Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update United for a Barrier-Free Society for All People with Disabilities
Web: https://www.aodaalliance.org Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com Twitter: @aodaalliance Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aodaalliance/
April 22, 2021
SUMMARY
The Ford Government appears shell-shocked, as it flip-flops, back-tracks and scrambles to respond to the imminent threat that Ontario will run out of space and staff to deliver life-saving critical care to all patients who need it.
Here are yet more recent developments in the non-partisan campaign to try to ensure that people with disabilities will not face disability discrimination in access to life-saving critical care, if that care is rationed or triaged. Regrettably, the Government has shown no willingness to lift the fog of secrecy over its critical care triage plans, to talk directly to disability advocates and organizations about it, or to fix the serious problems with its critical care triage protocol and plans. 1. The Latest Developments in a Nutshell
1. On Tuesday night, April 20, 2021, a very successful online virtual public forum was held to discuss the critical care triage issue as it affects people with disabilities. Key speakers were AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky and ARCH Disability Law Centre Executive Director Robert Lattanzio. We are thrilled that an impressive 280 people took part. They got action tips on how to help with our fight against the danger of disability discrimination in critical care triage, if triage takes place.
We all wish there was more time to take all the questions that so many wanted to ask. A huge thank you goes to all who helped organize this event, and all who took the time to attend it.
2. The disability objections to Ontarios controversial critical care triage protocol and plans were raised on Tuesday, April 20 and Wednesday April 21, 2021 in the Ontario Legislatures Question Period. Below, you can read these exchanges and our reflections on them.
3. On Wednesday, April 21, 2022, Ontario New Democratic Party disabilities critic Joel Harden held a virtual Queens Park news conference, focusing on disability objections to Ontarios critical care triage protocol and plans. The speakers that MPP Harden invited to make remarks included AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky, ARCH Disability Law Centre legal counsel Mariam Shanouda, and Disability Justice Network of Ontario co-founder Sarah Jama. The AODA Alliance appreciated the opportunity to contribute to this event. As a non-partisan coalition, we take part in news conferences convened by any of the political parties to which we are invited, where the event provides a helpful platform to raise our issues.
Arising out of this well-attended news conference, the NDP issued a news release on April 21, 2022, set out below. It includes a quotation from AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky setting out our position. It includes quotations from the other speakers as well.
4. The influential publication QP Briefing ran a strong article on April 21, 2021, arising from that days news conference. We set it out below.
5. The April 22, 2021 online edition of the Ottawa Citizen includes a guest column on the triage issue by NDP disabilities critic Joel Harden. We also provide it for you in this Update.
2. Yet More Reflections on Ongoing Ford Government Failure to Respond to Our Disability Concerns with Its Critical Care Triage Protocol and Plans
1. We have gotten more and more feedback from people with disabilities about the critical care triage disability objections. We keep hearing that people are frightened and angry. As if the COVID-19 pandemic was not bad enough, this issue makes them feel even more vulnerable and at risk.
At the same time, the message we all hear from the public around Ontario over the past six days has been louder than ever: The Ford Governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic needs a major re-think, and fast. Weve added that this rapid re-think needs to include Ontarios critical care triage protocol and plans.
2. In the Legislatures Question Period this week, the Ford Government offered the public evasions and contradictions on this issue.
On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, Health Minister Christine Elliott made a statement that many understood as denying that there even is an Ontario critical care triage protocol. She stated:
I think one thing is really important, Speaker, and I would say to the member opposite, through you, that the speaker is alleging that there is a triage protocol in place in Ontario. There is not; there is not.
This, of course, would contradict the January 13, 2021 Critical Care Triage Protocol, which has been posted on the AODA Alliance website for three months. It would contradict the January 23, 2021 online webinar provided by Critical Care Services Ontario which tries to convince doctors to ready themselves to use that protocol if it becomes necessary. It would contradict the interview on the April 21, 2021 CBC Ottawa Morning radio program in which Dr. James Downar, the author or co-author of that protocol, defended it.
On Twitter, a number of members of the public angrily denounced the Ministers statement. The next day, April 21, 2021, Health Minister Christine Elliott acknowledged that there is a critical care triage protocol, but said it has not yet gone into operation. She stated:
I can certainly advise the member that no triage protocol has been activated or approved by the government of Ontario.
