Does the Supreme Court of Canada Give a “Freak” About Disability Dignity?: The Inclusion Fallacy 25 Years After Eldridge

Authors

Ena Chadha, Human Rights Legal Support Centre
Emmett Rogers, Ethical Associates Inc.

Abstract

For almost 20 years, the Supreme Court of Canada increasingly rejected the idea of disability as an inherent impairment and progressively endorsed the social model of disability, which recognizes the disabling condition is a consequence of structural and societal factors. However, recent Supreme Court jurisprudence has resurfaced the fallacy of disability being defined by individual defects and deviance. This paper surveys the Court’s disability discrimination jurisprudence from the seminal Eldridge v. British Columbia decision to the splintered Ward v. Quebec decision, examining how the Court appears to be retreating from the social model’s understanding of disability being a product of systemic oppression and prejudicial attitudes, to a retrenchment of the antiquated notion that disabled people are freaks of nature and side-show spectacles. The paper posits that, by affırming a comedian’s freedom to ridicule and demean a child with multiple disabilities, the Court in Ward revived the so-called freak model of disability and condoned the exploitation of disability for able-bodied amusement. It concludes that Ward reveals there is still much work to do to achieve full equity and inclusion for people with disabilities in Canada.

Citation Information

Chadha, Ena and Rogers, Emmett. "Does the Supreme Court of Canada Give a “Freak” About Disability Dignity?: The Inclusion Fallacy 25 Years After Eldridge." The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference 108. (2023).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2563-8505.1442
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol108/iss1/11

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

References

1 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Eldridge"].

2 We use the conceptualization of a social model of disability as discussed in World Health Organization, Towards a Common Language for Functioning, Disability and Health: ICF The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2002). We also rely on the analysis of leading disability scholars Dianne Pothier & Richard Devlin, eds., Critical Disability Theory: Essays in Philosophy, Politics, Policy and Law (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006), a seminalCanadian treatise on critical disability theory in law.

3 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Ward"].

4 We draw on the work of Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, who has interrogated the concept of disability "as a pervasive cultural system that stigmatizes certain kinds of bodily variations" and has theorized how dominant assumptions of disability flow from the construction of spectacle and the meaning of freakery: R. Garland-Thomson, "Integrating disability, transforming feminist theory" (2002) 14:3 NWSA Journal 1 at 5 and R. Garland-Thomson, ed., Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body (New York: New York University Press, 1996).

5 Note, we intentionally do not engage doctrinally with the "freedom of expression" arguments supporting a comedian's artistic right to disparage. Rather, we seek elucidate how the Majority's analysis of the competing rights failed to fully recognize the unique disability-related harm evident in the case of Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 (S.C.C.).

6 David Pfieffer, "The Conceptualization of Disability" in Sharon N. Barnartt & Barbara M. Altman, eds., Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 2 (Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing, 2001) at 29. See also, Laverne Jacobs, where she explored the social model in "Equality Rights Instruments and the Importance of a Disability Lens" in Laverne Jacobs et al., Law and Disability in Canada: Cases and Materials (Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2021) 3 at 40-44.

7 Jerome E. Bickenbach, Physical Disability and Social Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993) at 61.

8 Pauline Rosenbaum & Ena Chadha, "Reconstructing Disability: Integrating Disability Theory into Section 15" (2006) 33 S.C.L.R. 343 at 343.

9 Jerome E. Bickenbach, Physical Disability and Social Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993) and Michael Oliver, Understanding Disability: From Theory to Practice (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996) at 36.

10 Lisa Vanhala, "Twenty-Five Years of Disability Equality - Interpreting Disability Rights in the Supreme Court of Canada" (2010) 39:1 C.L. World Rev. 27 at 30. https://doi.org/10.1350/clwr.2010.39.1.0194

11 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c. 11 ("Charter").

12 Eaton v. Brant County Board of Education, [1996] S.C.J. No. 98, [1997] 1 S.C.R. 241 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Eaton"].

