Manitoba failing adults who need disability services, says report calling for new system
'We're asking for our basic human rights,' says Cerebral Palsy Association executive director
Manitoba's disability services program is "fundamentally broken," abandoning people as soon as they become adults, says a report that calls for it to be overhauled with 13 recommendations.
A new provincewide system must be designed to provide people with enough money and supports to live with dignity, says the report, titled Equality, Dignity and Belonging: Building a Better System for People with Disabilities in Manitoba.
"We're not asking for charity here. We're asking for our basic human rights," David Kron, executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba, said at a Tuesday news conference.
"We’ve spent 10 years working on this project. We’re not going to wait 10 more years. I’m calling on the province to listen to us, to respect us."
The report comes out of a human rights settlement involving two Manitobans with cerebral palsy who filed complaints in 2016 against the Manitoba government and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
"Today is a historic moment for people with disabilities, and we have a real chance to make change," said Tyson Sylvester, one of the complainants.
Amelia Hampton, the other complainant, died in 2024 at age 32, but "we very much feel her presence here today," said Joëlle Pastora Sala, the acting director of the Public Interest Law Centre, at Tuesday's news conference.
Sylvester and Hampton required assistance with everyday activities, but when they turned 18, a range of supports were cut off. Their complaints argued discrimination based on age.
"Their needs did not change, but the system stopped supporting them," Pastora Sala said.
Sylvester, who is also blind, drew attention to his case in 2018 by locking himself in a cage in Winnipeg's Old Market Square to demonstrate how the lack of services left him feeling "locked out of life."
He received a maximum of 55 hours of home care per week, but those services were limited to the care home where he lived, disregarding outside educational, medical and personal needs, said Pastora Sala.
At the time, the health authority called the complaints "frivolous" and "vexatious," she said.
But in 2018, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission found systematic discrimination against the complainants, and ordered mediation, which began in 2020.
'A new way'
Sylvester, Hampton, the provincial government, Shared Health and the Human Rights Commission agreed to commit to what came out of the hearing.
That included the creation of the Integrated Adult Services pilot project "to test a new way of providing services," Karen Sharma, the executive director of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, said Tuesday.
The report released Tuesday came out of the pilot project's work.
It ran from April 2023 until September 2025, following 33 participants across the Winnipeg health region to determine the types of challenges adults with disabilities face in accessing services.
The project committee met with others from other communities across Manitoba, getting feedback from 210 individuals in total.
Halfway through, "they found the system is fundamentally broken," said Kron, chair of the pilot project's steering committee. "It forces people to conform to the system, not the other way around."
Pastora Sala described it as siloed and difficult to navigate, with poor co-ordination among departments and agencies.
Participants in the pilot reported feeling safer, less lonely and more in control of their lives, while their family caregivers had less stress when formal supports were in place, the report states.
'Let back into society'
Kron highlighted some successes, including one person who saw their home care hours tripled, another who got enough support to move out of his parents’ basement, and a 76-year-old man who got enough support to continue living in the community, rather than a personal care home. He also went on the first vacation he'd ever taken.
Two others were able to move from hospital into the community, rather than a care home, which has been a default, Kron said.
People with disabilities are "damned too young to live in a personal care home," he said, calling for supports to be based on personal need, rather than the rules of an arbitrary system.
The new system needs to ensure people aren't denied services because of test scores, a diagnosis or age, the report says. A central place is needed where people can get help, rather than multiple departments, it states.
"We need to be let back into community, let back into society," Kron said.
The report won't gather dust on a shelf somewhere, because of the commitments the province made as part of the legal agreement, Sharma said. It has six months to propose a plan.
Should the province and Shared Health fail to do so, they will be forced into another hearing, Pastora Sala said.
Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, who also is responsible for accessibility, said in an emailed statement her department is reviewing the report's recommendations "in detail."
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