There have been discussions. I understand that there were a number of disability groups that were concerned with respect to a previous draft that was prepared earlier this year. That was then reviewed with the human rights commission. There have been a number of discussions about modifications to it. But nothing has been activated, nothing has been approved by this government.
3. The Health Minister said that there were objections from disability groups to an earlier draft of the critical care triage protocol. That is true. However, we have repeatedly made public that we also object to the most recent version of it, the one issued to hospitals dated January 13, 2021.
4. Also in the Legislature, the Ford Government refused to answer a clear, simple and direct question on what instructions regarding critical care triage have been given to ambulance crews. In Question Period on April 21, 2021, MPP Joel Harden asked Health Minister Elliott:
Speaker, I want to ask the minister, who is very well versed in these issues: What instructions have been sent out and drafted to emergency medical technicians, ambulance services or health professionals about who will live and who will die in our ICUs?
The Ministers response did not answer this important question. The AODA Alliance asked the Health Minister the same thing two months ago in our February 25, 2021 letter to her. The Government has never answered that question or that letter.
In Health Minister Elliotts April 21, 2021 answer in Question Period, an impression may be created that the Government has been consulting on the critical care triage protocol. No one has consulted us on the January 13, 2021 Critical Care Triage Protocol.
5. In its defence, the Ford Government said it is now reaching out to others outside Ontario, to see if they can bring more doctors, nurses and other needed health professionals to help out in Ontarios intensive care units. This is a much-needed measure. It could avert the need for any critical care triage.
However, we must ask why the Ford Government was not doing this weeks and months ago, when it was given ample early warning that Ontario was at risk of critical care overload. Had it done so, we would not be facing the imminent danger we now are confronting. The Ford Government could have had in place detailed emergency plans to shuttle health care professionals to Ontario, with prior clearances from the relevant licensing bodies so they can work here in this emergency. This further illustrates Ontarios failure to properly prepare.
For more information on these issues, visit the AODA Alliance websites health care page. MORE DETAILS
Ontario Hansard April 20, 2021
Question Period
COVID-19 RESPONSE
Ms. Sara Singh:My question is for the Premier. For months, experts including members of the Premiers own science table have been sounding the alarm about dangerously high ICU levels, and today we learned that there are over 760 people fighting for their lives in Ontario ICUs, Speaker.
But the Premier failed to act. They failed to implement paid sick days. They failed to vaccinate workers in hot spots, and now ICUs in communities like Brampton are overflowing. Pediatric hospitals are sacrificing their beds. Patients are being transferred to hospitals around the province outside of their communities, and doctors and nurses are being put in the horrific position of having to make decisions on who will receive life-saving supports and who will not.
Speaker, whywith all of the evidence in front of this government; all of the warnings from their own science tables and medical expertsdoes this government continue to ignore the crisis in our ICUs? The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Minister of Health.
Hon. Christine Elliott:We have been listening to the experts all along. We have been listening to their evidence. I think one thing is really important, Speaker, and I would say to the member opposite, through you, that the speaker is alleging that there is a triage protocol in place in Ontario. There is not; there is not.
What we are doing is building capacity in our hospitals. We are making sure there are two aspects to what we need to deal with here. We need to blunt the transmission of COVID-19 in communities, as well as, right now, we need to build capacity in our hospitals, which are we are doing.
We are in contact with the CEOs of the hospitals on virtually a daily basis. They are working very hard to create spaces.
We are creating capacity so that everyone in Ontario who needs to be admitted to hospital and needs to be in an intensive care bed will have a bed available for them.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Supplementary?
Ms. Sara Singh:Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the Minister of Health, that response shows us how out of touch with reality this minister is. Doctors are sounding the alarm bells and this government continues to ignore their pleas for help. The government is following a pattern of denying the problem and acting too late.
Now the government is begging other provinces for help, but refusing the federal governments assistance and the assistance of the Red Cross. Speaker, health care systems in other provinces are also fighting COVID-19. They need their health care workers just as much as we do. It was this Premiers responsibility and this Minister of Healths responsibility to help protect people here in Ontario, and they failed to do that at every step of the pandemic.