13 Eaton v. Brant County Board of Education, [1996] S.C.J. No. 98, [1997] 1 S.C.R. 241 at para. 66 (S.C.C.).

14 Margot Young, ''Sameness/Difference: A Tale of Two Girls" (1997) 4:1 Rev. Const. Stud. 150.

15 The United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandates the right to inclusive education. However, some scholars posit that inclusive education is not an all-encompassing solution, arguing that inclusive education can deprive Deaf children of sign language instruction and access to the Deaf community (e.g., Kristin Snoodon, "The Social and Epistemological Violence of Inclusive Education for Deaf Learners" (2020) 9:5 Can. J. Disabil. Stud. 185). https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v9i5.695

16 Yvonne Peters, "Twenty Years of Litigating for Disability Equality Rights: Has it Made a Difference?" Council of Canadians with Disabilities (January 26, 2004), online: http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/humanrights/promoting/20years#IIIB2bi.

17 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Eldridge"].

18 Ravi A. Malhotra, "Has the Charter Made a Difference for People with Disabilities?: Reflections and Strategies for the 21st Century" (2012) 58 S.C.L.R. 273. Also Martha Jackman, " 'Giving Real Effect to Equality': Eldridge v. B.C. (A.G.) and Vriend v. Alberta" (1998) 4:2 Rev. Constitut. Stud. 352. https://doi.org/10.60082/2563-8505.1256

19 "The Supreme Court deaf to reason" The Globe and Mail (October 14, 1997) at A22. https://doi.org/10.1353/sch.1997.0016

20 David Vienneau, "Sign language ruling hailed as key victory" Toronto Star (October 10, 1997) at A3; "Supreme Court brings down barriers for disabled" The Ottawa Citizen (October 10, 1997) at 3; "Disability groups praise ruling" Calgary Herald (October 10, 1997) at 17.

21 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at paras. 1-2 (S.C.C.).

22 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at para. 5 (S.C.C.).

23 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at para. 18 (S.C.C.).

24 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at paras. 50-51 (S.C.C.).

25 J.W. Hamilton & Jennifer Koshan, "Adverse Impact: The Supreme Court's Approach to Adverse Effects Discrimination" (2015) 19:2 Rev. Constitut. Stud. 191

Marie-Adrienne Irvine, "New Trend in Equality Jurisprudence" (1999) 5 Appeal 54

Bruce Porter, "Beyond Andrews: Substantive Equality and Positive Obligations after Eldridge and Vriend" (1998) 9:3 Const. Forum 71. https://doi.org/10.21991/C96Q2T

26 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at para. 73 (S.C.C.).

27 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at para. 79 (S.C.C.).

28 Dianne Pothier, "Eaton v. Brant County Board of Education" (2008) 18:1 Can. J. of Women Law 121; Hugh Scher et al., "Disability Groups Bitter About Supreme Court Decision" Council of Canadians with Disabilities (October 9, 1996), online: http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/humanrights/promoting/eaton.

29 Bruce Ryder, et al., "What's Law Good For?: An Empirical Overview of Charter Equality Rights Decisions" (2004) 24 S.C.L.R. 103. https://doi.org/10.60082/2563-8505.1050

30 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at para. 56 (S.C.C.).

31 Ravi A. Malhotra, "Has the Charter Made a Difference for People with Disabilities?: Reflections and Strategies for the 21st Century" (2012) 58 S.C.L.R. 273 at 288. https://doi.org/10.60082/2563-8505.1256

32 Lisa Vanhala, "Disability Rights Activists in the Supreme Court of Canada: Legal Mobilization Theory and Accommodating Social Movements" (2009) 42:4 Can. J. Polit. Sci. 981 and Christopher P. Manfredi, Feminist Activism in the Supreme Court: Legal Mobiliza-tion and the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423909990709

33 Law reform organizations, such as the DisAbled Women's Network Canada, Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues, the Canadian Association of the Deaf, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and others, pressed the Supreme Court to examine how policies built on seemingly neutral practices or stereotypical images create obstacles that profoundly oppress people with disabilities. In fact, the disability rights movement laid much of the groundwork for our current understanding of the principles of procedural and substantive accommodation, proactive universality and accessibility and systemic responsibility, which are now routinely applied to other protected grounds, e.g., family status, age, religion and gender identity, and integrated throughout human rights analysis.

