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Canadian Political Science Association2025 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Belonging: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at George Brown College, Toronto, CANADA
June 3 to June 5, 20252025 Annual Conference Programme
The Politics of Belonging: Conflict,
Community, Curriculum
Hosted at George Brown College
June 3 to June 5, 2025
Law and Public Policy
D05(a) - Roundtable: Intellectual and Developmental Disability Policy in Canada: W(h)ither the Welfare State?
Date: Jun 3 | Time: 03:30pm to 05:00pm | Location:
Chair/Président/Présidente : Daniel Dickson (University of Saskatchewan)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Michael Orsini (University of Ottawa)
Patty Douglas (Queen’s University)Michael Prince (University of Victoria)
Nicole Ineese-Nash (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Megan Linton (Carleton University)
Abstract: People labelled with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) continue to confront extreme forms of marginalization in Canada. These include higher rates of poverty, unethical labour practices and unemployment, lack of access to education and personal supports, systemic ableism and social/attitudinal barriers, increased exposure to violence including abuse and physical restraint by support staff and police, and the lack of community-based housing combined with the ongoing horrors of institutionalization. These persistent patterns of marginalization are made more puzzling because social inclusion has been the purported focus of Canadian disability policies over the past 25 years. How can we characterize the IDD policy environment? Given the progress in recent years advancing critical policy perspectives grounded in lived experience, how is that reflected in IDD policy making? What are the most promising avenues for people labelled with IDD and their allies to dismantle ongoing processes of ableism and marginalization? This roundtable brings together scholars exploring multiple interrelated dimensions of IDD policy with the aim of evaluating the impact of ‘inclusion era’ disability policies in different Canadian jurisdictions. We will also engage with the potential for, and pitfalls involved in policy change, including the implications of transformative policy frames such as disability justice. These conversations are made even more urgent given shifts in political messaging on disability emerging in advance of the impending 2025 federal election and the pernicious effects of Track 2 Medical Assistance in Dying policy on disabled lives in Canada.