This is a national and global failure and it is upsetting and heartbreaking to know that they could have acted and they chose not to. With months to plan for this crisis, why did this Premier fail to address the issues causing ICU capacity to rise, and why does the government think its another governments responsibility to come and clean up their mess? Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Ill ask members to please take their seats and allow the Minister of Health to reply.
Hon. Christine Elliott:Again, through you, Mr. Speaker, I would say to the member opposite that what youre suggesting is simply not the case. Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have been working hard to make sure that we have both the health human resources Ms. Sara Singh:Why are people dying?
Hon. Christine Elliott:and the physical capacity in order to deal with whats been happening. We have created Interjection.
Hon. Christine Elliott:I dont know if the member opposite really wants to hear me, shes
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Im going to ask the Minister of Health to take her seat. Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Im going to ask the member for Brampton Centre to come to order. Im going to ask the government House leader to come to order. Interjection.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Always innocent.
Im going to recognize the Minister of Health to conclude her response.
Hon. Christine Elliott:Thank you, Speaker. To continue, since the beginning of this pandemic, we have created over 3,100 new hospital beds, which is the equivalent of six new community hospitals. We have also added 14% to intensive care capacity, which is significant in the context of this pandemic.
We have also added resources in order to be able to deal with the health human resources that we need. We have allowed for the deployment of people from one sector to another.
Finally, I would say with respect to whats happening with other provinces and other organizations coming in to help us, were very grateful for the help thats being offered by the other provinces and were very grateful to the federal government for their offer of assistance from the Red Cross as well. We know that we need help right now. We have the physical capacity. We need some more health human resources and we are using those resources to make sure everyone who needs help will get help in our hospitals. Ontario Hansard April 21, 2021
Question Period
COVID-19 RESPONSE
Mr. Joel Harden:My question is to the Minister of Health. As many people have already raised this morning, our ICUs are near the breaking point. Were getting close to 100 patients now being treated in our ICUs, but despite this fact, the government has refused to make public its plans for critical care triage in those ICUs. We dont know. People with disabilities and their loved ones and advocacy organizations still dont know what has been negotiated in secret and what actually will happen when those life-and-death decisions take place but, at home, Dr. David Neilipovitz, the ICU director at the Ottawa Hospital told CBC News, It would be naïve for us to think that triage or changes in the standard of care have not already come about. Lets think about that.
Yesterday, the minister rose in this House and said there is no clinical triage protocol, but we know that hospitals received one on January 13. We also know that a training was done for medical professionals on YouTube on the 23rd of January.
Speaker, I want to ask the minister, who is very well versed in these issues: What instructions have been sent out and drafted to emergency medical technicians, ambulance services or health professionals about who will live and who will die in our ICUs? The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Minister of health.
Hon. Christine Elliott:I can certainly advise the member that no triage protocol has been activated or approved by the government of Ontario.
There have been discussions. I understand that there were a number of disability groups that were concerned with respect to a previous draft that was prepared earlier this year. That was then reviewed with the human rights commission. There have been a number of discussions about modifications to it. But nothing has been activated, nothing has been approved by this government.
What we are doing instead is to create the capacity so that we can care for all the patients that come into our hospital, whether theyre COVID patients or emergency patients that come in otherwise. We have created over 3,100 beds since this pandemic began, increased our intensive care capacity by 14%.
We are looking at bringing in other health professionals from other provinces and other countries so that, notwithstanding having the creation of those spaces, we will also have the health human resources in order to be able to operate them safely, carefully and professionally. The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):The supplementary question.
Mr. Joel Harden:Earlier today, I was joined by disability rights leaders for a media conference, all of whom are calling upon this government to make public its plans for critical care triage. Speaker, I know this minister served as Patient Ombudsperson for this province for years and knows full well that every patient, physiotypical, neurotypical or not, has a right to their care at the point of service. But the minister also should know that hospitals got a critical triage protocol on January 13, that a training has been conducted. So I must admit my extreme frustration that today, when our ICUs are nearing capacity, we are still hearing, There are no plans.
Speaker, let me say very clearly for this House, I didnt know, at this point: not an acceptable answer. I was just following orders, at this point: not an acceptable answer. Please forgive me to disabled patients and their loved ones: not an acceptable answer.
