Rolling for rights

The Movement Citoyen Handicap-Québec staged a slow-moving, peaceful protest Sunday to demand equal rights for the disabled.

The participants, those severely disabled, sight impaired and otherwise unable to work in traditional jobs, made their way from Lafontaine Park to Premier Pauline Marois’ office in traditional and motorized wheelchairs.

According to the Gazette, the MCHQ claims it is the first demonstration of its kind to bring attention to problems in the provinces social aid program.

Protestors held signs that read: ‘Not Dead Yet’ and ‘Suffocating in Poverty, Let us Breathe!’ saying the current social aid program unfairly targets the disabled and forces many of them to live in poverty.

They want changes to be made to the program, more caregiving allocated so they can stay at home, and not to be placed in long-term homes with the elderly and unwell; something they say is actually more costly to the government.

And in the case of marriage, according to current welfare rules, couples where a spouse is disabled that earn over $1,200 a month in gross income have social assistance cut off.

Unfortunately, no one was at the Premiers office to greet the protesters when they arrived, as it was a holiday weekend.