34 Catherine Frazee et al., "Now You See Her, Now You Don't: How Law Shapes Disabled Women's Experience of Exposure, Surveillance, and Assessment in the Clinical Encounter" in Critical Disability Theory: Essays in Philosophy, Politics, Policy and Law (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006). https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774851695-013

35 Québec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse) v. Montréal (City), [2000] S.C.J. No. 24, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 665 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Mercier"].

36 Ena Chadha, "The Social Phenomenon of Handicapping" in Elizabeth Sheehy, ed., Adding Feminism to Law: The Contributions of Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2004) at 209.

37 Québec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse) v. Montréal (City), [2000] S.C.J. No. 24, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 665 (S.C.C.), unlike the other cases described here, is a human rights case. The connection between s. 15 analysis in disability Charter claims and federal/provincial statutory human rights analysis is not fully stable: Bruce Ryder, "The Strange Double Life of Canadian Equality Rights" (2013) 63:1 S.C.L.R. 261 and Jennifer Koshan, "Under the Influence: Discrimination under Human Rights Legislation and Section 15 of the Charter" (2014) 3 Can. J. of Human Rts 11. As we focus on the theoretical approaches to disability that underlie the Supreme Court's cases, we do not explore the doctrinal differences between constitutional and statutory discrimination claims.

38 Québec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse) v. Montréal (City), [2000] S.C.J. No. 24, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 665 at para. 72 (S.C.C.).

39 Granovsky v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [2000] S.C.J. No. 29, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 703 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Granovsky"].

40 Ena Chadha & Laura Schatz, "Human Dignity and Economic Integrity For Persons With Disabilities: A Commentary on the Supreme Court's Decisions in Granovsky and Martin" (2004) 19 J.L. & Soc. Pol'y. 94. https://doi.org/10.60082/0829-3929.1030

41 Granovsky v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [2000] S.C.J. No. 29, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 703 at para. 34 (S.C.C.). The Supreme Court delineated the three dimensions of disability as follows "physical or mental impairments (first aspect)" which may or may not "give rise to functional limitations (second aspect)." "[T]he third aspect (the socially constructed handicap) may wrongly attribute exaggerated or unjustified consequences to whatever functional limitations in fact exist."

42 Granovsky v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [2000] S.C.J. No. 29, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 703 at para. 26 (S.C.C.).

43 Granovsky v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [2000] S.C.J. No. 29, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 703 at para. 39 (S.C.C.).

44 Granovsky v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [2000] S.C.J. No. 29, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 703 at para. 33 (S.C.C.).

45 Notably, the Supreme Court in Granovsky v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [2000] S.C.J. No. 29, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 703 at para. 38 (S.C.C.) spotlighted the issue of aesthetics discrimination which the Majority in Ward omitted: "An individual with a serious facial disfigurement, for example, or a person who is diagnosed with leprosy, may not have, and may never have, any relevant functional limitations, but may nevertheless suffer discrimination on account of the condition."

46 Granovsky v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [2000] S.C.J. No. 29, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 703 at para. 34 (S.C.C.).

47 Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] S.C.J. No. 86, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624 at para. 56 (S.C.C.).

48 Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Martin; Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Laseur, [2003] S.C.J. No. 54, [2003] 2 S.C.R. 504, 2003 SCC 54 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Martin and Laseur"].

49 Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Martin; Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Laseur, [2003] S.C.J. No. 54, [2003] 2 S.C.R. 504, 2003 SCC 54 at para. 106 (S.C.C.).

50 Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Martin; Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Laseur, [2003] S.C.J. No. 54, [2003] 2 S.C.R. 504, 2003 SCC 54 at paras. 99, 105 (S.C.C.).

51 Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Martin; Nova Scotia (Workers' Compensation Board) v. Laseur, [2003] S.C.J. No. 54, [2003] 2 S.C.R. 504, 2003 SCC 54 at para. 103 (S.C.C.).

