Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
My name is Vangelis Nikias and I am very happy to speak about disability and Canada and the
Council of Canadians with Disabilities. We often hear our leaders saying that Canada
is the greatest country in the world and I think Canada is one of the greatest countries
in the world and in my mind having been born in Europe and I come here to study and work
and become ultimately, become a naturalized citizen, I think Canada is a very –
Canada is one of the best countries in the world and one of the reasons is the work that we
have done in the area of disability, human rights and removing barriers for persons with
disabilities. I remember the first – one of the first times that I thought about Canada
in relation to other countries was when a friend of mine, who had come to Canada to
study, from Europe, remarked to me that around the University of Toronto there were a lot
of people with mobility impairments and said ‘There are many disabled people in Canada.’
and I said ‘well, you know there aren’t more disabled people in Canada than there
are in Europe but in Canada people with disabilities are actually part of the community.’
So, I consider this one of the great achievements of CCD and its predecessor COPOH.
The challenge we have now is that this leadership we have shown internationally and which is reflected
in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other initiatives, other legislative initiatives
that we have taken. We have now to maintain this leadership and in fact strengthen it.
And CCD is at the front – the forefront of this effort. The latest achievement in
which I had a chance to participate was the negotiation of the UN Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was one of
the guiding documents in formulating the Convention. Canada ratified the Convention –
Canada ratified the convention and now we have the challenge and the opportunity to work together.
Federal government, provincial governments, the disability community, other friends,
the entire Canadian society, to put it into practice, to put it into application and to make sure that
people with disabilities become part of our society. That they have jobs, that
they go to school effectively, that they get out of poverty and that Canada continues to be
a leader in human rights and disability issues.