Session 3: Legal Context: Capacity, Decision-Making and Communication Disabilities

Cases
Starson v. Swayze, [2003] 1 S.C.R. 722 (Supreme Court of Canada)
https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2064/index.do

Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] 3 SCR 624 (Supreme Court of Canada)
https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1552/index.do

Equality and Accessibility – Legal Sources

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – Full Text
https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-withdisabilities.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Full Text
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html

Secondary Sources

Canadian Human Rights Commission, in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies, “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities to Equality and Non-Discrimination: Monitoring the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Canada”
https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/eng/content/rights-persons-disabilities-equality-and-nondiscrimination

Barnett, L, Nicol, J & Walker, J., “An Examination of the Duty to Accommodate in the Canadian Human Rights Context,” Library of Parliament, Background Paper, Publication No. 2012-01-E, January, 2012.
https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/201201E

ARCH Disability Law Centre, “Fact Sheet – The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Optional Protocol”, November, 2019.
https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/resource/factsheet-the-crpd-and-the-optional-protocol/

Decision-Making in Canada – Legal Sources
D’Arcy J. Hiltz, Anita Szigeti & Ruby Dhand, Halsbury’s Laws of Canada – Mental Health, 2019 Reissue (Lexis Nexis: Toronto)

Legislation in Canada which contains formal legal recognition of a role for supports in decision-making

British Columbia
Representation Agreement Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, Chapter 405
http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96405_01

Alberta
Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act, S.A. 2008, Chapter A-4.2
http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Acts/A04P2.pdf

Saskatchewan
The Adult Guardianship and Co-decision-making Act, S.S. 2000, c. A-5.3
https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/products/392

Manitoba
The Vulnerable Persons Living with a Mental Disability Act, C.C.S.M. c. V90
https://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm/v090e.php

Yukon
The Adult Protection and Decision Making Act being Schedule A to the Decision Making Support and Protection to Adults Act, S.Y. 2003, c. 21.
http://www.gov.yk.ca/legislation/acts/dmspa.pdf

Secondary Sources on Laws which recognize Supports for Decision-Making

Lana Kerzner, “Paving the way to Full Realization of the CRPD’s Rights to Legal Capacity and Supported Decision-Making: A Canadian Perspective”, Prepared for a Symposium at the University of British Columbia, In From the Margins: New Foundations for Personhood and Legal Capacity in the 21st Century, April, 2011.
http://cic.arts.ubc.ca/files/2014/07/In_From_The_Margins_Paper-Lana_Kerzner-FINALApril_22_2011__2_.pdf

Krista James and Laura Watts, Canadian Centre for Elder Law, “Understanding the Lived Experiences of Supported Decision-Making in Canada”, prepared for the Law Commission of Ontario, March 2014
https://www.lco-cdo.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/capacity-guardianship-commissioned-paperccel.pdf

Lana Kerzner, “Supported Decision-Making Innovations: The Canadian Experience” in Disability Law and Policy: An Analysis of the UN Convention, Charles O’Mahony and Gerard Quinn, eds (Dublin: Clarus Press Ltd, 2017).

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