We can do much more to make Canada an inclusive and barrier-free place.
As a start, New Democrats will uphold the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities, and strengthen the
Accessibility Act to cover all federal agencies
equally, with the power to make and enforce
accessibility standards in a timely manner.
To help more people with disabilities go to school,enter the workforce, and join the middle class, we will move forward with a new $40 million per year national workplace accessibility fund, with a special focus on making small and medium-sized businesses more accessible. This fund will match costs with employers and schools, providing up to a combined $10,000 to cover the cost of an accommodation.
Employers and schools will continue to be required to meet their accessibility obligations under provincial and federal law.
From Forward, retrieved 2019-10-01.
One of the most significant setbacks of recent
years is the Liberals’ decision to maintain the
discriminatory ban on blood donation by men
who have sex with anyone assigned male at
birth.We need behaviour-based screening
rather than policies that discriminate against
an entire sexual orientation. A New Democrat
government will end the discriminatory blood
ban and put in place policies based in public
health evidence to secure the blood supply
When it comes to sexual orientation and
gender expression, damaging practices
such as so-called “conversion therapy”
have no place in Canada. We will develop
a national action plan to ban conversion
therapy for minors in Canada, and work
with provinces and territories to support
eliminating this practice in all parts of
the country.
Access to gender confirming procedures
and medication can be life-saving for some
transgender people. New Democrats will
work with the provinces make sure that
there is equal access to gender confirming
surgery across the country, and that these
procedures and medications are covered
by public health plans.
Ensure that trans*, non-binary, and Two Spirit people, without undertaking surgeries, are able to alter their sex designation on all federally-issued official documents, consistent with their gender identity.
Require accessible facilities in all federal buildings, including gender-neutral washrooms, changing facilities, etc. while also re-affirming trans, non-binary and Two Spirit people’s right to use whichever facilities with which they identify.
From Election Platform 2019, retrieved 2019-09-22.
We’ll develop a National Action Plan to end gender-based violence, backed by funding to ensure that shelter services and other programs are available in all regions of the country, especially areas that have traditionally been underserved. New Democrats will promote domestic violence leave policies in workplaces, improve police training on sexual assault, and require universities to develop plans to end sexual violence on campus. And we’ll address violence against Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTQI2S+ people by working with Indigenous peoples to implement the Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry.
From A New Deal for People, retrieved 2019-09-22.
Our vision of Canada is one where women’s
organizations have stable funding so that
women can access the support and advocacy
they need, when they need it. We’ll develop
a National Action Plan to end gender-based
violence, backed by funding to ensure that
shelter services and other programs are
available in all regions of the country, especially
areas that have traditionally been under-served.
New Democrats will promote domestic
violence leave policies in workplaces, improve
police training on sexual assault, and require
universities to develop plans to end sexual
violence on campus. And we’ll address
violence against Indigenous women, girls,
and LGBTQI2S+ people by working with
Indigenous peoples to implement the Calls
for Justice of the National Inquiry.
In collaboration with women’s and Indigenous organizations, develop a comprehensive Canada-wide plan of action – with a timetable and dedicated funding – to eliminate violence against women, girls and gender-diverse people.
Implement all the recommendations of the Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Increase access to shelters by investing $40 million over four years in the Shelter Enhancement Program, providing more than 2,100 new and renovated spaces in first-stage shelters and hundreds of spaces in transition houses.
From Election Platform 2019, retrieved 2019-09-22.
To help more visible minority newcomer women find and keep a good job, we will build on the research, support and employment projects announced earlier this year, and move forward with an additional $9 million investment over three years.
We will also work with economic development, agricultural and trade organizations to ensure that underrepresented communities are better served and more informed about the programs and services that can help them find and keep good, middle class jobs.
And we will provide funding to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research so that they can create academic research grants for studies on race, diversity and gender in Canada.
From Forward, retrieved 2019-09-30.
As New Democrats, we recognize the inherent
dignity of all people. We know that racism
hurts deeply and diminishes the humanity
of marginalized people. The impacts hateful
speech are real: hate crimes spiked to an
all-time high in Canada in 2017, with an
increasing number of incidents targeting
Muslim, Jewish, and Black Canadians.
Indigenous peoples face discrimination and
racism in their daily lives, too often with tragic
consequences. More subtle discrimination
exacts a toll, too. In Canada today, racialized
people are more likely to face systemic
barriers to employment,13 while immigrants
and racialized communities are the targets
of divisive rhetoric that pits neighbours
against each other.
