Community Living Ontario

Did You Know?

• On March 31, 2009 Ontario closed the last three of its large scale-government operated institutions.
• More than 6,000 people left institutions in Ontario during the last phase of closures and are living in their communities.
• Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability states: “Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement.”
• In Canada there are still hundreds of men and women living in large institutions designed for with people with intellectual disabilities.
• People First of Canada have defined an institution as “any place in which people who have been labeled as having an intellectual disability are isolated, segregated and/or congregated.  An institution is any place where people do not have, or are not allowed to exercise control over their day to day decisions.  An institution is not defined merely by its size.”   

What's New?

June 6, 2009: Community Living Ontario adopts A Call to Action in a New Era at 2009 Annual General Meeting

At its 2009 Annual General Meeting, the Board and membership of Community Living Ontario unanimously adopted a Call to Action in a New Era. The resolution was initially drafted at a gathering held in April 2009 to brainstorm next steps after the closure of the last of Ontario's large-scale government operated institutions. The Call to Action attempts to describe the nature of the new era that the Community Living movement has entered in Ontario and to understand the challenges that lay ahead. A copy of the resolution as adopted at the Annual General Meeting can be found here.

June 4, 2009: Ministry of Community and Social Services launches virtual museum history of developmental services in Ontario

Speaking at the Gala Banquet and celebration at Community Living Ontario's 56th Annual Conference and AGM in Kingston, Minister Madeleine Meilleur announced the launch of a 'virtual museum' exploring the history of developmental services in Ontario. The website contains information about the history of the 16 large residential facilities that once operated in Ontario. It begins to explore some of the reasons that institutions were built and the changes in society that resulted in their eventual closure and "shift to community living". The website can now be viewed at http://www.ontario.ca/dshistory.

March 31, 2009: Ontario closes last remaining large-scale government operated institutions for people with intellectual disabilities

Across Ontario people involved in the Community Living and People First movements gathered to mark the final closure of the province's last remaining large scale residential institutions for people who have an intellectual disability. In Toronto, nearly 500 people attended a screening of the People First of Canada / National Film Board documentary Freedom Tour. The film screening was followed by a candlelight gathering on the front lawn of Queen's Park where a number of survivors shared reflections on the closures and their experience living in institutions.

On March 31, 2009 the last of the three remaining large-scale institutions for people with intellectual disabilities were closed in Ontario. For the first time in more than 130 years, no one would be sleeping at Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia. Rideau Regional Centre in Smith Falls and Southwestern Regional Centre in Blenheim were also closed by the target date of March 31, 2009.

In 1987, the Ontario government committed to closing its institutions for people who have and intellectual disability.   All successive governments affirmed this commitment to facility closure and deinstitutionalization.

Each person who had been living in these institutions made a transition to a new home in the community.  The Ministry has reported that they held an average of thirty meetings with each family for the purposes of planning.

The effort to close Ontario’s large scale institutions was a result of longstanding efforts of people who have a disability, their family members, friends, allies and agencies who support people who have an intellectual disability. Community Living Ontario’s local associations worked closely with the Ministry of Community and Social Services and with residents and their families to ensure the transition process was a smooth one.

The Issue

It is a part of the vision of Community Living Ontario that all persons "have access to decent and appropriate homes which they are able to call their own."

Home is a word that means more than "where we live"; it means a place where we like to be, a place where we find rest, family and friends. More than a residence or shelter, home is the focus for our relationships and the basis of our presence in the community.

Likewise, an institution is more than a building.  Institutional thinking and behaviour fails to put a person’s interests, needs and wishes at the center of decision making.  Institutions can continue, even after big ones are closed, if people do not have control over their lives.  

Many people in Ontario who have an intellectual disability have been denied the right to live in a regular community that supports and values their contributions.  The history of institutionalization in Ontario continues today because many people remain segregated from the rest of society in settings that deny them the basic rights that most enjoy. 

The Community Living movement aims to reverse this mistake.  Even when institutionalization appeared to be an acceptable option for people with disabilities, there were families who rejected it for their sons and daughters and advocated for equal opportunities to learn, work and live in their communities.

Residential services and supports should be provided so that people can live in their own community.  People should be able to live in self-owned homes or in housing that is controlled and directed by the person who makes it a home and facilitated by a non-profit community-based organization.

We believe that a range of quality community residential settings and individualized personal supports, consistent with the principles of community living, must be readily available and that people have the right to choose where and with whom they live.

People in Ontario should not have to become residents of institutions in order to receive the medical or other supports and services provided by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.  These supports and services should be available to people in their homes in the community.  Cases of institutionalization in nursing homes, or chronic care facilities for these purposes should be viewed as failures on the part of society.

Research, Legislation and Policy Alternatives

The UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities is explicit on segregation:

States Parties to the present Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community, including by ensuring that:

1. Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement;
2. Persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community;
3. Community services and facilities for the general population are available on an equal basis to persons with disabilities and are responsive to their needs.”

Ontario’s Social Inclusion Act ("Services and Supports to Promote the Social Inclusion of People with Developmental Disabilities Act, 2008"):

On May 1, 2008 at Community Living Day at the Legislature, Minister Madeleine Meilleur tabled Bill 77 to replace the Developmental Service Act. After hearings at the Standing Committee on Social Policy, where Community Living Ontario and more than eighty other groups made presentations, Bill 77 became law as the "Services and Supports to Promote the Social Inclusion of People with Developmental Disabilities", or The Social Inclusion Act. A significant change from the Developmental Services Act is that the Social Inclusion Act removes the Minister’s authority to operate institutions. For more information on the Social Inclusion Act and Community Living Ontario’s positions and advocacy activities related to the Act click here.

Divisional Court Judicial Review of Institution Closure

In the early Fall of 2005, several families of individuals living in Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls, Ontario sought a court injunction to prevent the removal of residents and the eventual closure of the institution. The injunction was denied in Superior Court, but the judge referred the matter to the Divisional Court for a Judicial Review.  

The following documents contain information relating to that decision and include some valuable articulations of the benefits of life in the community, harms done by institutionalization and research relating to deinstitutionalization:  

• Analysis of the Decision of the Divisional Court’s Judicial Review into the Closure of Institutions: analysis.pdf
• Full text of the Judgment:decision.pdf
• Factum submitted to Judicial Review - December 7, 2005: factum.pdf
• Affidavit submitted by Community Living Ontario to the Judicial Review - November 17, 2005: affidavit.pdf

Institution Watch is a joint venture website “monitoring the progress toward a vision of full community living for all persons with intellectual disabilities.” It is written and produced by the People First of Canada-Canadian Association for Community Living Joint Task Force on Deinstitutionalization.

End Exclusion is a national initiative of the Canadian Association for Community Living, The Council of Canadians with Disabilities and other partners with a vision of creating an inclusive and accessible Canada:

The Center for Outcomes Analysis is a non-profit firm founded in 1985 to perform evaluation, research, and demonstration projects in the human services and health care services.  It produces valuable information resources on measuring quality of life of people receiving supports.  The site also provides research papers documenting the history of deinstitutionalization in the United States. 

Take Action

Help close institutions across Canada! Sign the People First of Canada-Canadian Association for Community Living Joint Task Force on Deinstitutionalization Declaration of Support for Community Living.  More than 6,000 people have already signed the Declaration.

Click here for information to assist you in contacting your local MP or MPP

Help us improve our resources on Deinstitutionalization.

If you have ideas or resources to share with us please contact our policy analyst, Tyler Hnatuk at 416-447-4348, Ext. 249