COURT FINDS SYSTEMIC BIAS AGAINST THOSE WITH DISABILITIES

Nova Scotia’s highest court has concluded there is systemic discrimination in the province against people with disabilities who are seeking services and housing in the community. In a landmark decision issued Wednesday, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal sided with an advocacy group called the Disability Rights Coalition, agreeing that the province’s failure to offer people with disabilities “meaningful” access to housing and care in the community amounts to a violation of their basic rights. However, the government could still bring the case before another human rights board of inquiry, where it could attempt to prove the discrimination is “a reasonable limit prescribed by law” that can be justified in a free and democratic society.