New Democrats believe that we cannot
stand by and allow racism to flourish in our
communities. It’s time to choose: we must
turn the talk of diversity into action to confront
racism, and put an end to it for good. We will
work together to tackle the hate, racism, white
supremacy and systemic discrimination
that are hurting people across the country
Ensure that the national census is designed to reflect the diversity of sex and gender and ask appropriate questions to ensure adequate, safe and effective data collection.
From Election Platform 2019, retrieved 2019-09-22.
We can also do more to end employment
discrimination faced by members of the
LGBTQI2S+ community. A New Democrat
government will add sexual orientation,
gender identity and expression to the
Employment Equity Act, in order to address
the disadvantages experienced by the
LGBTGQ2+ communities – and particularly
transgender people – in finding work.
Anti-Semitism, anti-Black racism, Islamophobia
and other forms of hate are too often allowed
to flourish on the internet. A New Democrat
government will convene a national working
group to counter online hate and protect
public safety, and make sure that social media
platforms are responsible for remove hateful
and extremist content before it can do harm.
A New Democrat government will conduct a comprehensive review of the existing employment equity regime to help close the racialized wage gap. New Democrats will strengthen labour laws and ensure diverse and equitable hiring within the federal public service, and in federally regulated industries. Jobs and training for underrepresented groups will be a core part of federal infrastructure plans.
Lastly, we will work with the provinces and territories to develop and enforce effective employment equity legislation, and to collect and analyze data on the racialization of poverty – because everyone should be able to build a good life with equal opportunity.
From A New Deal for People, retrieved 2019-09-22.
Employment discrimination on the basis of
race continues to be an unacceptable problem
in Canada, one that the federal government
has failed to take on. Today, a universityeducated Canadian-born member of a
racialized community earns, on average,
only 87.4 cents for every dollar earned by
their white peers14, a gap that is even more
pronounced for racialized women.
14 Conference Board of Canada, “Racial Wage Gap.” April 2017. Available online at: https://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/provincial/society/racial-gap.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
A New Democrat government will conduct
a comprehensive review of the existing
employment equity regime to help close
the racialized wage gap. New Democrats
will strengthen labour laws and ensure diverse
and equitable hiring within the federal public
service, and in federally-regulated industries.
Jobs and training for under-represented
groups will be a core part of federal
infrastructure plans.
To address the chronic overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples and Black Canadians in the federal prison population, we will put in place a national task force to develop a roadmap to end this systemic injustice. Working alongside Indigenous communities, this approach will include addressing the need for greater judicial discretion in sentencing, developing culturally appropriate bail programs, increasing restorative and community justice programs, and better integrating Gladue principles in court proceedings. We will also develop and implement an African Canadian Justice Strategy, working with Black Canadians with experience and expertise on criminal justice issues.
From A New Deal for People, retrieved 2019-09-22.
To address the chronic over-representation
of Indigenous peoples and Black Canadians
in the federal prison population, we will put
in place a national task force to develop a
roadmap to end this systemic injustice.
Working alongside Indigenous communities,
this approach will include addressing the need
for greater judicial discretion in sentencing,
developing culturally-appropriate bail programs,
increasing restorative and community justice
programs, and better integrating Gladue
principles in court proceedings. We will a
lso develop and implement an African
Canadian Justice Strategy, working with
Black Canadians with experience and
expertise on criminal justice issues.
It’s important that police practices respect
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and foster
trust between law enforcement and Canadians.
Carding, or “street checks”, do not respect
Charter rights and erode trust between the
police and communities. A New Democrat
government will move immediately to ban
carding by federal law enforcement, and work
with local partners across Canada to end this
practice in all jurisdictions across the country.
This will include a review of the information
obtained through carding that has been
retained by police, and an examination of how
that information has been shared between
the RCMP and other police forces and
government agencies.
Reform sex work laws in Canada with a clear focus on harm reduction, given the dangers that sex trade workers face. By making the industry legal and public, it will make it easier for those who are being trafficked to be found and saved.
Increase funding to bolster investigations and convictions in human trafficking cases.
Increase funding of community organizations providing services to those driven to sex work by economic deprivation.
From Election Platform 2019, retrieved 2019-09-22.