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The United Nations Releases Concluding Observations on Canada’s Review of Disability Rights Implementation

For Immediate Release

March 27, 2025

On March 26, 2025, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released the advance unedited version of their Concluding Observations which are final recommendations to Canada on how to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

53 organizations of persons with disabilities and civil society organizations across Canada came together as a coalition, known as the Civil Society Parallel Report Group, to collectively write a Parallel Report that reflected a consensus of concerns that incorporated perspectives from a variety of disability communities. 14 organizations from that coalition travelled to Geneva, Switzerland, and spoke at a private briefing session with the CRPD Committee and advocated in-person regarding the concerns of their communities.

This collective work and advocacy of all these organizations has resulted in strong Concluding Observations and recommendations by the UN CRPD Committee which include the majority of concerns and recommendations originally raised by the coalition.

Among its recommendations, the UN CRPD Committee strongly recommends that:

  • Canada should repeal Track 2 MAiD, through repealing Bill C-7, and repeal the 2027 expansion of MAiD for persons whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness”;
  • Canada should withdraw its declaration under article 12 and reservation to article 12 (4) of the CRPD regarding the right to equal recognition before the law;
  • Canada should urgently address the lack of accessible housing and community supports within Indigenous communities;
  • Canada should implement a coordinated deinstitutionalisation strategy across federal, provincial, and territorial governments;
  • Canada should repeal federal, provincial, and territorial mental health and substance use treatment laws and policies allowing for involuntary detention and treatment;
  • Canada should ensure that provinces and territories have consistent policies on inclusive education, that the implementation of inclusive education is tracked, and that these address specific considerations related to Indigenous students with disabilities;
  • Canada should establish legally defined mechanisms ensuring compliance with the CRPD by all provinces and territories, and condition fiscal transfers from the Federal level to provinces and territories on their adherence to the CRPD

These recommendations among many others are all strong wins for disability communities as the UN continues to affirm the real and pressing concerns of disability communities across Canada.

The Civil Society Parallel Report Group is deeply appreciative of the CRPD Committee’s continued dedication to engaging in a full and fair process that takes into consideration the perspectives of disability communities as it reviewed the Government of Canada.

For media inquiries please contact the co-coordinators of the Canada Civil Society Parallel Report Group Elsie Tellier, ARCH Disability Law Centre (elsie.tellier@arch.clcj.ca) and Neil Belanger, IDC/BCANDS (exdir@bcands.bc.ca)



March 27, 2025