Will you make sure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against in the ICUs: yes or no?
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Again, Ill ask the members to make their comments through the Chair. The Minister of Health to respond.
Hon. Christine Elliott:The rights of people with disabilities has been one of my strongest passions since I got to this place 15 years ago, and I dont need to take any instructions from anybody Ms. Andrea Horwath:Ha!
Hon. Christine Elliott:including the leader of the official opposition, about this issue. I have always stood up for the rights of people with disabilities Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Order. Opposition, come to order. The member for NorthumberlandPeterborough South, come to order. The Minister of Health, please reply.
Hon. Christine Elliott:The rights of people with disabilities have been one of the issues that we have cared about and dealt with as part of this entire pandemic. The rights of people with disabilities are equally as important as the rights of anybody else. That is something that Ive always stood by, that
I always will stand by. I can assure the member opposite that no triage protocol has been approved. A draft was circulated in January. That was not approved by this government. It was something that had been discussed. But I understand that the rights of people with disabilities have been brought forward. I asked them Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):The member for Ottawa Centre, come to order. The member for Hamilton WestAncasterDundas, come to order. The minister, please conclude her response.
Hon. Christine Elliott:I asked that this issue be dealt with, with the people with disabilities groups, as well as with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. There have been numerous discussions, but nothing has been activated yet, and I can assure you nothing has been approved at this point. We are working to make sure The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott):Thank you. The next question.
QP Briefing April 21, 2021
Originally posted at https://www.qpbriefing.com/2021/04/21/solicitor-general-brushes-off-disability-advocate-concerns-about-triage-protocol/ SOLICITOR GENERAL BRUSHES OFF DISABILITY ADVOCATE CONCERNS ABOUT TRIAGE PROTOCOL
Home Health And COVID-19 Solicitor General Brushes Off Disability Advocate Concerns About Triage Protocol Solicitor general brushes off disability advocate concerns about triage protocol
Asked about concerns raised by disability advocates for months that the provincial triage guidelines discriminate against them, Ontario’s solicitor general got upset.
“There is no triage protocol being used,” Sylvia Jones said, cutting off the question from QP Briefing. “I am very frustrated that you continue to suggest that there is a triage protocol in place in the province of Ontario in our hospitals. Talk to the hospital CEOs, talk to the minister of health. It is not accurate.”
Jones and Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government has not approved a plan for deciding who lives and who dies should Ontario intensive care units run out of life-saving equipment.
But while it has not been officially triggered, the preparation for the nightmare scenario is real.
Hospitals received training on draft guidelines, which leaked in January, and are preparing to use them.
Doctors and nurses have told reporters that due to rising case counts in the third wave of COVID-19, triage decisions could be days away. Some say that while the protocol has not been implemented, decisions to ration or triage care are already happening, including the cancellation of scheduled surgeries.
And advocates for people with disabilities say they worry that if and when the time comes, they will be seen as less deserving of care than someone without disabilities, because of two key parts of the protocol.
One is the inclusion of the “clinical frailty scale,” which outlines how dependent people are on others to live their lives.
It “asks questions like, can you get dressed yourself, without assistance? Can you go grocery shopping without assistance? Can you use a telephone without assistance?” said Mariam Shanouda, a lawyer with Toronto’s ARCH Disability Law Centre. “And if you answer no, I can’t do any of these things without assistance, then you are less likely to access critical care. This is disability discrimination in a nutshell.”
The other major issue is that doctors are asked to estimate patients’ likelihood of surviving the next 12 months. That timeline is too long, advocates say, and could force medical staff to “guesstimate”
“Guessing is not science,” said David Lepofsky, chair of the AODA Alliance. “And it doesn’t become science because the person doing it, or who’s being mandated to do it, has a white coat on and a stethoscope.”
Another issue is that advocates don’t know whether the protocol from January is unchanged, or whether a new version is being prepared. Lepofsky said the government refuses to answer any of his calls.
“The solution is for the government to immediately make public their step-by-step plan for rolling this out, which they obviously have, so we can know what they’re planning to do,” he said.
The Ministry of Health should speak directly to disability advocacy groups like his, “so we can have input into this, rather than having to communicate with the human shields behind whom they’re hiding, such as the Bioethics Table,” he said.