52 Council of Canadians with Disabilities v. VIA Rail Canada Inc., [2007] S.C.J. No. 15, 2007 SCC 15 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "VIA Rail"].

53 Council of Canadians with Disabilities v. VIA Rail Canada Inc., [2007] S.C.J. No. 15, 2007 SCC 15 at para. 162 (S.C.C.).

54 Council of Canadians with Disabilities v. VIA Rail Canada Inc., [2007] S.C.J. No. 15 2007 SCC 15at para. 164 (S.C.C.).

55 David Baker & Sarah Godwin, "All Aboard!: The Supreme Court of Canada Confirms That Canadians with Disabilities Have Substantive Equality Rights" (2008) 71 Sask. L. Rev. 39.

56 Moore v. British Columbia (Education), [2012] S.C.J. No. 61, 2012 SCC 61, [2012] 3 S.C.R. 360 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Moore"]. https://doi.org/10.5325/jgeneeduc.61.3.0264

57 Moore v. British Columbia (Education), [2012] S.C.J. No. 61, 2012 SCC 61, [2012] 3 S.C.R. 360 at paras. 28 and 29 (S.C.C.).

58 Moore v. British Columbia (Education), [2012] S.C.J. No. 61, 2012 SCC 61, [2012] 3 S.C.R. 360 at para. 30 (S.C.C.). The Court noted that this inappropriate comparator analysis would also make it easier for provincial governments to justify reductions in services. https://doi.org/10.5325/jgeneeduc.61.3.0264

59 Robert E. Charney & Sarah Kraicer, "Moore v. British Columbia: A Good IDEA?" (2013) 63 S.C.L.R. 229 and Jennifer Koshan, "Under the Influence: Discrimination under Human Rights Legislation and Section 15 of the Charter" (2014) 3 Can. J of Human Rts 11. https://doi.org/10.60082/2563-8505.1269

60 Moore v. British Columbia (Education), [2012] S.C.J. No. 61, 2012 SCC 61, [2012] 3 S.C.R. 360 at para. 50 (S.C.C.), citing Council of Canadians with Disabilities v. VIA Rail Canada Inc., [2007] S.C.J. No. 15, 2007 SCC 15 at para. 225 (S.C.C.).

61 Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., [2017] S.C.J. No. 30, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 591 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Stewart"]. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351228336-20

62 The "no free accident" policy provided employees could disclose any dependence or addiction issues with rehabilitation and treatment without fear of reprisal. Employees who did not disclose dependency or addiction issues and tested positive for a substance after a workplace incident would be terminated from their employment.

63 Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., [2017] S.C.J. No. 30, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 591 at para. 1 (S.C.C.).

64 Joshua Sealy-Harrington, "Embodying Equality: Stigma, Safety and Clément Gascon's Disability Justice Legacy" (2021) 103 S.C.L.R. 197 at 229 [hereinafter "Sealy-Harrington"].

65 Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., [2017] S.C.J. No. 30, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 591 at para. 66 (S.C.C.).

66 To establish prima facie discrimination a claimant must show a nexus between the alleged adverse experience and their human rights identity or, in other words, that they experienced disadvantage or adverse impact in a protected social area (e.g., employment) that was connected to their protected characteristic (e.g., disability).

67 Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., [2017] S.C.J. No. 30, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 591 at para. 35 (S.C.C.).

68 Although two concurring Justices agreed with Gascon J.'s reasons regarding the prima facie discrimination test, they parted ways with Gascon J. on the matter of reasonable accommodation, holding the employer had met its accommodation obligations and agreeing with the Majority to dismiss the appeal.

69 Nadia Pronych, "Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp.: The Rehabilitation of Addiction Disability Law in Canada", PhD diss. (London, ON: University of Western Ontario, 2020).

70 Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., [2017] S.C.J. No. 30, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 591 at para. 58 (S.C.C.).

71 Joshua Sealy-Harrington, "Embodying Equality: Stigma, Safety and Clément Gascon's Disability Justice Legacy" (2021) 103 S.C.L.R. 197 at 216.

