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This chapter is about the distance between law and justice, particularly for people labelled with intellectual disabilities. It calls for a disability-inclusive approach to understanding access to justice that shifts from a procedural justice paradigm to one that considers substantive conceptions of disability justice. The chapter also examines the critical perspectives of disability rights and disability justice, highlighting the gaps between idealized notions of rights and everyday experiences of rights violations. The chapter proposes that procedural reforms, alone, are insufficient and distract from the need for transformative change. In particular, the chapter discusses clear language judgments as a strategy to improve the comprehensibility of legal information. While clear language judgments have been praised, there are concerns that they may oversimplify complex legal concepts and fail to address underlying biases and injustices. This chapter warns against uncritical adoption and calls for broader transformative change toward collective liberation and elimination of disability injustice.

Moving people into community will protect health, free up valuable resources, and reduce overcrowding for those who remain inside institutions—all part of preventing the spread of COVID-19

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, has infected people in 212 countries so far and on every continent except Antarctica.   Vast changes to our home lives, social interactions, government functioning and relations between countries have swept the world in a few months and are difficult to hold in one’s mind at one time. That is why a collaborative effort such as this edited, multidisciplinary collection is needed. This book confronts the vulnerabilities and interconnectedness made visible by the pandemic and its consequences, along with the legal, ethical and policy responses. These include vulnerabilities for people who have been harmed or will be harmed by the virus directly and those harmed by measures taken to slow its relentless march; vulnerabilities exposed in our institutions, governance and legal structures; and vulnerabilities in other countries and at the global level where persistent injustices harm us all.   Hopefully, COVID-19 will forces us to deeply reflect on how we govern and our policy priorities; to focus preparedness, precaution, and recovery to include all, not just some.  Published in English and French.

"At the time of writing, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19,1 has infected people in 212 countries and on every continent except Antarctica. As of May 17, 2020, 5,780 people have died in Canada, and worldwide, there are over 313,000 reported deaths. The true death toll is certainly higher, and more will die in the coming months. Vast changes to our home lives, social interactions, government functioning and relations between countries have swept the world in a few months and are difficult to hold in one's mind at one time. That is why a collaborative effort such as this edited, multidisciplinary collection is needed. This book confronts the vulnerabilities and interconnectedness made visible by the pandemic and its consequences, along with the legal, ethical and policy responses. These include vulnerabilities for people who have been harmed or will be harmed by the virus directly and those harmed by measures taken to slow its relentless march; vulnerabilities exposed in our institutions, governance and legal structures; and vulnerabilities in other countries and at the global level where persistent injustices harm us all. We conclude with the hope that COVID-19 forces us to deeply reflect on how we govern and our policy priorities; to focus preparedness, precaution, and recovery to include all, not just some."--

This volume is a collection of papers presenting theories & strategies for public interest litigation, a specialized area of litigation aimed to bring about social impact, & the various avenues & methodologies that have been used in Canadian history.

"This book provides a comprehensive overview of Canadian public health law and policy. Written and edited by leading health law scholars and featuring contributions from legal and health experts from across the country, it offers an in-depth analysis of current critical public health issues."-- Provided by publisher.

In its 2008 decision in R v Kapp, the Supreme Court of Canada gave broad effect to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom's ameliorative program provision, section 15(2). The Supreme Court's decision signalled that a government respondent's declaration that a program is “ameliorative” may shield it from further scrutiny under section 15(1). This Women's Court of Canada judgment takes the opportunity to reformulate the approach to section 15(2). Although the Charter provides express protection of ameliorative programs, such programs have sometimes been challenged by members of advantaged groups claiming “reverse discrimination.” We argue that such “equality regressive claims” should be caught by section 15(2). However, for challenges to “under-inclusive” programs, deference to the government on the development of ameliorative programs may perpetuate disadvantage experienced by excluded disadvantaged groups and should not be similarly shielded. This decision develops a contextual approach to section 15(2) that ensures that it does not become a loophole through which government respondents can avoid fulsome Charter scrutiny of claims of under-inclusivity. We outline a test that not only encourages government to take affirmative action but is also narrow enough to subject genuine equality claims to section 15(1) review.

This paper explores a grey area of psychiatric practice and, as with other challenging practices, the law is called upon to navigate conflicting legal issues. In particular, this paper explores the covert administration of medication: the concealment of medication in food or drink so that it will be consumed undetected. Rights-based approaches support nuanced understanding of the practices. Few policies, protocols or guidelines govern the practice in Ontario's psychiatric settings. While covert medication is understood to have “something to do” with rights, there is confusion about how those rights play out on the ground. Institutional silences underlie and reinforce the practice. Most pressing, the covert administration of medication warrants an overt discussion, including of its impact on the rights-experience of persons in psychiatric settings.

Drawing on the fields of human rights and public health, this research explores the covert administration of medication: the concealment of medication in food or drink so that it will be consumed undetected. Adopting a rights-based approach, it explores multiple understandings of the impact of the practice on inpatients' rights-experiences. Relying on critical approaches, it also explores the practice's underlying socio-political-legal structures. The common themes of policies, protocols or guidelines that govern its practice in Ontario are identified. Focus groups and individual interviews were held with three groups of stakeholders (nurses, legal experts and psychiatrists), relying on fictional clinical scenarios. Few policies, protocols or guidelines govern the practice in Ontario's psychiatric settings. The practice impairs access to knowledge by patients and substitute decision-makers. It also precludes healthcare practitioners' access to information about side effects and underlying reasons for medication refusal. It may interfere with therapeutic relationships and patients' meaningful recovery as they transfer from hospital without knowledge of the fact of the covert medication. It may be characterized as autonomy restoring since patients may become capable of making treatment decisions after having received the medication surreptitiously. Covert medication reflects an inflexible approach to capacity determination; it is distinguishable from approaches that imagine capacity as able to be fostered with support. It is primarily concerned with the management of "risky" inpatients in the short-term. The practice relies on a faith that medication will be effective, deferring to medical decision-making. While covert medication is understood to have "something to do" with rights, there is confusion about how those rights play out on the ground. Institutional silences underlie and reinforce the practice. This research will support the development of effective, safe and appropriate approaches to treatment non-adherence that maximize patient dignity. Most pressing, this research concludes that the covert administration of medication warrants an overt discussion.