V. Canada’s Role in Creating the CRPD
Canada became a Member State of the United Nations on November 9, 1945.^41 Since
then, Canada has ratified six UN human rights conventions and acceded to four others,
including the CRPD, which was signed on March 30, 2007.^42 On March 11, 2010,
“Canada renewed its commitment to people with disabilities, about 14.3% of the
Canadian population, by ratifying the [CRPD].”^43 “In 50 articles, the CRPD clearly
articulates the meaning of human rights within a disability context and establishes
reporting and monitoring procedures for States Parties.”^44
Bolstered by the disability rights refrain of “nothing about us, without us,” the Canadian
delegation for the CRPD, along with other representatives of the worldwide disability
community, worked together to draft the CRPD.^45 This process took place between
2002 and 2006, over the course of nine or ten meetings at the UN in New York and at
regional meetings around the world.^46 According to some, by the passage of the
CRPD, “the most excluded group of people in society became the most included in the
history of the United Nations.”^47
(^41) The United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights in the World,
online: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx.{ TA \l "The United
Nations, Human Rights in the World, OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx (last visited Nov. 28, 2011)." \s
"The United Nations, Human Rights in the World, OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx (last visited
Nov. 28, 2011)." \ 42 c 3 }
The United Nations, Enable, Convention and Optional Protocol Signatures and Ratifications, online:
http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166#C.{ TA \l "The United Nations,
Convention and Optional Protocol Signatures and Ratifications, UNENABLE,
http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166#C (last visited Nov. 28, 2011)." \s "The
United Nations, Convention and Optional Protocol Signatures and Ratifications, UNEnable,
http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166#C (last visited Nov. 28, 2011)." 43 \c 3 }
Council of Canadians with Disabilities, CRPD - 10 Facts Canadians Should Know, online:
44 http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/international/un/canada/10-facts.
CCD-CACL Working Paper, UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Making
Domestic Implementation Real and Meaningful, (February 2011), online: Council of Canadians with
Disabilities <http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/international/un/canada/making-domestic-implementation-real-
and- 45 meaningful-feb2011>.
Steven Estey, The Road to the UN Convention, (March 29, 2011), online: Council of Canadians with
Disabilities, < 46 http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/international/un/canada/road-to-the-un-convention-march2011>.
47 Ibid.^
Dulcie McCallum, “Up the Basics: the Right to Decide” in Celebrating our Accomplishments: A voice of
our own (Winnipeg: Council of Canadians with Disabilities, 2011) 145 at 149 [McCallum].