Media

Webinar: Empower U, Learn to Access Your Disability Rights, April 23, 2020, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Atlantic Time

Join us for an Empower U webinar to learn more about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol (OP) and be part of a Canada-wide network engaged in acting for the implementation of the CRPD.

We have decided to continue the webinar series as an alternative to face to face meetings planned for Atlantic Canada, which were cancelled in light of current COVID 19 related travel restrictions.  The next webinar is on Thursday, April 23rd from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT, or 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Atlantic time. The focus of the Webinar will be the evolution of disability rights in UN system and a discussion about how to make use of the CRPD’s Optional Protocol. 

Real-time Captioning and ASL will be provided.

While interested disability advocates from Atlantic Canada are especially encouraged to attend, we welcome anyone who is interested to participate in these Webinars. 

Speakers:

Steven Estey, Interim National Coordinator, Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD).  He is also a former Human Rights Officer at Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) a Canadian based NGO with members around the world.  Steven has travelled widely, for more than 25 years in over 35 countries.  He has worked with Disabled Peoples' Organizations, Human Rights Institutions, Governments, Intergovernmental Organizations and United Nations Agencies to advance disability rights.

Frank Folino, President of the Canadian Association of the Deaf – Association des Sourds du Canada (CAD–ASC), is a human rights advocate. His work has focused on public education, consultation, and advocacy related to the implementation of the CRPD in Canada and around the world. Recently, Frank was elected to sit  as a World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) Board Member for 2019-2023 at the WFD General Assembly on July 2019 in Paris, France. He graduated with Honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science from York University.

Thursday, April 23 webinar: please register online here in advance https://secure.neads.ca/register/en.php?id=20A1  
Zoom URL on the day of the meeting: https://zoom.us/j/94160659305?pwd=Z1hDeFVjWVB3SkpwYTJlZjlab3J4QT09  

Teleconference Access:  1-647-558-0588

Meeting ID: 941-6065-9305
Meeting Password: 520192

Description: The continuation of a series of ten webinars offering training for people with disabilities who are willing to make a commitment to share their knowledge in their communities / organizations with their peers for the purpose of increased awareness of how to remedy discrimination using more familiar (Human Rights Codes) and newer instruments (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the CRPD's Optional Protocol to train other people to do likewise.

Webinars will be held from April 23 to May 27, 2020. Recordings will be available to participants after webinars.

Learning Objectives:
•To increase the number of Canadians with disabilities, particularly youth with disabilities and people with disabilities from ethno-cultural communities, who are knowledgeable about available human rights remedies to discrimination and how to access these remedies
• To increase capacity of Canadians with disabilities to share that knowledge with their peers so that more people across Canada (particularly with disabilities and multi-ethnic communities) will have the information necessary to navigate the systems where Canadians can seek redress for discrimination

Learning Outcomes:  At the end of the training participants will have:
• In-depth knowledge of how to use United Nations Convention on The Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) and the Optional Protocol, as well as Human Rights Codes and the Accessible Canada Act
• In-depth understanding of how to access and navigate the systems where Canadians with disabilities can seek redress from discrimination

About the Project:
The project Nothing About Us Without Us: Empower U, Learn to Access Your Disability Rights is funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and implemented by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) in collaboration with the Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc. (CMDCI), Citizens With Disabilities – Ontario (CWDO), the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities (MLPD) and the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS).