McGill.CA / Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism / Events / Disability Seminar Series

Disability, Human Rights and the Law Series 2015-2016

Liberty and security of the person are fundamental rights to which every human being is entitled. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) guarantees that all persons with disabilities, and especially persons with psychological or intellectual disabilities, are entitled to liberty and security pursuant to Article 14. Involuntary detention, declarations of unfitness to stand trial and the lack of reasonable accommodation in prisons represent significant barriers to the exercise of this right.

While Article 14 focuses on the criminal justice system, the seminar series took a broader perspective on liberty and security by examining Article 19, which guarantees the right to live independently and to be fully included in the community. Although prison and community are, on the surface, very different contexts, the possibility exists in both for individual autonomy to be unduly repressed.

Thus this seminar series explored the right to liberty and security of people with disabilities in two different contexts: the Fall 2015 seminars focused on the criminal justice system, while the Winter 2016 seminars explored themes relating to security, autonomy and welfare of persons with disabilities living in the community.

Program

 

Support for this seminar series was generously provided by the Rathlyn Foundation, and the Aisenstadt Community Justice Initiatives.

 

Fall semester: The criminal justice system

1. Disability and the Criminal Justice System

Monday, September 21, 2015
1:00 – 2:30pm
New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 202

Moderated by Professor Marie Manikis, and featuring Justice Patrick Healy of the Court of Quebec; Bekithemba Mlauzi, LLM Candidate, McGill Faculty of Law; and Laurent Morissette, Vice-President, RAPLIQ.

Our first seminar looks at the experience of persons with disabilities in the criminal justice system as victims of crime, as accused persons and as witnesses. In these roles, persons with disabilities face societal, institutional and financial barriers to the support and resources they need to report crimes, face prosecution and testify. For instance, victims with disabilities may not report crimes because of their dependence on the abuser for basic needs. As accused persons and as witnesses, people with disabilities often encounter numerous barriers to effectively accessing justice. This seminar will explore these challenges and identify best practices and realistic proposals for improving access to justice for persons with disabilities.

Watch the video capsule of Dianah Msipa's presentation on successful accommodations for persons with disabilities in the courtroom.

UPDATE. Download the summary: PDF icon seminar-1_criminal_justice_21_sept_2015.pdf

Suggested Reading List

Speaker bios

Patrick Healy, Judge, Court of Quebec, Criminal and Penal Division

As counsel, Patrick Healy acted for the prosecution and the defence in Quebec and elsewhere. He was Counsel to the firm of Shadley Battista in Montreal. For many years he was a member of the Comité permanent en droit criminel of the Quebec Bar and a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Bar Association (Criminal - Quebec). He also served as a member of the General Council of the Canadian Bar Association in Quebec. Patrick Healy was a member of a committee of inquiry appointed under the Judges Act to inquire into the tenure of a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec. He advised the Canadian Judicial Council on many occasions with regard to judicial discipline and other matters. He was a member of the International Association of Penal Law and of the International Association of Prosecutors.

Laurent Morissette, Vice-President, Regroupement Activiste Pour L'inclusion Québec (RAPLIQ)

Laurent Morissette is a member of the board of Regroupement des Activistes Pour l'Inclusion Au Québec (RAPLIQ) since September 2011. He first held the position of treasurer (mostly empty treasure to be honest) and as of June 2014 is the Vice-President and one of the spokesperson for RAPLIQ on hot topic issue on both the municipal and provincial level. Aside from doing public relations, he is often asked to represent and assist plaintiffs in front of Canadian and Quebec rights commissions (CDPDJ, CHRC) when it come to filing disability based discrimination complaints. Although he is no lawyer, he has some knowledge of the law and all the judiciary process leading, in most case, to an agreement during mediation phase. In his presentation, he will try to outline some key elements related to the way someone should act and what he should know about disability before going to trial (or any legal proceeding for that matter) in order to reduce stress for his or her client, thus giving him optimal representation.

