Systemic Advocacy and Law Reform

As a specialty community legal clinic, ARCH’s systemic advocacy and law reform activities involve working alongside our communities in efforts to change laws and policies as well as analyzing and commenting on the impact of current and proposed laws and practices from a disability perspective. ARCH makes oral and written submissions to all levels of government, legislative committees, administrative bodies, tribunals, agencies, and human rights commissions. In conducting this work, ARCH often consults with other disability rights groups, members of our communities, and other specialty and community legal clinics.
Visit our submissions and papers page to view our recent and archived law reform submissions.

Medical Assistance in Dying

In March 2021, Canada expanded eligibility for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). MAiD is no longer only for people who are near the end of life. People with disabilities, illnesses or diseases who are suffering and who meet the other criteria in the law can be found eligible and receive medical assisted death. People with disabilities have died by MAiD because they are living in poverty, could not get healthy housing, specialized medical care or disability services they needed to live with dignity in the community. Canada’s MAiD law continues to cause deep distress for many disability communities in Ontario and across Canada. ARCH continues to work with disability communities to reform Canada’s expansion on MAiD.

Civil Society Reporting to the United Nations

United Nations review of Canada’s CRPD Implementation

Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), State Parties to the treaty agree to report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities about the progress the State Party (Canada) has made in ensuring the rights set out in the CRPD are upheld. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an elected body of independent experts, also allows civil society, non-governmental organizations and voluntary citizen’s groups, to submit reports to be read. These additional reports go by a variety of names including “parallel reports”.

Through the information submitted in reports by the Canadian government and civil society, as well as through questions asked to representatives of the Canadian government and civil society during in-person meetings, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities creates what is called the Concluding Observations. Concluding Observations detail both the areas in which a State Party has made positive actions to ensure CRPD rights as well as concerns and recommendations the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has based on the information they reviewed.

The Concluding Observations highlight areas in which State Parties are successfully ensuring CRPD rights and areas where the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is concerned that the State Party under review is not adequately upholding CRPD rights. In addition to pointing out areas of concern, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provide recommendations on how the State Party under review can improve their CRPD implementation.

Concluding Observations are not legally binding documents but they are an essential advocacy tool for disability rights advocates to use to demonstrate areas where Canada needs to improve to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities.

Parallel Reporting provides non-governmental organizations and members of disability communities the opportunity to share important information from community perspectives that then supports the creation of Concluding Observations. ARCH served as a co-coordinator of the civil society’s participation in both reporting cycles, and co-authored and co-coordinated the 2016 and 2025 Canada Civil Society Parallel Reports submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These reports served an important role in United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ reviews of Canada and contributed to ongoing disability rights activism at the international level. ARCH and partners also made submissions to the United Nations Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, during the United Nations’ dialogue with Canada

2025: Civil Society Parallel Report submitted for Canada’s 2nd and 3rd review by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Civil Society Parallel Report for Canada Report was prepared by the Canadian Civil Society Parallel Report Group, a group of 53 Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs) and civil society groups that represent a cross-section of persons with disabilities across Canada.
The Report provides a response to most articles of the CRPD within the context of the List of Issues for Canada, Canada’s Report, and the 2017 Concluding Observations made in response to the 1st Parallel Report. The Parallel Report highlights key concerns of disability communities, including: Track Two MAiD, substitute decision-making, intersectional discrimination, insufficient jurisdictional coordination, and disproportionate poverty experienced by persons with disabilities.

(PARALLEL REPORT FILES WILL BE ADDED HERE)
(2025 Concluding Observations will be available here)

Media: The United Nations Releases Concluding Observations on Canada’s Review of Disability Rights Implementation https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/the-united-nations-releases-concluding-observations-on-canadas-review-of-disability-rights-implementation/

2016: Civil Society Parallel Report submitted for Canada’s 1st review by the CRPD Committee

The Canadian Civil Society Parallel Report Group was an ad hoc group comprised of sixteen Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs) and supporters, representing a cross-section of Canadians with disabilities. In December of 2015, Canadian DPOs met in Ottawa to review preliminary comments on Canada’s Report, and to consider mechanisms for the preparation of submissions to the CRPD Committee as it prepared the List of Issues (LOI) and a subsequent parallel report. This report sought to provide responses to selected priority areas identified by the committee in its September 2016 “List of Issues. For Canada.”

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, ARCH Disability Law Centre wrote several publications and launched various campaigns to advocate for, and bring awareness to how the pandemic affected persons with disabilities. ARCH focused on several areas including: Education, Healthcare, Developmental Services, and Vaccination Distribution. For more information on ARCH’s work on issues relating to Covid-19 visit the COVID-19 Information webpage.