Canada promised disabled Canadians a better country, but it stopped halfway
On June 8, Louise Arbour will be installed as Canada’s 31st Governor General. Her appointment arrives immediately after National AccessAbility Week, which is a coincidence worth thinking about.
As the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Arbour championed the entry into force of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD), calling it 'groundbreaking.' She advocated for a shift from a charity-based approach to a human rights-based approach, insisting that people with disabilities are entitled to live independently, to make their own decisions, and to participate fully in society. Her inquiry into the Kingston Prison for Women condemned the use of segregation and its devastating impact on inmates’ mental health. Her dissent in Gosselin v. Quebec argued that welfare benefits were a positive right under the Charter.
She arrives at Rideau Hall at a moment when the country she now represents has built the framework for disability rights, but has stopped halfway.
The CRPD she championed internationally requires the very enforcement architecture Canada has yet to build at home.
Seven years after the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) became law, the 2040 target for a barrier-free nation is closer than it seems, yet the chasm between aspiration and architecture keeps growing.
In this newspaper last December, I argued that disability — the lived reality of 27 per cent of Canadians—belongs at the centre of inclusion policy. That argument was about why. This one is about how.
There has been genuine progress. The ACA created a new framework. Accessibility Standards Canada has published national standards. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) promised to make dental care accessible to millions of people.
The problem is not intent. It is the absence of meaningful enforcement mechanisms capable of translating promises into lived equality.
Let’s consider the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). The employment rate for working-age Canadians with disabilities is 62 per cent, compared to 78 per cent for those without. The CDB arrived in 2025 at $200 a month. For a single person living below the poverty line, that amount does not close the gap. It merely describes it. Its eligibility is tied to the Disability Tax Credit, which the government’s own advisory committee says excludes a quarter of applicants.
Then consider dental care. Eighty-five per cent of dentists report frequent claim denials. Pre-authorization delays exceed three weeks, which may discourage patients from proceeding with necessary treatment. For disabled Canadians with complex oral health needs, the administrative burden is itself a barrier.
The ACA lacks the accountability mechanisms that its ambition demands. The accessibility commissioner’s 2024–25 report found that 77.5 per cent of federally regulated organizations have “very low” awareness of their obligations. Three complaints were received all year, in part because current regulations largely confine complaints to the issues of accessibility plans and reporting obligations rather than the barriers disabled people encounter in daily life. Zero enforcement actions have been taken.
The international convention Arbour championed requires states to establish independent monitoring mechanisms. Canada ratified it in 2010. Sixteen years later, the ACA's enforcement office has yet to issue a single order.
The project is not failing. It is half-built, and half-built structures protect no one.
Parliament has a narrow window before the summer recess. Reform the CDB by raising the amount, decoupling eligibility from the DTC, and indexing it to the cost of living. Fix the CDCP by reducing pre-authorization delays and measuring outcomes by access, not enrolment. Give the ACA teeth: set up an independent compliance office with the authority to audit, order remediation, and report publicly on progress toward 2040.
Reflecting on her international work, Arbour said 25 years ago: “If there is anything that I have brought back … it is the need to build upon our shared history to embrace a future from which no one will be left out.”
The Governor General cannot legislate. But the office can help sustain public attention to that promise. Arbour will soon hold the office that embodies that promise. Eight million Canadians with disabilities are waiting to see whether this country will finish what it started.
Lorin MacDonald is a disability rights lawyer and accessibility advocate who has taught disability law at Western University Faculty of Law and the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law. She is a Member of the Order of Canada, and an inductee into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame.
The Hill Times