Commonwealth Parliamentarians With Disabilities Conference.

• Author: Murphy, Kevin S.
• Position: Conference notes

A founding organizational conference for a proposed Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities was held in Halifax from August 30 to September 2, 2017. Following this successful gathering of 24 delegates, a proposal to establish this group under the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was accepted by the CPA's executive committee for further review and discussion at the association's upcoming meeting in Mauritius.

For a democracy to adequately represent and serve its people, it stands to reason that the elected officials within that democracy would need to be as diverse in background as the people they serve. When done correctly, this allows for the wide range of experiences and expertise found within a community to have a place at the table where policy is made, leading to the development of policy that better reflects the needs of the community. Through my experiences as a person with a disability, both as a private citizen and as an elected official, I have witnessed firsthand how a diverse government can have a significant impact not only on what policy is put forward, but on the procedures and practises of government itself, leading it to become more inclusive.

The path forward for improving the representation and services for persons with disabilities is through their greater participation in our parliaments. It was with this goal in mind that I sought to organize the first conference for Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD).

Held in Halifax, Nova Scotia from August 30 to September 2, 2017, the conference served as an opportunity for persons with disabilities to share our experiences from across the different parliaments of the Commonwealth, establishing our common challenges and sharing what practises our members have found to be successful. Additionally, we discussed a proposal submitted by the Nova Scotia Branch to the Commonwealth Parliamentarians Associations (CPA) governing bodies to establish a network of parliamentarians with disabilities within the CPA organization. The goal is to create a framework through which the kinds of discussions that took place at this conference could continue, furthering the goal of greater participation of persons with disabilities.

As a member of the CPA International Executive Committee, Jackson Lafferty, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, asked the delegates three questions to contemplate over the course of the conference.

* What can you...