72 Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., [2017] S.C.J. No. 30, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 591 at para. 145 (S.C.C.).

73 Joshua Sealy-Harrington, "Embodying Equality: Stigma, Safety and Clément Gascon's Disability Justice Legacy" (2021) 103 S.C.L.R. 197 at 221.

74 Joshua Sealy-Harrington, "Embodying Equality: Stigma, Safety and Clément Gascon's Disability Justice Legacy" (2021) 103 S.C.L.R. 197 at 217-221.

75 Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., [2017] S.C.J. No. 30, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 591 at para. 59 (S.C.C.).

76 Statistics Canada, "Accessibility Findings from the Canadian Survey on Disability, 2017" Canadian Survey on Disability (Ottawa: October 27, 2021), online: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2021002-eng.pdf?st=blxGnjPp.

77 Tribunals Ontario, "HRTO - Intake report: Applications Received - Grounds", online: https://tribunalsontario.ca/en/open/data-inventory-reports/?x=0&n=8; Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, Annual Report 2020 (2021), online: https://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/transparency/AnnualReports/2020-ar/2020-ar-en.pdf.

78 Patrick Berrigan et al., "Employment, Education, and Income for Canadians with Developmental Disability: Analysis from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability" (July 13, 2020) Springer, J. of Autism and Dev. Disord., online: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10803-020-04603-3.pdf. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04603-3

79 Government of Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, "Making an accessible Canada for persons with disabilities" (Ottawa: June 6, 2022), online: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/accessible-canada.html.

80 Matthew Till et al., "A Profile of the Labour Market Experiences of Adults with Disabilities among Canadians aged 15 years and older, 2012" Canadian Survey on Disability (Ottawa: December 3, 2015), online: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2015005-eng.pdf?st=BuCytJvg. A study of racialized people with disabilities reveals that 32.4% of employees said their occupation does not give them the opportunity to use all their education, skills or work experience. Statistics Canada, "A profile of Canadians with a mobility disability and groups designated as visible minorities with a disability" (December 3, 2020), online: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/201203/dq201203a-eng.htm.

81 Employment and Social Development Canada, "Making an accessible Canada for persons with disabilities" (Ottawa: June 6, 2022), online: https://www.canada.ca/en/employmentsocial-development/programs/accessible-canada.html.

82 Jennifer Laidley & Hannah Aldridge, "Welfare in Canada, 2019" Maytree (November2020), online: https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/Welfare_in_Canada_2019.pdf.

83 Rebecca Choi, "Accessibility Findings from the Canadian Survey on Disability, 2017"Canadian Survey on Disability Reports, Statistics Canada (Ottawa: October 27, 2021), online: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2021002-eng.htm. A 2019 study found that in Montreal only 46% of the jobs are accessible via public transportation to wheelchair users: Emily Grisé et al., "Elevating access: Comparing accessibility to jobs by public transport for individuals with and without a physical disability" (2018) 125 Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 280 at 287.

84 Amanda Burlock, Statistics Canada, "Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report: Women with Disabilities, 2017" Statistics Canada (Ottawa: May 29, 2017), online: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14695-eng.pdf?st=jD6f3DXe. Women with disabilities who are employed are more likely to have part-time jobs and tend to have lower incomes compared to non-disabled women or disabled men, with gaps in the range of $3,000 and $10,000 respectively: Robyn L. Brown & Mainread E. Moloney "Intersectionality, Work, and Well-Being: The Effects of Gender and Disability" (2019) 33:1 Gender & Society 94 at 95.

85 For example, only 36% of women and those with "more severe" disabilities had their accommodation needs met when requiring three or more accommodations: Statistics Canada, "Workplace Accommodations for Employees with Disabilities in Canada, 2017" (Ottawa: September 25, 2019), online: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2019001-eng.pdf?st=oKAockx0.

86 Amanda Burlock, Statistics Canada, "Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report: Women with Disabilities, 2017" Statistics Canada (Ottawa: May 29, 2017), online: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14695-eng.pdf?st=jD6f3DXe.