Bekithemba Mlauzi, McGill LLM Candidate / Police Officer (in Zimbabwe)

Bekithemba Mlauzi is a legal practitioner who served as a police officer in the Zimbabwe Republic Police from 1988 to 2013. He operated as a Patrol Officer, supervising patrols, scene attendance and preliminary investigations. Later on he headed administrative functions in a number of police establishments and a police trainer after which he studied law whilst working full time as a police officer.  Upon graduation, he joined the police legal directorate and served as a prosecutor, legal advisor, appeals officer, access to justice for children program Coordinator, a member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Beki has several qualifications the last of which is a law degree. He is an LLM Candidate at McGill University. His area of interest is disability rights law focusing on access to justice for persons with disabilities in the criminal justice system in particular policing services for persons with disabilities.

Dianah Msipa, Prosecutor (in Zimbabwe)

Dianah Msipa currently works as a consultant with the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa. Prior to that, Dianah was a Human Rights intern with Inclusion International. She has also worked as a Criminal Prosecutor in her home country of Zimbabwe. Dianah holds a Master of Laws Degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada as an Open Society Institute Disability Rights Scholarship Program (DRSP) scholar. Dianah’s Master of Laws thesis was about access to justice, focusing on the manner in which the criminal justice system may discriminate against women with intellectual disabilities, particularly in the context of sexual abuse. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) from Northumbria University and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B Hons) degree from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom. Her Masters’ thesis identified specific provisions in the rules of evidence and criminal procedure in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia which perpetuate inequality and discrimination in the criminal justice system, thereby hindering access to justice which is a right provided for in article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

2. Prisons: the New Asylums for People with Disabilities?

Monday, November 9, 2015
1:00 – 2:30pm
New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 202

Moderated by Robert Israel, and featuring Kim Pate of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

This seminar will examine the rights of prisoners with disabilities. Historically, there were different institutions with different justifications for removing certain people from society: prisons for the ‘criminal’, asylums for the ‘insane’ and almshouses for the ‘poor’. Despite the asylums being closed, the confinement of the mentally ill persists; it is estimated that as much as 50 percent of the current prison population in Canada has a mental illness or other type of disability. Despite statutory provisions that require reasonable accommodation, persons with disabilities in prisons are subject to pervasively poor and often abusive living conditions, and are routinely denied the care and equipment they need to address their mental or physical disabilities. There is also evidence that prisoners with disabilities are less likely to be sentenced to probation, less likely to be paroled and serve longer sentences due to one-size-fits-all prison rules. This seminar will provide an opportunity to discuss the practices that best meet the needs of persons with disabilities in prison, and whether prisons have become the new “asylums".

UPDATE. Download the summary: PDF icon seminar-2_prisons_9_nov_2015.pdf

Suggested Reading List

Speaker bios

Adelina Iftene

Adelina Iftene is currently a SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Osgoode Hall Faculty of Law of York University. She is currently working on a research project with female older offenders, studying their needs and the legal challenges that could help enforce their rights. She completed her PhD in law at Queen’s University, specializing in criminal and prison law, as well as Charter Rights. Her dissertation - sponsored by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) through an Armand Bombardier Doctoral Scholarship - used social science methodology to answer legal questions regarding the imprisonment of older male offenders in Canadian federal corrections.

Chris Chapman

Chris Chapman is Assistant Professor of Social Work at York University and holds a PhD in Sociology and Equity Studies from OISE/UT. Chris is one of the editors of Disability Incarcerated: Imprisonment and Disability in the United States and Canada (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and co-author of the forthcoming Interlocking Oppression and the Origins of Social Work: An Invitation to Decolonize and Deinstitutionalize (University of Toronto Press). He is also working on a book project entitled Everyday Relational Navigation, Cumulative Structural Violence: Towards a Personal-is-Political Ethics. Overall, his work focuses on the ways that multiple forms of seemingly discrete arenas of structural violence interact with one another in everyday interactions and institutional norms, especially in those interactions and norms that are framed as "helping".

