Today is the 28th annual #InternationalDayofPersonsWithDisability ( #IDPWD2020 ) and, on a day meant to celebrate disability pride and push for disability justice the Canadian government is set to move forward with Bill C7, making it easier for disabled people to "choose" death.

I'm horrified that this is happening today...of all days.

But Jeff, you may be asking, isn't this a good thing? Isn't it a win for disabled people to have the right to choose death? To be 'free' from suffering?

Yes, disabled people across this country suffer every minute of every day. But we suffer from #odspoverty and support programs that mandate us to lives of poverty. We suffer from employers passing us by because they assume we'd be "too expensive" to accommodate.

We suffer from a housing crisis, leaving people trapped in unsuitable situations (or worse) and now having greater exposure risk to COVID-19 within the Long Term Care Homes we've been warehoused.

We suffer from airline and train industries that routinely break our equipment or simply refuse us service. We suffer from inadequate funding to public transit and hyper expensive (and not funded) adaptive driving technology leaving us isolated in our homes.

We suffer from equipment funding programs that have almost 12-month long wait times. We suffer from huge waitlists in hospitals and rehab facilities. We suffer from the lack of funding needed to actually be able to afford those goods and services.

Here in #ldnont, we suffer from protesters going to City Hall to stop the installation of side walks that make it safe for wheelchairs...we suffer because our very neighbours do not think we belong in their neighbourhood.

We suffer from media sources like @CBCLondon and @LFPress not demanding answers from our local MPs as to why they are about to vote to support Bill C7 on #IDPD2020. Or even covering #IDPD2020 at all...?

We suffer from the fact that CERB supports were handed out Canadians weeks after the start of the pandemic and disabled people had to wait until LAST MONTH to receive a 1-time $600 payout (and ONLY if you were a Disability Tax Credit recipient).

We suffer from "health care rationing" plans at the provincial level that could mean during the second wave of the #COVIDー19 pandemic, we are denied life saving medical care because we are deemed less likely to survive.

We suffer from Governments who apparently couldn't even be bothered to check what day it was before moving forward with legislation that will conveniently allowed disabled people, the people they cause to suffer with their lack of programming and support, to opt out of life.

#WhyUs? Why ONLY us? Perhaps because the institutions that benefit most from us dying are the ones passing the bill. Eugenics is alive and well in Canada and, today, it goes by the name Bill C7.

So dear @JustinTrudeau, @erinotoole, @theJagmeetSingh and @AnnamiePaul:

How about we celebrate #IDPWD2020 by fixing systems before killing people. Let's give people LIFE before dooming them to DEATH.

That is what I was taught Canada was supposed to be all about...