And each hospital that’s done a triaging drill should make the results of that drill public, “so the public can know how much these simulations for triage might vary, depending on which hospital you happen to go to,” Lepofsky said.
Opposition leaders also called for transparency.
Green Leader Mike Schreiner said he shares the concerns of disability advocates, and argued the government should release the guidelines publicly.
He also noted that ODSP payments have not gone up recently, despite the fact that “Ontarians with disabilities have borne a disproportionate burden in this pandemic.”
Liberal health critic John Fraser said Ontario is “dangerously close to asking clinicians to decide who gets care and who doesn’t. The government needs to be open and transparent about the status of the triage protocol. I think the disability advocates have a legitimate concern. The government should have been listening from the start and needs to engage with them now.”
In question period on Wednesday, Joel Harden, the NDP critic for accessibility and persons with disabilities, quoted Dr. David Neilipovitz, the ICU director at the Ottawa Hospital, who told CBC: “‘It would be naive for us to think that triage or changes in the standard of care have not already come about.’ Lets think about that,” he said.
“Yesterday, the minister rose in this house and said there is no clinical triage protocol, but we know that hospitals received one on January 13. We also know that a training was done for medical professionals on YouTube on the 23rd of January. Speaker, I want to ask the minister, who is very well versed in these issues: what instructions have been sent out and drafted to emergency medical technicians, ambulance services or health professionals about who will live and who will die in our ICUs?”
Elliott repeated that there is no official triage protocol yet.
“There have been discussions,” she said. “I understand that there were a number of disability groups that were concerned with respect to a previous draft that was prepared earlier this year. That was then reviewed with the human rights commission. There have been a number of discussions about modifications to it. But nothing has been activated, nothing has been approved by this government.”
It was indeed reviewed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission in December, but the organization still disapproves. Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha sent a letter to Elliott in March outlining concerns with the draft protocol and called on the government to publicly release it.
Harden said “there are no plans” is “not an acceptable answer.”
Elliott disagreed.
“The rights of people with disabilities has been one of my strongest passions since I got to this place 15 years ago,” she said, “and I dont need to take any instructions from anybody”
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath interjected, “Ha!”
“including the leader of the Official Opposition, about this issue,” Elliott finished.
Ottawa Citizen Online April 22, 2021
Originally posted at https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/harden-ontarios-covid-triage-protocol-must-respect-rights-of-the-disabled Opinion Columnists
Harden: Ontarios COVID triage protocol must respect rights of the disabled
Just over a year ago, 200+ community organizations urged the Ford government to remove disability discrimination from the triage guidance. The response so far: silence.
Joel Harden
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario is accepting adult critical care patients due to the growing severity of the COVID-19 crisis. PHOTO BY ERROL MCGIHON /Errol McGihon
These are perilous times in Ontario. On April 16, 2021, a record-breaking 4,812 new COVID-19 cases were recorded.
At the moment, more than 750 patients are being treated in Ontarios ICUs. For the first time in its 47-year history, the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario is accepting adult COVID-19 patients who require critical care.
There is a real possibility that by the end of the month, hospitals will have to ration or triage critical care due to surging COVID case counts. Triage refers to how hospitals will decide who gets life-saving care if ICUs are overwhelmed with COVID patients and they run out of beds.
Along with disability and human rights leaders, I am deeply concerned that the Doug Ford governments current clinical triage protocol includes disability discrimination, and hasnt been developed with adequate consultation.
Whats wrong with the triage protocol that was circulated to hospitals on Jan. 13, 2021? Firstly, it includes a clinical frailty scale, meaning that a patient over the age of 65 with a progressive disease (Alzheimers, Muscular Dystrophy etc.) will be evaluated based on how they can perform 11 different activities of daily living without assistance. This is blatantly discriminatory against people with disabilities, millions of whom require varying degrees of assistance to live their fullest lives.
Secondly, it includes criteria that assess the patients likelihood of mortality one year from their admission to hospital. Even ICU doctors have conceded that such assessments are guesstimates rather than an exact science. This leaves the door open to subjective judgments about a persons quality of life that could discriminate against people with disabilities, as opposed to a shorter-term assessment of mortality.