Kim Pate

Kim is the executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS), a federation of autonomous societies which work with, and on behalf of, marginalized, victimized, criminalized and institutionalized women and girls throughout Canada. A lawyer and teacher by trade, she has completed post-graduate studies in the area of forensic mental health and has worked extensively with youth and men during her 30-year career in and around the Canadian Legal and penal systems. In 2014, Pate was appointed a member of the Order of Canada for advocating on behalf of women who are marginalized, victimized or incarcerated, and for her research on women in the criminal justice system. She has also received honorary doctorates from the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, St. Thomas University and the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Robert Israel

Robert Israel pratique le droit criminel et pénal devant tous les tribunaux du Québec. Il a également plaidé devant la Commission Charbonneau. Il a rejoint le cabinet Shadley Battista Costom en 2007 et est chargé de cours en droit pénal avancé à McGill. Durant ses années d’étude en droit à McGill, il a créé le projet d'Innocence McGill, une organisation dirigée par des étudiants qui enquêtent sur les allégations de condamnations injustifiées au Québec. Il a d’ailleurs agi comme premier directeur étudiant de ce projet et en est actuellement le conseiller juridique.

Winter semester: Living in the community

3. Involuntary Confinement and Involuntary Treatment

Monday, January 25, 2016
1:00 – 2:30pm
New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 202

Moderated by Derek Jones, and featuring Dr. Ella Amir of Ami Québec.

For many people with a disability, being taken to the hospital by a family member against their will or being held down and forced to take medication is a familiar scenario. The CRPD establishes that involuntary treatment and other forced psychiatric interventions in health-care facilities are forms of torture and ill-treatment that can affect the most fundamental rights, including the right to dignity and liberty. An international legal framework guaranteeing the right of persons with disabilities is thus in place. However, given that this framework is relatively recent, the Convention still needs to find its place in the policies of the State. This session will engage with the rights violations associated with involuntary placement and involuntary treatment and identify strategies for limiting their use.

UPDATE. Download the summary: PDF icon seminar-3_confinement_25_jan_2016.pdf

Speaker bios

Ella Amir

Ella Amir has been Executive Director of AMI-Québec since 1990. Under her leadership the organization has become one of the principal resources in Québec for families struggling to cope with mental illness. In addition to providing direct support to families AMI-Quebec is working extensively with healthcare providers on various partnerships and collaborations.

Ella was the chair of the Family Caregivers Advisory Committee for the Mental Health Commission of Canada, since its inception in 2007 and until 2012, and is now a member of the Commission’s Advisory Council. She led the development of the Guidelines for caregivers support, a blueprint for a comprehensive system of care to support family caregivers across the country.

Ella holds PhD in psychology and applied human sciences from Concordia University and an MBA from McGill University.

Marie-Hélène Goulet

Marie-Hélène Goulet est infirmière clinicienne et candidate au doctorat en sciences infirmières de l’Université de Montréal. Elle est boursière du RRISIQ et des IRSC.

Elle s’intéresse à la gestion du comportement violent en santé mentale au Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de santé mentale de Montréal.

Sa thèse de doctorat s’intitule « Retour post-isolement en milieu psychiatrique : implantation et évaluation d’une intervention en soins aigus ».

James Sayce

James Sayce is a lawyer at Koskie Minsky LLP in Toronto. The primary focus of his practice is plaintiff-side class action litigation.

James has commenced two class proceedings relating to prisoners' rights in Canada. Brazeau v. Canada is a national class action which seeks redress for those federal prisoners who suffer from mental illness. The claim alleges that Canada has failed in its statutory, common law and equitable duties to provide adequate levels of mental health care to all mentally ill prisoners incarcerated in Federal facilities. Rather than treat the underlying illnesses, as Canada is obliged to do under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, Correctional Services Canada relies on the use of extended periods of solitary confinement and force. In addition, it is alleged that the treatment options available to mentally ill prisoners fall far short of reasonable community standards.

