According to a June 3 news release, the government submitted its report to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission on May 31. The five-year plan is part of a push away from housing those with disabilities in institutions and hospitals and toward creating “individualized planning” and supports so they are able to live in the community.
“The remedy represents generational change for people with disabilities in Nova Scotia,” said Minister of Community Services Brendan Maguire in a statement. “We are fundamentally rethinking what we do and how we do it, turning our system inside out to create one that is focused on supporting people to build a life of their choosing in the community of their choosing.”
The release states that, during the first year of the remedy plan, the government, among other things:
- Supported the transition of 144 people from institutions to “community living situations.”
- Reduced the wait list for disability support programs by 13.3 per cent, thus serving more clients.
- Created the Independent Living Support Plus program, which provides up to 12 hours of daily support for those transitioning out of institutions or hospitals.
- Completed an “organizational redesign,” including the staffing of “core leadership roles” and the creation of 120 full-time “equivalent positions” to support the remedy plan.
The five-year plan stems from human rights complaints by three Nova Scotians with physical disabilities who were reportedly being housed at a psychiatric hospital in the Halifax area, despite the views of some medical professionals that they could live in the community.
In March 2019, a human rights board found that each had been discriminated against. However, it reportedly rejected the argument that placement in support homes in the community broadly applied to those with disabilities.
According to a provincial government document from last year, the issue ended up before Nova Scotia’s Court of Appeal in October 2021, where it was found there was “systemic discrimination in relation to [the] living and housing needs of all Nova Scotians with disabilities.”
Last summer, an independent human rights board of inquiry issued a remedy, which included the outlining of the “five-year resolution process.”
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