ODSP’S TREATMENT OF SPOUSAL RELATIONSHIPS

One of the first human rights advances in modern history, arising hand-in-hand with the abolition of slavery, was the passing of the Married Women’s Property Acts in the UK, Canada and the U.S. in the latter half of the 1800s.

The Married Women’s Property Acts changed the Common Law doctrine that married spouses were independent people. A married women could not earn money and own property; a married woman was beholden to her husband for financial survival, and her husband could be sued for the actions of his spouse.

The change was fundamental to all people being independent and individual people. It creates the frame work for egalitarian and equal relationships; removing financial and power imbalances. In practice, this means that if you are a married woman in 2016 and want to buy a car or get a credit card, you don’t need the permission of your husband; if your spouse has bad credit, you can still get a loan on good terms; or if your spouse gets sued, your assets and income are not at risk. This is a modern right enjoyed by all Ontarians. Well, almost all…

If you are disabled and unable to work, the Ontario government erases the protections of the Married Women’s Property Act. It operates the Ontario Disability Support Program in a manner consistent with the laws governing the treatment of spouses from before the early 1800s. This means that some of the most vulnerable people in Ontario society, those disabled beyond the ability to work, are deprived of their individual legal personality. It means that a young, severely disabled person can never enter into a relationship with any degree financial autonomy. It means if a spouse becomes disabled, they become completely beholden to their partner.

Not surprisingly, this leads to a dramatic increase in the failure of marriages and relationships for people with severe disabilities. And, it places them at extreme vulnerability.

On January 28, 2016 the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal had a preliminary hearing to determine if it will hear an Application by a group of disabled Ontarians to challenge this law.

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