87 DisAbled Women's Network (DAWN) Canada, "More Than a Footnote: A Research Report on Women and Girls with Disabilities in Canada" (February 2019), online: https://www.dawncanada.net/media/uploads/page_data/page-64/beyond_crpd_final_eng_(2).pdf.

88 DisAbled Women's Network (DAWN) Canada, "More Than a Footnote: A Research Report on Women and Girls with Disabilities in Canada" (February 2019), online: https://www.dawncanada.net/media/uploads/page_data/page-64/beyond_crpd_final_eng_(2).pdf.

89 Ciara Siobhan Brennan, "Disability rights during the pandemic: A global report on findings of the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor" (2020), online: https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/sites/default/files/disability_rights_during_the_pandemic_report_web_pdf_1.pdf; Public Service Alliance of Canada, "Pandemic is increasing inequality for people with disabilities" (December 3, 2020), online: https://psacunion.ca/internationalday-of-persons-with-disabilities.

90 Tom Shakespeare et al., "Triple jeopardy: disabled people and the COVID-19 pandemic" (2021) 397:10282 The Lancet 1331; Ena Chadha, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission, "OHRC statement on urgent human rights concerns with critical care triage" (April 9, 2021), online: https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc-statementurgent-human-rights-concerns-critical-care-triage. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00625-5

91 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 12 (S.C.C.).

92 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 105 (S.C.C.). Researching Jérémy's condition online, Ward discovered that Jérémy was not terminally ill, leading to Ward making jokes that included: "And he's [Jérémy] impossible to kill, too! I saw him last summer at the waterslides. I tried to drown him. Impossible!" Ward described Jérémy's disease as Jérémy just being "f-king ugly!": Marie-Danielle Smith, "The joke that went to the Supreme Court" MacLeans (February 10, 2021), online: https://www.macleans.ca/news/the-joke-that-went-to-the-supreme-court/.

93 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 177 (S.C.C.).

94 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 18 (S.C.C.).

95 The Majority (Wagner C.J.C, Moldaver, Côté, Brown and Rowe JJ.) held the case did not satisfy the elements of a discrimination claim under the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, CQLR, c. C-12, because Ward targeted Jérémy, not on the basis of his disability, but because he was a public figure. The reasons of the Minority (Abella, Karakatsanis, Martin and Kasirer JJ.) opined that Jérémy's public personality was inextricable from his disability and framed the issue as whether a child with disabilities lost protection from discrimination because he was well-known.

96 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 27 (S.C.C.). Notably, Jérémy's family recently launched a civil defamation claim: Steve Rukavina, "Disabled singer Jérémy Gabriel and his mother file lawsuit against comedian Mike Ward", CBC News (February 1, 2022), online: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/j%C3%A9r%C3%A9my-gabriel-lawsuit-mike-ward-1.6335050.

97 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 112 (S.C.C.).

98 Colin Barnes & Geof Mercer, Exploring Disability (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003) at 57, citing over a dozen leading disability theorist who challenge the "presumed homogeneity" of the disability experience and seek to expose the oppressions that interlock with disability.

99 The term "normalcy" is employed by Lennard Davis, in his texts Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body (London: Verso, 1995) and Bending Over Backwards: Disability, Dismodernism and Other Different Positions (New York: New York University Press, 2002) to argue that normalcy, like disability, is socially constructed and "abnormal" signifies all which deviates from the arbitrarily prescribed standards of normality. Also, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "The Beauty and the Freak" (1998) 37:3 Mich Q. Rev., who unpacks notions of the normalcy, beautiful and freak body and how these concepts fail to recognize and value the interests of persons with disabilities, online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=mqr;c=mqr;c=mqrarchive;idno=act2080.0037.312;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=mqrg [hereinafter, "Garland-Thomson"].

