CRPD Rapporteur’s Visit to Canada Ignored by Media
It’s been a year since Catalina Devandas Aguilar visited Canada. This should have made headlines as the biggest disability rights event here in decades. Catalina Devandas Aguilar is the Special Rapporteur for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), but we haven’t heard much about it. Her “End of Mission Report” said Canada is systematically failing to protect disabled persons’ rights. What stories has the media run?
Devandas Aguilar noted specifically that Canada has not budged on plans to change legislation allowing for detentions and forced treatment of people with psychosocial disabilities. She said Canada must seek the leadership of disabled persons and organizations to research, plan and implement these and other sweeping changes. Despite such a rare visit offering a one-time impetus for Canadian society to recognize what needs to be done, Canada’s media went silent.
Mad Canada Shadow Report Group conducted a simple internet search for: “Rapporteur Catalina Devandas Aguilar visit to Canada 2019” in January and May of 2020. We found that the CBC did not even mention the Rapporteur’s visit, while CTV and Globalnews both ran side stories covering people who asked the Rapporteur for assistance with their concerns. However, Halifax’s Chronicle-Herald, an independent news source, actually gave a critical story saying Canada was “dragging its heels” on disability issues.
Besides these three reports and a press conference video on CPAC, the event was noted in 24 private newsletters, six organizational documents (including a Nova Scotia Hansard’s), and a New Zealand news story. Canadians will not be informed about the CRPD anytime soon, so what will be the impetus for legislators to start reforms? Activists need to look beyond Canadian media to inform the public about human rights for persons with disabilities.
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