The Honourable Carla Qualtrough speaks at The University of Ottawa Career Week

Hello everyone. It is a pleasure to be here.   

I’d like to thank the University of Ottawa for inviting me to be with you this evening. 

As a proud Ottawa U alumna, I’m very happy to be kicking off this 2017 Career Week. 

When I look back on my time here – I remember how this week was forcing us to think about the future. 

So let me start by saying that it’s ok if you haven’t figured it all out yet. 

You might not know what you want to do – that’s ok.

Or you might have an idea but aren’t sure how that might translate into actually earning a living – that’s ok too.   

As a mother of four, one of which is headed to university next year, I confess that I can relate to the parents and teachers who say things like, “study something that will get you a job” or “your university years are critical to your future”. 

University Years 

But I can also relate to the unique opportunity that your university years provide you to explore what your future could hold. The unique opportunity to learn to think critically and dream big. 

And I can certainly relate to the reality that you may not have it all figured out yet. 

For example, when I was a poli sci student here, I certainly wasn’t thinking about the steps I would need to take to get a job as a Member of Parliament. Let alone to becoming a cabinet minister – the first ever responsible for persons with disabilities. A role that I will talk to you a bit more about tonight as well. 

But when I think of my time here, I realize how important those years were to the person that I would become. I think of how OttawaU gave me the space to explore some passions that had been budding in the areas of advocacy and inclusivity – the roots of which were sewn in my childhood. 

(PAUSE) 

Adapting as a Child with a Visual Impairment 

I was born legally blind, with only 10% corrected vision. 

The reality was that I was born into a world that wasn’t built for me – one where my needs were not taken into account. One that I would have to learn to constantly adapt to. One where people were going to make assumptions about what I could and couldn’t do my entire life. 

I was fortunate to have very supportive parents who taught me to self-advocate. Parents who challenged the public school system when they were told that I had to go to a segregated school. Parents who insisted I be included in gym class when I was told that I had to sit on the sidelines. Parents who would not accept that I didn’t have to take home economics because cooking and sewing would be too dangerous. Parents who fundamentally believed that I had a right to be included and to receive the help that I needed. 

As I got older, more and more of the responsibility for asserting my rights was passed along to me.  I graduated high school capable of doing so, with the self-confidence to go out into the world and make a real difference. 

But as much as I made it through high school, it was not a social journey that I would ever care to repeat. I was alienated, harassed, and regularly bullied. I was different and perceived as receiving special treatment. I was fundamentally made to feel unwelcome, and I could not wait to get out of there. 

Sport 

The other foundational experiences in my life were in sport. I competed in many sports as a child. And quite frankly I was pretty good. As a youngster, my parents and coaches and teammates were able to work around my low vision. But at some point it caught up to me and I was introduced to the world of Paralympic sport. And my life was forever changed, both in the poll and in the way I looked at the world. 

I enjoyed much international success as a swimmer, winning three bronze medals and four world championship medals for Canada. I travelled the world, and was exposed to incredible demonstrations of ability – and incredible discrimination. 

By the time I swam Varsity for OttawaU in the lead up to the Barcelona Games, I had been swimming up to 11 times a week for over 10 years. 

I had also been deeply impacted by the fundamental premise of the Paralympic sport system itself. 

You see, Paralympic sport is a system where the playing field is levelled before the competition begins - where athletes compete others with similar functional impairment and disabilities. 

I became fascinated with the idea that systems could be designed our legal system this way? Or our transportation system? Or our education system? What if we approached employment this way? 

Law 

These are all questions that led me to study political science here at the University of Ottawa, where I deepened my understanding of the inequalities that exist in our society and in civic involvement. 

I was fascinated by our constitutional history and by the evolution of human rights in Canada. The tensions between the governing majority and the rights of minorities was a topic that attracted me. 

I put in my heart and soul, my full determination and my passion in sports on behalf of those in most need of it. This has led me to study and practice law, specializing myself in human rights.    

Some of you might think that I was lucky to have an idea of what I wanted to do before coming to OttawaU. I guess I was. It made some choices easier. 

But I believe that luck is really the meeting of hard work and opportunity. 

How hard you work is something entirely within your own control. 

Opportunity, on the other hand, is much more elusive. It doesn’t knock every day. 

So when it does, we need to take full advantage. 

That’s why I plan to take full advantage of the current opportunity set in front of me right now – as Canada’s first Minister dedicated to people with disabilities.  

The fact that a Minister was specially mandated as responsible for Canadians with disabilities highlights the importance of the issues affecting people with disabilities within the Government of Canada. 

This attests to the high priority that our government is giving to the issues and obstacles faced by this group of Canadians. My participation, along with that of Minister Hehr’s, to the Cabinet meetings allow us to analyze the important decisions that our government is making in respect to accessibility and disability. It is an important change in our way of leading. 

In my opinion – this is crucial to reaching a fundamental change in culture that I see as necessary in changing the conversation around disability. 

(PAUSE) 

Leadership on this scale is both a tremendous privilege and a tremendous responsibility. 

Enabling a Culture Change 

As a Minister, I am committed to fundamentally changing the conversation around disability. As people with disabilities, we are constantly reminded throughout our lives that our needs are expensive and burdensome. We are told that people would like to help – to make things better – but we have to understand how much that would cost. 

We need to change this dialogue. We need to stop talking about needs and inabilities, and start talking about economic, social and civic participation. For this is what it means to have the rights of full citizenship. 

