Hamilton, Ontario—At Disability Justice Network of Ontario, we have been outspoken supporters of Disabled Prisoners across Ontario. In that light, we must echo the dire call from our friends with the Justice for Soli Campaign and the Faqiri Family regarding the treatment and conditions of Ontario’s Disabled Prisoners.
Disabled Prisoners in Ontario, regardless of which prison jurisdiction one is incarcerated in, are constantly placed in fundamentally grave danger by authorities who actively deny medical and social support for Disabled Prisoners. The inaction of the Ford Government on these issues seven years after the death of Soleiman and six months after the Inquest Report ruling his death a homicide is unacceptable, if unsurprising.
As raised at yesterday’s press conference the government has not implemented any of the 57 recommendations. In fact, they missed the deadline on the first recommendation which was to issue a public statement to acknowledge that jails are not the appropriate environment for Disabled Prisoners. For us, this lack of basic action highlights the need to build alternatives to the system of incarceration and state-sanctioned death which is imposed on Disabled Prisoners every day in Ontario.
Justice for Soli now, Justice for the Faqiri Family, Justice for all Disabled Prisoners.
DISABLED PERSON AND ELDER ADVOCACY GROUPS JOIN FORCES TO SEND AN URGENT MESSAGE TO THE ONTARIO CABINET
ONTARIO—”Seven provincial organizations representing the interests of disabled persons of all ages have, for the first time in four decades, jointly submitted a Brief to Cabinet calling for an end to the mass institutionalization of individuals—”young and old”—in Ontario’s long-term care institutions. The organizations are demanding that the Government of Ontario take action to redirect funding into a range of non-profit community-based service and support options; end the exclusionary criteria in the Family Managed Home Care Direct Funding Program; Pay Family Caregivers to help loved ones remain at home; create service navigation and advocacy support through the creation of an Adult Community Service Worker program housed within Ontario’s community legal clinic system; and establish a full range of non-profit, fully staffed, residential options of individuals’ own choice as alternatives to big facilities. All of these options are detailed in the brief to Cabinet.
The goal is to promote the full inclusion in their communities of people with disabilities of all ages, and end their exclusion and segregation in an institutional system based on an 18th century Houses of Industry model.
"Too many persons with disabilities continue to be warehoused in nursing homes and other institutions, in large part due to a lack of community options. There are more than 2,900 Ontarians with developmental disabilities under the age of 65 living in long-term care. This is not only a waste of human potential, but it can lead to cruel and unusual punishment and dire consequences where there is no other choice." Mah-E-Leqa Jadgal, President, Citizens With Disabilities - Ontario (CWDO).
“Disabled people of all ages deserve to live good lives. Right now, the decision by the Conservatives to continue institutionalizing disabled people of all ages in large congregate settings not only tramples on their constitutional rights to freedom, but it will only lead to more deaths, more abuses, and more illness” said Megan Linton of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario.
“That Canada, and especially Ontario, have not joined other progressive OECD countries in funding a full range of options“ both in-home and residential, to keep elders and younger people with disabilities out of hospitals and institutions is a cause for real concern. A policy of mass institutionalization of people with disabilities of all ages violates their human rights” said Patricia Spindel, Chair of Seniors for Social Action Ontario.
"I grew up in an Ontario institution for children with permanent physical disabilities. Upon turning 18, it was my fate to be sloughed off to a home for the aged since I needed help with all my physical needs. But I learned about 10 apartments having round-the-clock attendant services included and this was my ticket to freedom! Now that I am a retired senior, I live in dread that community-based services will not be there as I age further and my disabilities age with me. I believe that the government must expand and invest in successful community-based service models instead of expensive institutions, to deliver services that are personalized, effective, and much more humane”, said Tracy Odell, a long time disability rights advocate.
We at the Disability Justice Network of Ontario are grieving the Palestinian lives that the Israeli government has and continues to destroy during its historic occupation of Palestinian land. This occupation is a mass disabling event at the hands of Israel—not only since October 2023, but since the founding of Israel in 1948.
Disability justice fundamentally and unequivocally opposes settler colonialism and imperialist powers which subject Indigenous, racialized, disabled and non-disabled bodyminds in the Global South to debilitation and death. From militarization to illegal occupation to dispossession—where the settler colonial state of Israel fails to take life, it leaves Palestinians in a perpetual state of injury, further inhibiting their capacity to find refuge.
The Israeli settler state has now bombed every hospital and healthcare facility in Gaza, killing countless civilians, including children, parents, siblings, elders, and community members. This bombing campaign is only the most recent incident in a settler colonial occupation which disproportionately targets racialized, sick, injured, and disabled people first. Imperialist states like Israel have historically weaponized disability and disablement to counter resistance efforts to maintain illegal occupation and displacement. An example of this genocidal tool occurred between 2018 and 2019 when the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) intentionally shot Palestinians in areas that would permanently damage their nerves, joints and arteries, ultimately leading to bacterial bone infections. [1]
In turn, we must denounce so-called disability organizations and movements in the West that operate at the expense or production of disabled people in the East. These organizations’ priorities cannot exist in the name of disability justice, as they are directly involved in the global military-industrial complex. The military-industrial complex in Canada has played a key role in the genocide of Palestinians, as we have historically and presently sustained these conditions of displacement and debilitation. [2] Further, the core ideas of the colonial project found in so-called Israel lie at the heart of Canadian colonialism across Turtle Island and have served as one of Israel’s inspirations. [3]
We denounce the active and passive role of Canadian governments and media outlets complicit in widespread Anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, [4] Islamophobia and ongoing financial and general support of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
We particularly encourage the broader disability movement to engage in solidarity with Palestinians and denounce the Israeli settler occupation. Particularly, we encourage organizations to critically evaluate their financial and institutional ties to Zionist organizations.
We express solidarity with protestors across the province, country and globe, and denounce all efforts to silence, censor, and criminalize demonstrators. We know, as well, that ever-present police brutality against those who take action to support Palestine has itself resulted in injury and disablement all over the world. This reality shows us once again that there can be no disability justice without opposition to state violence in all its forms.
There is no disability justice without anti-Zionism. There is no disability justice without land reclamation. There is no disability justice without decolonization and liberation. Since our founding in 2018, Disability Justice Network of Ontario has always sought to create a world where people with disabilities are free to be. This vision has always and will always be for Disabled Palestinians and we know that no body or mind can be left behind—only moving together can we accomplish the revolution we require.
In solidarity,
The Board and Staff of Disability Justice Network of Ontario
