Posts in the category ‘Disability Law’
These entries are made possible by the generous support of the Rathlyn Foundation Student Activities Endowment.
Re-defining Disability in South Africa: The Social Assistance Amendment Bill
The Social Assistance Amendment Bill introduced in the South African Parliament last month has revealed fissures in government policy and has opened up debate on how this country handles disability issues. A key concern for some is that South Africa does not have centralized disability legislation. There are however, several different pieces of legislation and government policy that treat disability issues, such as the Social Assistance Act of 2004, the Employment Equity Act of 1998, and the Integrated National Disability Strategy of 1997, among others. This is not unusual, as countries such as Canada do not have dedicated national disability legislation. However, because the various pieces of South African legislation use different definitions of the term disability, this can create confusion, particularly when disabled persons are applying for government-provided financial assistance. Major criticisms of the bill are that it is still not clear enough, and that it does almost nothing to help move South Africa away from a medical model of disability, towards a social model that would promote societal inclusion for persons with disabilities.
South Africa signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its optional protocol in 2007. Furthermore, the South African Constitution specifically enshrines equality for persons with disabilities under Article 9(3). Yet, it is not clear how the current bill will take this…
Hope still lingers as Canada ratifies the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Canada ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on March 11th, one day before the official opening of the Paralympic Games in Vancouver. This long-awaited ratification made Canada the 78th nation to have adopted the Convention.[1] In addition to requiring provincial governments to update a number of laws, the document imposes a fundamental shift of the focus from institutionalization to integration of people with disabilities. Further, the convention will empower individuals to challenge laws and policies, deemed in conflict with the convention. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has important implications in Canadian immigration and refugee law. How far can its remedial stretch extend in offering hope to disabled immigrant and refugee applicants who seek permanent status or asylum in Canada?
The blatant exclusion of people of disabilities from immigration to Canada on the basis of disability stems back to the 1910 Immigration Act which altogether banned the immigration of people with mental disabilities. The 1927 Immigration Act expanded the basis for refusal to entry to Canada to physical disabilities as well. The subsequent amendment of the Act in 1976, introduced a less blatant discriminatory provision. Under this Act, people with disabilities could be excluded from immigration because they might place “excessive demands” on health or social services. This practice acquired a new dimension with the passing of the 1985 Immigration…
The individualized assessment: how the Hilewitz and De Jong cases played out in Abdelkader Belaouni’s struggles against immigration controls and ableism
Abdelkader Belaouni’s struggle for status in Canada lasted 3 years, 9 month and 22 days. This is the amount of time Belaouni spent at Montreal’s St Gabriel Church since January 1, 2006 until the long-awaited granting of his status in September, 2009. Prior to the legalization of his status, Belaouni found sanctuary in this Montreal Church as his only alternative to evading a deportation order. Having lost his vision earlier in life, Belaouni’s story has become a living example of a hero who not only won the victory against immigration controls, but also surmounted ableism within Canada’s immigration system.
Belaouni’s legal struggles showcase many of the obstacles that disabled applicants face in pursuit of legal status in Canada. What is the attitude of Canada’s immigration system towards disabled applicants? What does medical inadmissibility entail in the context of Canadian immigration law? In order to address these questions, it is important to describe Belaouni’s legal struggles in relation to two commonly cited cases on disability and immigration law in Canada, the Hilewitz and De Jong cases.[1]
The Algerian man who had lost his eyesight in his mid-twenties, fled to New York City in 1996 after a civil war unraveled in his country. Apprehensive about his future in the USA, a country where racial prejudice had spiked following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Belaouni sought refuge in Canada in March 2003. He was denied…