It’s not unusual to hear our Prime Minister say that Canada’s strength lies in our diversity. That we are strong not in spite of our difference but because of them. And persons with a disability are an important component of that strength and diversity. 

I believe that an inclusive society is one where everyone has an equal chance at success from the beginning. This could mean making it easier or possible for people to use transportation, access buildings and institutions, use information and communications technologies, and have services delivered to them in the format of their choice. It’s about having those services and structures accessible to all, including people with disabilities, right from the start. 

It means we shouldn’t have to remind ourselves to think about accessibility and inclusion – it should be the norm; naturally incorporated in everything we do. 

This is a major shift in how we think. And it is the single most important part of my work to bring our vision of an accessible and inclusive Canada to fruition. 

Fortunately, your generation already thinks this way – perhaps more so than even my own generation. 

Last fall, as part of the consultations that I’ll speak about in a few minutes, I held a national forum for 110 youth with disabilities from across our country. Prime Minister Trudeau participated in the discussion, engaging in dialogue and being challenged on what our government is doing and prepared to do. 

The message from these youth was pretty clear. They do not accept doing things the same way they’ve always been done - and figuring out how to accommodate disabilities after the fact. They want to be included right from the start. Theirs is not a language of accommodation, it is a language of inclusion. 

This conversation reinforced my belief that an inclusive society is not only possible, but might not be as far away as some would think. It’s an incredibly encouraging thought. 

I can only imagine how my own world would have been different without the accessibility challenges, discrimination and, let’s face it, the shocking attitudes I faced at times. 

(PAUSE) 

So what specifically are we doing? My broad mandate is to improve the lives of Canadians with disabilities. One specific component of that is national accessibility legislation. 

Based on my experience in law, I can tell you that we have a very robust human rights system in Canada. 

The challenge is that it is reactive. 

People have to wait until they are discriminated against before they can seek help. 

For people with a disability, that means they have to be denied a job, denied housing, or denied a service before we can tell them – sometimes years later – that this was wrong. 

In addition, the onus is on the individual to pursue systemic complaints. 

This process is time-consuming, costly – and I think you would agree – unfairly burdensome. 

It’s incredible to think that 50% of the complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission are on the basis of disability. This is quite extraordinary when you think of the myriad of other grounds – race, gender, sexual orientation to name a few. 

For the most part, the complaints are in the area of employment. Like elsewhere around the world, barriers to employment are significant in Canada for persons with disabilities. Unemployment and underemployment rates are high. This is unacceptable. 

Accessibility Legislation 

And this is just one reason why Canada is developing accessibility legislation.  

This proactive law will address in a systemic way the barriers that exist in areas of federal jurisdiction.  This would include banking, transportation, telecommunications, and of course the federal government itself. We want to remove the onus from the individual to pursue systemic complaints to address inequity. We will remove barriers by creating a series of expectations or standards for employers, service providers, program deliverers and businesses.  There will be compliance and enforcement mechanisms.  And there will be complimentary programs. 

In other words, we are looking to create legislation that helps us avoid discrimination and exclusion from the very start. 

In July of last year we launched an ambitious public consultation process, that has taken us across the country, meeting with Canadians and stakeholders to talk about what an accessible Canada means to them – and we’ve done it in the most accessible way we can to ensure that everyone is able to participate and have their say in what this legislation could like. 

It truly is a new era of leadership and collaboration on disability issues. 

We’ve heard from thousands of Canadians across the country in public sessions and online. I’ve gained valuable insight into some of the everyday barriers other people with impairments and disabilities face. 

I’ve heard about 

• barriers that impede people’s ability to move freely in built environments, use transportation, access information or use technology. 

• attitudes, beliefs and misconceptions that some people have about people with disabilities and what they can and cannot do. 

• outdated policies and practices that simply don’t take into account the diverse abilities that people may have. 

Time and time again, people with disabilities are telling me the same thing: 

We are not an afterthought. We are citizens deserving of the same rights, and having the same responsibilities, as any other citizen. 

We are capable and valuable members of society. 

We don’t want to be looked at as people who need “accommodation”, and we don’t want to be treated like some sort of burden. 

Apart from breaking down barriers, be they physical or social, this legislation will also send a strong message—that Canada is saying no to discrimination and saying yes to inclusion. 

(PAUSE) 

We have an amazing opportunity to affect real change with this legislation.  

This isn’t just about enacting a new law. It’s about creating a catalyst for social change. 

I am so proud of this work. As a university student, I had no idea I would have the chance to make this kind of difference for Canadians. That I would be able to help those with disabilities or change how our society views inclusion. 

But as I said…I am going to make the most of it. 

When you’re going to sessions throughout Career Week, keep in mind that you are at the start of your own journey. 

This could lead to a new innovative start-up. It might lead to the arts. You might change the law or influence public policy. Whatever it is, the world needs people who are passionate about making a difference and who have the skills to do it. 

Put in the hard work and you will be ready when the opportunity is there. 

On your road, take care to look to those who can help you and those you can help. 

And as you go forward and meet with prospective employers and begin thinking about your careers, remember to place high value on your own skills and abilities – think about the unique attributes you bring to the table…because we all bring something unique to the table.  

Be inclusive. And celebrate diversity in all its forms.  

Your generation may very well know a world without limits. 

Thank you.  

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