PM v. Ontario concerns the use of solitary confinement in Youth Justice Facilities in Ontario. It is alleged that Ontario over-relies on the use of solitary confinement on children for extended periods as a punitive measure, contrary to the statutory landscape in that province.

James is also counsel for the plaintiffs in Anderson v. Canada, an ongoing trial concerning the abuse and mistreatment of Aboriginal children at residential schools in Northern Labrador between 1949 and 1980. That trial is ongoing in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador and is scheduled to continue through the Spring of 2016.

Suggested readings

Jaymes Sayce's suggestions

Marie-Hélène Goulet’s suggestions:

Our suggestions:

4. Autonomy and Security in the Context of Independent Living

Monday, March 21, 2016
1:00 – 2:30pm
New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 202

Moderated by Iñaki Navarrete, and featuring Fahreen Nanji, Complex Continuing Care at Toronto Rehab,  Roberto Lattanzio of ARCH Disability Law Centre, and Marie-Christine Beshay, Faculty Lecturer, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill.

Article 19 of the CRPD requires State signatories to ensure that "persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement". Using the CRPD as a backdrop, this seminar will explore issues of independent living and security. In particular, we will examine how independent living and integration in the community can be achieved. We will discuss the challenges of balancing the need to protect with the right to liberty, as well as the best policies for promoting not only human dignity, but also human flourishing.

UPDATE. Download the summary: PDF icon seminar-4_independent_living_21_mar_2016.pdf

Speaker bios

Marie-Christine Beshay

Marie-Christine Beshay is an occupational therapist registered to practice in both Ontario and Quebec. She currently works in private practice working with children with developmental delays and working with individuals who have sustained a motor vehicle accident. In her latter role, she frequently works with clients’ lawyers and advisors to complete medical-legal assessments and act as an expert witness in court.

Marie-Christine’s role in her private practice is to identify her client’s occupational barriers and help them improve their function to promote their safety and improved independent living.

She has experience working in a variety of clinical settings including hospital care, rehabilitation setting and in the community. She has also worked as the Executive Liaison for the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists where she advocated for the role of occupational therapists in Canada, and she has a number of published articles.

Marie-Christine is a Faculty Lecturer at the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill.

Roberto Lattanzio

Roberto Lattanzio is the Executive Director of ARCH Disability Law Centre. He joined ARCH as an articling student in 2003 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2004. Robert received his LL.B and B.C.L. law degrees from McGill University in 2003 with distinction, and received his B.A. from Concordia University in 1999 with honours.

He has acted as counsel in test case litigation at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and has made law reform submissions to various levels of government, committees, and administrative bodies. Robert has presented and written on topics such as equality and human rights law, administrative law, education law, legislative reform, and social science evidence. Robert has a long standing interest in disability issues and had extensive work experience with disability communities prior to attending law school.

Fahreen Nanji

Fahreen Nanji is a physiotherapist who works in Complex Continuing Care at Toronto Rehab, the largest adult rehabilitation centre in Canada, part of the University Health Network. Fahreen specializes in working with adults with neurological impairments including stroke, brain injury and spinal cord injury. She is also the Practice Leader for Physiotherapy at Toronto Rehab. Fahreen graduated from the University of Toronto after receiving a Masters of Physical Therapy in 2009. She also received an Honors, Bachelor of Kinesiology in 2007 from McMaster University. Fahreen has a personal interest in issues of social justice and international healthcare development.

As an MScPT student, Fahreen played an instrumental role in establishing an inter-disciplinary health clinic (IMAGINE) to service the under-housed and homeless population in downtown Toronto. Fahreen is a disability and rehab advocate and volunteers her time with Nepalability, a not for profit organization that supports healthcare education, development and disability awareness in Nepal.

Suggested readings

Our suggestions:

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