Lecture: "The Charter’s Guarantee of Equality to People with Disabilities: Where it Came From, Why It’s not Working and How to Make It a Reality in the Lives of People with Disabilities".
Date: March 2, 2016, 4:00PM
Location: Moot Court
Keynote Speaker:
David Lepofsky, life-long disability rights advocate, blind lawyer, and chair of the non-partisan grassroots Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance. He is also co-chair of Barrier-Free Canada, a non-partisan coalition now campaigning for the enactment of a Canadians with Disabilities Act. From 1994 to 2005, David Lepofsky led the fight to win the enactment of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). In the early 1980s, he took active part in successful campaigns to get disability equality included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code. He is now a visiting professor of legal ethics and public interest advocacy at Osgoode Hall Law School.
“It was through grassroots public forums and meetings like this that we won the enactment of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act in 2005, and it will be through these kinds of events, and the tenacious energy that bursts from them, that we will get Ontario back on schedule for full accessibility,” says David Lepofsky. “Each person can help, and we’ll give you the action tips so you can quickly make a real difference.”