NDP Statement on International Day of Persons with Disabilities

NDP Critic for Persons with disabilities, Cheryl Hardcastle (Windsor-Tecumseh), made the following statement to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities:

“Today, New Democrats are proud to mark the 25th International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The NDP has always pushed successive federal governments to eliminate the barriers keeping persons living with disabilities from achieving active, full citizenship. We commit to continuing to pressure the Liberals to fully implement the international obligations to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was ratified by Canada in 2010, in their upcoming Accessibility Act.

Canada has also started to move towards implementing the UN Optional Protocol to the CRPD, which sets stronger procedures to implement and monitor the Convention.

New Democrats will remain vigilant at every step to ensure that these commitments become more than mere announcements and gesture politics. They need to become a reality for all Canadians, and for all people worldwide who live with disabilities."