Online Journal - May 3, 2010

Canada’s Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: One of the most memorable events I almost missed!

T. Walters

While in Vancouver for the Accessibility Showcase on March 9th I received an unexpected email from HRSDC inviting me to the United Nations on March 11. Anticipating final confirmations from provincial governments, Laurence Cannon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was hopefully going to announce Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Representative from the two main disability groups responsible for Canada’s participation in the development of this international treaty, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) and the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL), were also invited.

I was told that a flight from Vancouver to New York was available on March 10th and that I was to check my email first thing in the morning for confirmation. But at some point that night it suddenly dawned on me – my passport was in Ottawa! I made alternative arrangements to fly to New York via Ottawa so that someone could bring my passport to the Ottawa airport.

After receiving confirmation at 6:00 a.m. PDT I threw my things together, hopped on my scooter and raced off to the airport.  I boarded and sat back in my seat with my coffee, marveling at how smoothly everything had worked out. But less than 45 minutes into the flight, the pilot announced that we going back to Vancouver for an emergency landing because of a broken wing flap; just what my nerves needed!

A flurry of panicked communications began and by the time I finally arrived in Ottawa, hours behind schedule, no further planes were leaving for New York. Exhausted, discouraged and hugely disappointed, I was sure I had missed my opportunity to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But miraculously I discovered there was a 6:00 a.m. to arrive at 7:40 a.m. (thank you, international business travelers!). If all worked out I would make it with less than half an hour to spare.

Somehow I managed to find myself sitting on the plane the next morning, but I was convinced that there was no way to get from the airport to the UN in time. After anxiously asking the flight attendant for advice about ground travel, a distinguished-looking gentleman leaned across the aisle asked me if I was Ms. Walters.  As if to make up for my incredibly bad luck the day before, Minister Cannon was sitting across the aisle from me! He assured me that since they would not be starting without him we would certainly make it on time.

The Minister was right, and after meeting up with Anna MacQuarrie and Brenda Miller of CACL and Steve Estey of (CCD), we were escorted through security to a stately room. Within minutes were shaking hands with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as Minister Cannon hand-delivered the papers confirming Canada’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. And that was that – in less than a minute, a decade’s worth of planning and advocating became a reality. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this would be the event that capped the end of my career as the National Director for IL Canada. I was over the moon.

I made a crash landing back on Earth approximately ten minutes later when we discovered that the press conference to announce the ratification had been scheduled in an inaccessible location. Staff managed to change the venue at the last minute, but the incident provided us all with the reminder that most of the hard work is yet to come.

Canada has now opened up the possibility of genuine equality for people with disabilities and now it’s time to turn opportunity into reality. The next step involves creating a plan to implement the convention, to monitor our progress and for reporting back to the UN on a regular basis, and we need to decide who in Government will be responsible for coordinating that plan. Disability groups will need to start reminding Government that under the Convention they are obligated to work directly with us to start the process of law review and reform to ensure Canada’s compliance with the minimum standards set out by the Convention.

From left to right: Bendini Miller, Traci Walters, Minister Cannon, Anna MacQuarrie and Steve Estey.