Winnipeggers promote disability rights in Ottawa
June 17, 2010
Two Winnipeggers have taken the disability community's fight for end-of-life rights to Ottawa and are pushing for more careful and humane disability-rights legislation across the board.
Jim Derksen and Rhonda Wiebe, Winnipeg members of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, appeared in front of a Parliamentary committee earlier this week and pleaded that giving Manitoba doctors the power to disconnect a patient's life support discriminates against disabled people who may not meet the minimum legal standards to be assistively kept alive.
Manitoba is the first province in Canada to introduce guidelines for medical professionals regarding end-of-life issues and patients are required to show some promise of recovering to a level in which they can be aware of themselves, their environment and their existence.
The debate raises questions over the basic human rights of persons with disabilities and furthers points already brought up by Barrier-Free Manitoba, which is attempting to enact legislation which would give Manitobans with disabilities the same access as the rest of Manitobans.
Read more about Derksen and Wiebe's protest and Manitoba's guidelines in this Winnipeg Free Press article.
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