100 Leonard Cassuto, "Freak" in Rachel Adams et al., eds., Key Words for Disability Studies (New York: New York University Press, 2015) at 85. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479845637.003.0030

101 Michael M. Chemers, Staging Stigma: A Critical Examination of the American Freak Show (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230616813_2

102 Robert Bogden, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).

103 Robert Bogden, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).

104 Richard Howells states that "[w]ith the freak show, Disability Studies confronts an issue which, like it or not, has been a strident and historical feature of both American and European popular culture": "Midget Cities: Utopia, Utopianism, and the Vor-schein of the 'Freak' Show" (2005) 25:3. Disabil. Stud. Q., online: https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/579/756. https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v25i3.579

105 Susan Crutchfield, " 'Play[ing] her part correctly': Helen Keller as Vaudevillian Freak" (2005) 25:3 Disabil. Stud. Q., online: https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/577/754. https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v25i3.577

106 Elizabeth Stephens, "Twenty-First Century Freak Show: Recent Transformations in the Exhibition of Non-Normative Bodies" (2005) 25:3 Disabil. Stud. Q., online: https://dsqsds.org/article/view/580/757. https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v25i3.580

107 Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "The Beauty and the Freak" (1998) 37:3 Mich Q. Rev., online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=mqr;c=mqr;c=mqrarchive;idno=act2080.0037.312;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=mqrg.

108 Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "The Beauty and the Freak" (1998) 37:3 Mich Q. Rev., online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=mqr;c=mqr;c=mqrarchive;idno=act2080.0037.312;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=mqrg.

109 Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "The Beauty and the Freak" (1998) 37:3 Mich Q. Rev., online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=mqr;c=mqr;c=mqrarchive;idno=act2080.0037.312;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=mqrg.

110 David Mitchell, "Exploitations of Embodiment: Born Freak and the Academic Bally Plank" (2005) 25:3 Disabil. Stud. Q., online: https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/575/752. https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v25i3.575

111 J. Nicholas & L. Chambers, "In Search of Monkey Girl: Disability, Child Welfare, and the Freak Show in Ontario in the 1970s" (2016) 50:3 University of Toronto Press 639-668, online: https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/jcs.50.3.639. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.50.3.639

112 R. Cecala, "The oddity as commodity: Television and the modern day freak show", PhD diss. (University of Southern Mississippi, 2011); G. Wegner, "Relocating the Freak Show: Disability in the Medical Drama" 67:1 Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 19. https://doi.org/10.1515/zaa-2019-0003

113 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at paras. 83-85 (S.C.C.).

114 For example, Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec (Attorney General), [1989] S.C.J. No. 36, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 927 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Irwin Toy"].

115 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 61 (S.C.C.).

116 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 63 (S.C.C.).

117 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 64 (S.C.C.).

118 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at paras. 158, 166 (S.C.C.). The dissent in Ward opined Ward's comments were prima facie discrimination because Ward preyed on Jérémy's disability to ridicule him. The dissent (paras. 171-172) relied on the standard of whether Ward's comments were likely to cause serious harm to a reasonable person in Jérémy's position, per Calego International c. Commession des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, [2013] J.Q no 5215, 2013 QCCA 924 (Que. C.A.). The dissent further found that Ward's speech did not justify protection under freedom of expression, on the basis that artistic licence does not endow the right to mock a disabled child and everyone, including public figures, are entitled to protection from discriminatory attacks (paras. 200-212).

119 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 105 (S.C.C.).

120 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at paras. 12, 93 (S.C.C.).

121 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 177 (S.C.C.).

122 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 112 (S.C.C.).

123 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 148 (S.C.C.).

124 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 193 (S.C.C.).

125 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, [2021] SCC 43 at para. 147 (S.C.C.).

126 Joshua Sealy-Harrington, "The Alchemy of Equality Rights" (2021) 30 Constitut. Forum Constitut. 53. https://doi.org/10.21991/cf29422

