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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies

Part2:Country studies

Canada

Rights and attitudes

Section 15.1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms explicitly states that “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability”. The Constitution Act of 1982 states that every Canadian is equal before the law, has equal protection of the law, and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.

The Canadian Human Rights Act, as amended in 1998, builds on this by making it a legal requirement for employers and service providers to accommodate persons with disabilities if doing so does not cause undue hardship. Internationally, Canada is a co-signatory of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Article 19 includes the right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Provincial and territorial human rights legislation prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities.

Right to education

The Charter of Rights and Freedom is the basis for the right to equal education; in some provinces students are accommodated from elementary through to post secondary education. In other provinces, students are adequately accommodated only at the elementary and high school levels.

Right of access to buildings and participation in cultural life

These rights exist in theory - but in reality there are some physical and attitudinal barriers.

Right to library services

This is enshrined in the Public Library Acts, the Canadian Copyright Exception, the Charter of Human Rights (does not cite library service specifically) and “post free literature for the blind”. These rights apply to print impaired people as well as visually impaired people, excluding the post free literature.

Expectations

All CNIB's studies indicate that visually impaired people do expect the same level of service. Expectations vary only in terms of individual requirements.

CNIB's recent needs study across Canada does not deal specifically with the issue of the role of personal support networks for access to printed materials but we do know that in other areas, particularly, in employment they rely on these networks to assist them and it must be assumed that this applies to reading materials and information as well. CNIB actually knows of examples where these networks are able to make some of this material available where otherwise it would not be.