The Short Case for Accessibility-Rights Legislation Barrier-Free
Manitoba believes that strong and effective accessibility-rights
legislation is required to remove the myriad of barriers still
facing persons with disabilities, as well as to prevent the
ongoing creation of new ones. The case for such legislation is
not about extending new rights, it's simply about enforcing the
basic human rights that are already established in law for
170,000 Manitobans. It's about recognizing that these rights
affect everyone. Every Manitoban either now has a disability,
knows someone with a disability, or will acquire a disability in
the coming years. It's about being honest enough to acknowledge
that the methods and approaches currently available to enforce
these human rights, while essential, have proven to be
inadequate. As the Canadian Human Rights Commission concluded in
its 2002 Annual Report: For those who are discriminated against
because of their disability, the human rights complaints system
is not necessarily the