127 Both the Tribunal and Court of Appeal recognized that Jérémy's congenital disease was characterized by head malformations and Ward's jokes made fun of how Jérémy's mouth did not close. The Tribunal briefly explored the nexus between Jérémy's facial disfigurement and the discrimination he experienced, noting: "In Fillion v. Chiasson, the Court of Appeal found that the denigration of a person by mocking his or her physical appearance constitutes an injury to reputation. When this mockery concerns physical characteristics related to a handicap, injury to reputation is discriminatory in nature." (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Gabriel et autres) c. Ward, 2016 QCTDP 18 at 116). See also P. Swift & K. Bogart, "A hidden community: Facial disfigurement as a globally neglected human rights issue" (2021) 11:4 J. Oral Biol. Craniofac. Res. 652. Importantly, Swift and Bogart describe the profound prejudice against children with disfigurements as: Disfigurement holds a variety of culturally-specific meanings, almost all of which are negative. In countries where the medical model of disability is predominant, including North America and much of Europe, disfigurement is a defect to be fixed through medical and surgical interventions. In these cultures, a person with a disfigurement is seen as responsible for seeking such treatment to remove the disfigurement and is blamed if the disfigurement is apparent, even after attempted medical intervention. In cultures dominated by the moral model of disability, the most common way of thinking about disability worldwide, disfigurement is viewed as a punishment or mark as a result of evil, sin, or karma. A disfigured child may be viewed as a sign of a curse on the family, and is hidden away to avoid shame or shunning of the entire family.

128 Laverne Jacobs, "Ward: A Missed Opportunity for the Supreme Court of Canada to Denounce Bullying of Children with Disabilities and to Promote Substantive Equality" (2021) online: Oxford Human Rights Hub https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/ward-a-missed-opportunityfor-the-supreme-court-of-canada-to-denounce-bullying-of-children-with-disabilities-and-to-promote-substantive-equality/ [underlining in original].

129 Although this paper focuses on disparaging remarks directed toward a child with a disability, we argue that all people with disabilities are entitled to the same level of protection from verbal assaults on their humanity. In Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, 2021 SCC 43 (S.C.C.), the marked power differential between an adult comedian and a disabled child who stepped out of the margins was an aggravating factor which the Majority omitted from its reasoning. However, we posit that our analysis still applies even if Jérémy was an adult at the time.

130 Eli Clare, Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation (London: South End Press, 1999) at 99.

131 Elizabeth Stephens, "Twenty-First Century Freak Show: Recent Transformations in the Exhibition of Non-Normative Bodies" (2005) 25:3 Disabil. Stud. Q., online: https://dsqsds.org/article/view/580/757. https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v25i3.580

132 Robert Bogden, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988). and Richard Howells, "Midget Cities: Utopia, Utopianism, and the Vor-schein of the 'Freak' Show" (2005) 25:3. Disabil. Stud. Q., online: https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/579/756. https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v25i3.579

133 Ward v. Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), [2021] S.C.J. No. 43, 2021 SCC 43 at para. 174 (S.C.C.). We note the Majority's decision failed to consider Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec (Attorney General), [1989] S.C.J. No. 36, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 927 (S.C.C.), a landmark case that established that freedom of expression, particularly for commercial enterprises, is not absolute and can be limited to protect vulnerable groups. In Irwin Toy, the Majority concluded the need to protect children outweighed the company's right to freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c. 11. The Majority accepted that children under 13 are a highly vulnerable group. In sharp contrast, the Majority in Ward failed to appropriately reconcile this principle of heightened protection for vulnerable children when evaluating the competing interests of a comedian's freedom of expression for the purposes of earning an income and the 10-13 years old child's right to freedom from disability discrimination.

134 Aristotle, Politics, trans. Benjamin Jowett (The Internet Classics Archive, n.d.), bk. 7, online: http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.7.seven.html.

135 Samuel R. Bagenstos, "The New Eugenics" (2021) 71 Syracuse Law Rev. 751.

136 The Supreme Court's decision in Ward has already had wide-reaching effects on the ability for vulnerable groups to assert their human rights. As a direct result of Ward, the Quebec Human Rights Commission, in December 2022, was forced to close 194 complaints of discrimination, a large majority of which (73%) involved racial slurs: The Canadian Press, "Quebec human rights commission forced to close nearly 200 cases after Mike Ward decision", CTV News Montreal (December 2, 2022), online: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-human-rights-commission-forced-to-close-nearly-200-cases-after-mike-ward-decision¬1.6179064.