Recommendations to NTHSSA Mental Health and Addictions 2020

SHORT TERM

• Review Liquor Act and Regulations to reform limits on sale of alcohol (e.g. taxing indexed to the volume of alcohol/unit).
• Introduction of a sober/reduced intoxication social space for adults who are homeless and low-income who do not want to be exposed to high level intoxication during the day.
• Introduced a unified intake criteria for programs serving homeless adults.
• Give Day/Sobering Centre Caseworkers the ability to directly connect service users to southern treatment centres.

MID-TERM

• Introduce a street-based crisis response team that includes: nurse, social worker, homeless advocate (someone who is or was homeless), support workers trained in higher-level non-violent crisis intervention.
• Introduce alcohol management programming in Yellowknife.
• Introduce funding to operate on-the-land activities during the day for homeless and low-income adults to participate in.
• Fund and monitor the impact of targeted life and employment skills programming for homeless adults.
• Rapid-response intake to housing and programming for homeless adults while they are in periods of sobriety (removing them from triggers of the Day Centre).

LONG TERM

• Introduction of a drug and alcohol treatment centre in the NWT with options for Indigenous (including on-the-land) and Western-based models.
• Increased and improved housing and services in outlying communities (decreasing the need to come to Yellowknife).
• Increasing economic opportunities in communities to address pervasive unemployment.
• Increasing sovereignty of Indigenous governments in the delivery of health and social service programming, especially as it pertains to health and addictions.

A Collection of Indigenous Voices

Indigenous Artist Michael Fatt for the NWT Disabilities Council

WE'RE LOOKING FOR YOUR STORIES!

WHAT IS THIS PROJECT?

Indigenous VOICES is an opportunity to recognize the lived experience of Indigenous peoples living with disabilities in our communities. Indigenous people with disabilities face unique challenges as a marginalized population within a marginalized population. With this project we seek to gather stories of individuals and families, living with disabilities, from across the Northwest Territories. These stories can be oral history or in a form of visual art. It is our hope that through this project we can create an opportunity to honour the resilience and contributions that Indigenous people with disabilities make in our communities, as well as celebrate the culture of care that exists in Indigenous communities.

An honorarium will be provided for those who share their story.

VISION

The NWT Disabilities Council envisions that all individuals living with disability have equal access to full citizenship, as guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, toward the achievement of a self-determined, fulfilling, and meaningful life.

CORE VALUES

Everything that the NWT Disabilities Council does reflects our six core values.

• Every person with a disability has the right to respect, dignity, individual autonomy, and full citizenship.
• We believe in equity, fairness, inclusion, and accessibility for all.
• We believe that individuals with a disability and their families have the right to be empowered and free to be self-determining.
• We recognize that individuals with a disability are experts on their own life.
• We support the autonomy of Indigenous communities to direct supports to community members with disabilities.
• We honour the wisdom of all cultures in all of our work.

For more information or to participate, contact:

Email: admin@nwtdc.net Phone: 867-873-8230 Toll Free: 1-800-491-8885

Disability Tax Credit

During these troubled times the Disability Tax Credit is able to help people that qualify when people need it most.

So now, more than ever getting approved for the Disability Tax Credit or CPP Disability makes a huge difference to the lives of disabled Canadians and their families.

Disability Credit Canada has sent an informative guide on applying for the Disability Tax Credit and the CPP Disabilty.

Disability Tax Credit Guide

CPP Disability Guide

Disability Survey

In 2015 the Disabilities Council conducted an extensive survey from every community in the Northwest Territories about disability supports.

The Final Report can be found HERE

The Summary Report can be found HERE

Definition of Disability

In 2018 the NWT Disabilities Council updated our organization's definition of disability, as per our 2018-2023 Strategic Planning goals. Our new definition of disability and accompanying disability value statements outline how our organization understands the experience of disability for the communities we serve in the NWT. Our new definition of disability and disability value statements are: 

 Definition of Disability

Disability is a dynamic lived experience of restricted or limited participation in life that results from the interaction of an individual’s bodily impairment and their physical and social environment.

 Disability Value Statements

• Disability is a dynamic experience that: 

  • includes past, present, or future impairments, 

  • can present apparently or non-apparently, 

  • can present across the lifespan, and

  • can present permanently, temporarily, or episodically.  

