Acceptable?

Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reads as follows:

‘States Parties to this Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community’

But the government of Nova Scotia lacks any current deinstitutionalization commitment with institutions actively being built and/or renovated. This province views institutions as part of the acceptable continuum of residential services for persons with intellectual disabilities.

• In Nova Scotia hundreds of families/individuals are living in near crisis situations while waiting for appropriate residential supports. Many others are living in types of supportive housing unsuitable fortheir needs and detrimental to their health.

• The Riverview Residential Centre (in Nova Scotia) is ‘Home’ to 96 individuals with intellectual disabilities. A Report was commissioned after 22 incidents of abuse were reported at the facility.

• In Ontario, at least several hundred people are living in large congregate care settings such as Homes for the Aged, Psychiatric facilities, Nursing Homes, etc. for no reason other than their label of intellectual disability and the fact that they cannot access the supports they need from a more appropriate source

Meamwhile, as we await the release of the provincial government's report on the Braemore situation, a new incident of abuse surfaces.

Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Right.