLP is pleased to present the 2016-2017 Disability and Human Rights Initiative. Building on the disability seminar series launched in 2012, the Initiative will take a new form in its fifth year. Presenting two events, the Initiative will continue to explore compelling issues in disability with a focus on law and policy, in keeping with the Faculty of Law’s tradition of analysis, scholarship and promotion of human rights and social justice.
Objectives
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) guarantees all people with disabilities, including children, the right to education (art. 24), the right to health (art. 25) and the rights to full participation in cultural and family life (art. 30; art. 23(3)-(5)). The 2016-2017 Disability and Human Rights Initiative will explore the rights of children with disabilities from diverse personal, professional and geographic perspectives.
Drawing on the CRPD as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Initiative will mark advances, and confront obstacles, to ensuring the rights of children with disabilities through two events. First, the Fall 2016 event will examine the right to education and its implementation through models of inclusive education. Second, situated in the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action, the Winter 2017 event will explore the rights of Indigenous children with disabilities, including the rights to education and health as well as the rights to participate fully in cultural and family life. These events will provide accessible, inclusive spaces for engagement and discussion on these human rights issues.
- October 21, 2016: The right to inclusive education
- March 16, 2017 (new date!): Indigenous children and disability
The right to inclusive education
Date: October 21, 2016
Time: 10:00 - 13:00 (includes lunch)
Location: New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 202, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Panelists: Shivaun Quinlivan, Tara Flanagan, Teri Phillips and Tanja Beck.
Based on the principle that all children have a right to education, this event will explore the gaps in access to inclusive education for children with disabilities from different perspectives and jurisdictions.
This event will explore barriers to, and the status and successes of, inclusive approaches to education for children and youth with disabilities. Using the UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (art. 24) and on the Rights of the Child (arts. 23, 28 and 29) as a jumping-off point, the topic of inclusive education will be explored from diverse geographical and professional perspectives. The event aims to attract and engage members of the legal community, academics and professionals in other relevant fields, and McGill students from the Faculty of Law as well as other faculties.
This event will engage participants with multiple perspectives on the challenges that children with disabilities face in having their right to an education respected, including in Quebec, in other Canadian jurisdictions and in Europe.
Drop-ins are welcome 10:00-11:30 and 12:30-13:00. A light lunch will be served.
Indigenous children and disability
Date: March 16, 2017.
Time: 11:30-14:30
Location: Stephen Scott Seminar Room (OCDH 16), Old Chancellor Day Hall, Faculty of Law, McGill University
The talk will explore the obstacles that Indigenous children with disabilities can face in accessing services such as education and health care, and how these obstacles impact Indigenous children’s right to full participation in cultural and family life. Engaging with the Canadian legal framework, Indigenous law and the UNCRPD, this event will call participants to work together to ensure that the rights of Indigenous children with disabilities are upheld as part of our shared process of reconciliation.
A panel on the rights of Indigenous children with disabilities in Canada with Dr. Vanda Sinha, Assistant Professor, McGill School of Social Work, and Dr. Luna Vives, Postdoctoral Fellow, McGill Centre for Research on Children and Families. BCL/LLB student Jacinthe Dion may also join us to give a short presentation on a paper she wrote on the topic. Professor Shauna Van Praagh will act as moderator.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities
Date: December 2, 2016
To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities and to build on the Faculty of Law’s focus on mental health, the Disability and Human Rights Initiative will welcome dancers Jane Mappin and Douglas Firth to the Faculty for a performance on December 2, 2016.
In planning each event, event organizers are mindful of:
- Adhering to the Accessible Events Checklist under development by the JBSCE Subcommittee on Persons with Disabilities
- Providing the opportunity for participants to raise accessibility needs prior to the event