No one is suggesting that Ontario shouldnt have a triage protocol in place if ICUs are filled to maximum capacity. What we are saying is that the protocol must respect human rights and the rule of law. It also needs to be discussed openly and transparently, but this government has taken the opposite approach.
Members of the governments own bioethics table have criticized the secrecy with which the government has been handling its approach to clinical triage. Noting that the process must be informed, transparent, inclusive, reasonable and subject to revision in light of new information or legitimate concerns or claims, they believe that Ontario has failed to meet these requirements.
News media have also reported that the Ford government is considering suspending parts of the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA), which requires doctors to obtain consent from a patient or their substitute decision maker before they withdraw critical care.
It is unacceptable for the government to make life-and-death decisions by a secret memo. If they are considering suspending the HCCA, they must make the details public and have a proper debate in the legislature.
Just over a year ago, 200+ community organizations wrote to the Ford government urging it to remove disability discrimination from the provinces triage protocol. For more than a year, the government has been aware of these concerns and had ample time to consult with disability and human rights leaders in developing its clinical triage protocol.
How has the Ford government responded? With complete silence. It has ignored direct appeals from disability groups, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the opposition, all of whom have expressed concerns with the Jan. 13 emergency standard of care triage protocol.
What message does this send to the 2.6 million people with disabilities who live in Ontario? People with disabilities are more likely to get COVID-19, and to be seriously impacted by the virus. This government must assure them that they wont face any discrimination in the awful event that triage becomes necessary.
Its time to stop the secrecy surrounding critical care triage. Its time for the Ford government to remove disability discrimination from its clinical triage protocol.
Joel Harden is the NDP MPP for Ottawa Centre and opposition critic, accessibility and persons with disabilities.
New Democratic Party April 21, 2021 News Release
NDP MPP Joel Harden, disability rights advocates call on Ford to remove disability discrimination from triage protocol
QUEENS PARK MPP Joel Harden (Ottawa Centre), the NDPs critic for Accessibility and Persons with Disabilities, called on the Ford government to withdraw disability discrimination from Ontarios clinical triage protocol and immediately hold a public consultation on how care will be triaged if ICUs become too overwhelmed to fully treat everyone.
Harden was joined at a Wednesday morning press conference by David Lepofsky, Chair of the AODA Alliance, Sarah Jama, Co-founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, and Mariam Shanouda, Staff Lawyer at ARCH Disability Law Centre, all of whom are expressing deep concerns about the protocol and the secrecy surrounding it.
We should never have gotten to the point where critical care triage became a possibility, but the Ford governments choice to put money and politics ahead of public health has brought ICUs to the breaking point, said Harden. The government must remove disability discrimination from its triage protocol, and assure people with disabilities that they wont be deprioritized for life-saving critical care.
The Ford government continues to ignore human rights concerns raised by disability rights leaders, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission about its approach to clinical triage. They have not held open consultations, and it was disability organizations and the opposition, not the government, that made public the January 13, 2021 triage protocol which was sent to hospitals.
This entire process has been cloaked in secrecy, said Harden. Thats wrong, and its time for the government to stop making life-and-death decisions behind closed doors. Quotes:
David Lepofsky, Chair, AODA Alliance
“Our non-partisan grassroots coalition agrees that Ontario must be prepared for the possibility of critical care triage, but Ontarios plan must include a triage protocol, mandated by the Legislature, that does not violate the Charter of Rights or the Ontario Human Rights Code by discriminating against people with disabilities or denying them due process. They have already disproportionately suffered the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sarah Jama, Co-founder, Disability Justice Network of Ontario
We are in a time of deep crisis, and need to offer paid sick days and increase social assistance rates for community members without work from home jobs, or a safety net. But rather than make these preventative policy decisions, our government has created conditions where doctors must rank who gets to live and who gets to die.
Mariam Shanouda, Staff Lawyer, ARCH Disability Law Centre
“Health care, including critical care during a pandemic, must be available free from unlawful discrimination. This is a life and death non-partisan issue. The choice must not be whether we have no triage plan or one that discriminates. And lets be clear, the current plan is discriminatory and will disproportionately impact persons with disabilities who have already disproportionately experienced devastating consequences from this pandemic.”