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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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