A legendary lifelong advocate for people with disabilities in Manitoba and across the country has died.
Jim Derksen, one of the founders of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and the Disability League of Manitoba, died earlier this month at the age of 75, marking the end of a lifetime of tireless activism.
Derksen, who uses a wheelchair after contracting polio in the late 1950s as a child, grew up in an era when there was no accessible transportation, when children with disabilities did not have access to regular school and when his rights were enshrined in Canada’s charter.
He didn’t let that stick, Derksen’s longtime friend Lori Beechell said.
“Jim was a champion throughout his life and he convinced many that our challenge was to create more inclusive and accessible communities, and he did it with great passion, with great knowledge and with a gentle firmness that led people to create the changes that were needed,” he said Thursday in an interview with Janet Stewart on CBC Winnipeg News at 6.
“Jim made people realize that the problem is not the individual, but … the way we structure our society, the built environment, people’s prejudices and biases.”
Jim Derksen is pictured with his dog. The disability rights activist died this month. (Jim Derkson/Facebook)
Derksen was instrumental in enshrining the rights of people with disabilities in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
He was working with the Council of Canadians with Disabilities at the time, but was seconded to a federal commission to advocate for inclusion in the capital rights section of the charter.
“In the early days, they only wanted to include physical disabilities, not mental disabilities. Jim took that fight and said, ‘No, it has to be both,'” Beechell said.
“Jim was one of those characters who, in a gentle way, could draw people in.”
In a not-so-tender moment, Derksen followed then-Justice Minister Jean Chrétien into the bathroom to continue lobbying him at the 11th hour of the charter.
“He convinced people by the power of his intellect and by the power of his argument,” Beechell said.
Accessible transportation
Derksen was at one point chair of the Winnipeg Taxi Board and advocated for accessible transit.
He also lobbied against medical aid in dying.
Debbie Patterson, a Manitoba artist, co-founder of Shakespeare in the Ruins and a disability advocate in her own right, was Derksen’s friend for more than three decades. She says he was concerned that Bill C-7, which amends the Criminal Code to allow people to have physician-assisted dying, is dangerous and could target vulnerable Canadians.
Jim Derksen opposed the federal government’s Bill C7, an act to amend the Criminal Code to pave the way for medical assistance in dying. He believed it was dangerous legislation that could target vulnerable Canadians. (Why Us? By Project Value/Facebook)
“He believed very strongly that disabled people, our lives, were undervalued in society. People look at us and think that our lives are not worth living. And because of that, we’re more vulnerable to early death,” she said in an interview Thursday with Faith Fundal on CBC Manitoba’s Up to Speed.
“He was also quite furious that without proper support you live well, that it is unwise to offer support to die.”
“He’s not ashamed of his disability”
Derksen was not only an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, but also a supportive friend.
The two bonded when Derksen asked why Patterson, who lives with multiple sclerosis, was limping one day.
“He just…became a mentor to me in terms of navigating life with a disability. As soon as he saw something going on, he would immediately ask questions, helping me figure out what I needed to do,” Patterson said.
She says his outgoing and honest nature makes her feel comfortable sharing anything with him.
“He was so open and vulnerable … he wasn’t ashamed of his disability. He wasn’t ashamed of the way his body functioned, he wasn’t ashamed of his body at all. He was just very open and honest and that made me completely disarmed and comfortable sharing everything with him,” she said.
Derksen was also an enthusiast at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and if he hadn’t died, Beechell said he would be at Birds Hill Provincial Park this weekend.
He doesn’t know a year that his friend has missed since the music festival was created.
Add Comment