The birth of the Québec disability rights movement

1. The birth of the Québec disability rights movement Presentation by Laurence Parent PhD candidate, Humanities, Concordia University Email: laurenceparent@gmail.com Photo of Maria Barile, a disabled feminist who fought for disabled people rights in Québec and Canada. On the picture, she is getting arrested for protesting against the inaccessibility of Montréal public transit in October 1988. Maria died suddenly on July 24, 2013.

2. Disabled people during the Great Darkness • Before 1970: Disabled people have been subjected to the most horrible treatments and kept in institutions (religious or philanthropic). They were rarely seen in public places. • Disability was seen as a private matter that was intrinsically horrible. Religion and charity were the only available supports (OPHQ, 1983). For example, in 1947, the Montréal Mayor, Camilien Houde launched a charity campaign for crippled children. He claimed: “Those who are affected by an infirmity belong to a category of miserables” (Société Radio-Canada, 1947)

3. The Great Exit • The Great Exit is a movement of deinstitutionalization that happened during the sixties and the seventies. It started with patient’s denunciation of treatments in Québec psychiatric institutions (Boucher, Fougeyrollas & Gaucher, 2003). In 1971, the Québec state recognized via the report of the Commission Castonguay-Nepveu addressing health issues, that disabled people should be considered citizens. • The authors of the report write: “the handicapped like any other citizens, should have access to goods and services necessary to his blossoming. He should be able to share the same hope and enjoy the principle of equality of opportunities in all areas of development” (Québec, 1971). • Disabled people who have been deinstitutionalized discovered that Québec society was not expecting them. A city and a nation was being constructed without them. • It quickly became clear that the Québec state needed to legislate.

4. Bill 55 (1976) • 1976: Robert Bourassa government submits Bill 55 on the protection of the handicapped. The presentation of the bill is followed by an unprecedented wave of protests. • Thirty-three memoirs were sent to the government. Five of them were written by disability organizations. • Medical understanding of disability.

5. Critiques • L'Association du Québec pour les déficients mentaux : « We argue that the Office des personnes handicapées du Québec, as it is presented to us right now, will be another bureaucratic structure. Such an organization will no be able to protect disabled people’s rights. It will also be another obstacle for the citizens we want to help. »

6. New government, new bill • René Lévesque government submits Bill 9. Some of the objections made against Bill 55 were taken into consideration. • The word ‘protection’ disappeared from the text and a people first approach was used to describe disabled people (‘personnes handicapées’ used instead of ‘handicapés’).

7. Summer of 77 • During the summer of 1977, twenty-six memoirs written by disability organizations were sent to the government. Only two of them rejected Bill 9. • Mouvement sur les chiens-guides and Comité de liaison des handicapés physiques du Québec both denounced the intention of concentrating special services for disabled people in the hands of a special office.

8. Comité de liaison des handicapés physiques du Québec • Between August 5 and 30 1977, the Comité de Liaison travelled the province of Québec and met with disabled people. Their memoir was well documented. • Murielle Larivière, a disability advocate, recalls “We were conscious that an office will give the people and the society a clear conscience. They would say: Listen you have an office. Go find the services you need in your office. We cannot do anything for you. And this is actually what happened. People washed their hands of it”(OPHQ, 1983).

9. First victory for disabilityrightsactivists • “Handicap or the use of any means to palliate a handicap” included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a ground for discrimination. • But… many of their demands were not taken into consideration.

10. Adoption of the law • On June 23 1978, the Loi assurant l’exercice des droits des personnes handicapées (LEDPH) (Law ensuring the rights of disabled people) was unanimously adopted by the Assemblée Nationale du Québec (Québec National Assembly). • “Handicap or the use of any means to palliate a handicap” included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a ground for discrimination. • But… many of their demands were not taken into consideration. • A bittersweet victory for the Comité activists.

11. Thank you! More information: www.quebecaccessible.wordpress.com Email: quebecaccessible@gmail.com