• Disability is a complex phenomenon that encompasses many conditions of the mind and body that exist in different physical and social environments. As such, the boundaries between disability and ability are fluid and subjective; for this reason, the NWTDC will rely on self-identification of disability. 

• The NWTDC definition of disability is situated within the interactionalist approach to disability. The interactionalist approach acknowledges that the experience of disability results from the interaction of an individual’s body and their physical and social environmental factors. 

• The impact that disability has on a person is influenced by individual and social factors (e.g. age, gender identity, sexual orientation, culture, religious affiliation, race, and socioeconomic status, among others). For this reason, we acknowledge that the spectrum of lived experience of disability encompasses complex life circumstances, including, but not limited to: institutionalization, trauma, poverty, restricted housing options, and homelessness.

If you are interested, a detailed rationale for our new definition of disability and disability value statements is available HERE

Bill of Rights

The NWT Disabilities Council has created a Bill of Rights document that outlines the rights of people with disabilities living in the NWT. This document outlines entitlements and protections that belong to people with disabilities under international, national, and territorial laws and policies. Our document addresses seven domains of life: health; family and social protection; community living; political participation; employment; education; and justice. We encourage all members of the NWT Disabilities Council to take the time to review our Bill of Rights document and share it with fellow community members. By doing this, we will be able to increase awareness of the rights of people with disabilities and strengthen our communities.

If you have any questions regarding your rights as a person living with or supporting disability in your community, please reach out to us at the NWT Council. We will work with you to fully understand your rights and to assist in advocacy if your rights have been violated.

Bill of Rights

February 2020 Abilities Newsletter

Inclusive Schooling Continues to Fail Children and Families in the NWT

A 2010 Auditor General’s report stated that the NWT had failed to comply with the Education Act and its responsibilities regarding Inclusive Schooling. Of the actions that were reported it indicated that the information was vague and failed to show the details or impact of the described actions. Since then the NWT Disabilities Council has brought multiple concerns forward regarding failures to comply with requirements of Individual Education Plans, Inadequate student classroom supports and No avenue for complaint or concern outside internal resources. These were continuously summarily dismissed, as anecdotal, after internal departmental consultation. These concerns have been repeatedly presented by the NWT Disabilities Council, throughout the life of the 17th and 18th Legislative Assemblies. This has left families frustrated, unsupported and a decade of young people not receiving even the minimum requirements under the Education Act. Well these concerns can no longer be dismissed and have now been confirmed through the 2020 AG report. We know now that Inclusive Schooling has and continues to severely fail our children. A failure which spans 3 Legislative Assemblies.

The 2020 AG report includes actions underway by ECE but as an organization we understand these reported actions do not reflect the actual delivery and have serious concerns as to how these fail to reflect the reality for families, especially in small communities.

No longer in dispute is the following; ( excerpt from 2020 Auditor General’s Report)

60. In addition, we found that the department did not sufficiently monitor whether schools were creating, monitoring, and updating individualized learning plans for students, as required by the Ministerial Directive on Inclusive Schooling. Its monitoring of inclusive schooling did not provide it with sufficient information about whether students on individualized learning plans received the necessary supports, including specialized services, or how this affected their outcomes. This meant that there was a risk that students were not benefiting fully from these plans.

61. Finally, we found that although the department drafted a detailed monitoring plan in 2015 for how it would measure the success of inclusive schooling, it never implemented this plan. Part of this plan was to conduct school reviews, but we found that it still had not determined what these reviews would entail or who was responsible for conducting them. At the time of our audit, the department had not completed any school reviews.

For more information, please read the full report below

https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/nwt_202002_e_43522.html

19th Legislative Assembly Disability Priority Items

The NWT Disabilities Council is committed to advocating for impactful policy change to strengthen our communities, increase diversity, and improve the lives of persons and families living with disability in the Northwest Territories.

While the challenges facing persons with disabilities are multifaceted and numerous, the NWT Disabilities Council has released three priority action items that we will be focusing on as an organization during the 19th Legislative Assembly. These three priority items address some of the most complex issues facing persons with disabilities in the territory, particularly those facing intersectional barriers including poverty, colonization, and social marginalization.

Our organization will be focusing our political efforts in working diligently over the next four years to drive change and reform in these areas. We encourage public dialogue about these issues and that you bring these forward to your elected representatives.

Please view our presentation HERE

Disability Rights

These are the Rights of People with Disabilities, please click on the photo to enlarge