The unveiling of the memorial wall plaques will take place Saturday, Sept. 25, at 1pm at the corner of Queen Street West and Shaw Street in Toronto.

Right: One of the walls surrounding the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health

The plaques are dedicated to patient labourers of the past, many of whom built the boundary walls which stand on the south, east and west sides of what was once the Toronto Insane Asylum, now CAMH, at 1001 Queen St. W. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the oldest part of the patient-built boundary wall on the south side, constructed in 1860.

This south wall, along with the walls built from 1888 to 1889 on the east and west sides, is a testament to the abilities of people whose unpaid labour was central to the operation of asylums in Ontario during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Left: Geoffrey Reaume

“For the first time in Canada, the unpaid toil of psychiatric patient labourers will be permanently publicly marked at the site where this history took place for all to learn from and remember,” says Reaume. “The plaques will help to challenge prejudices towards psychiatric patients today by pointing out the very tangible abilities of the people who built these walls. Walls of exclusion thus become walls of inclusion by writing into the public record the historical contributions of mostly poor, forgotten people with a psychiatric diagnosis which has been previously unrecognized.”

A professor of critical disability studies and health ethics in 91��ɫ's , Reaume has given dozens of tours of the wall over the years (see YFile, April 19). On Saturday, he will give yet another tour of the wall, along with all nine plaques, following the dedication ceremony.

“The nine plaques are also arranged thematically along the length of all three walls to let people conduct their own self-guided wall tours to learn about patients past whenever they want to,” says Reaume.

The event is sponsored by the Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto and CAMH, as well as many community donors.

For more information, call CAMH at 416-595-6015 or the Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto at 416-661-9975.

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Parekh is the winner of the inaugural Human Rights Prize for Master of Arts (MA) Major Research Paper in the Critical Disabilities Studies Program for her paper, "How Neoliberalism Impacts the Realization of Inclusive Education Both Internationally and Locally: A Study of Inclusive and Equitable Education Opportunities Within the Toronto District School Board". The award, created through donations from 91��ɫ Professors Marcia Rioux and Geoffrey Reaume of the School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health, was presented to Parekh on Tuesday. "It was an interesting paper to research," says Parekh.

Parekh earned her MA from 91��ɫ's Critical Disabilities Studies Program with an interest in international development and disability, as well as education.

Right: Gillian Parekh (left) being presented the 2010 Human Rights Prize

For her paper, Parekh initially looked at the connection between government prioritization of market ideologies and the subsequent waning commitment to inclusive practices, homing in on inclusive education policies under varying governments in South Africa. Although South Africa boasts of having highly progressive disability policies, over time the push for economic returns has taken precedence over the protection of the rights of students with disabilities, and segregated learning centres have been maintained and expanded.

"An analysis of the evolution of inclusive education policies from South Africa is documented to encapsulate a clear example of the hegemonic relationship between rights and market principles while the right to quality education for many hangs in the balance," says Parekh.

She then turned to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to see if the same was true here. She examined student demographics at 85 secondary schools and whether they correlated with the availability of specific programs and services. "Social factors such as poverty, disability, language and parental education are compared to increased or decreased access to programming and services that lead to future enhanced marketability for the student," she writes.

Although Parekh taught special education for several years at schools within the TDSB, the fourth-largest school district in North America, she was surprised by what she found. "Overall, the higher percentage of parents with a university education, the higher the likelihood their children would have access to elite programs within their public school. The higher the percentage of students from low income housing, as well as the higher the percentage of students using special education services, the fewer programs were offered at their school," says Parekh. She knows the TDSB has attempted to address issues of equity and continuously works to offer equitable services and programming to all students, however, the current state speaks to a much more powerful force at work.

In comparing demographics between schools offering French immersion programs, what Parekh calls one of the board's most elite programs, and those schools providing vocational training, she found the difference in incidence of low income, special education and parental education staggering. When she looked at where schools providing vocational training were located, she discovered that they were largely running in Toronto's lowest income neighbourhoods, she says. Whereas French immersion programs were more likely to be found within schools in more affluent areas with greater numbers of parents having been to university.

Access to some programming was definitely related to geography, says Parekh. "The education system continues to sustain inequitable learning opportunities between social groups. Policies addressing the issues of inequity have not yet achieved fully inclusive or equitable educational opportunities for all." And that is true in both Toronto and South Africa.

Parekh largely holds the government accountable for continuing to move towards a private model of market ideology within its public school systems in which more advantaged students are met with greater opportunity

"What bothers me the most is that this disparity is often normalized. Not enough people think significant change is required," says Parekh. It comes down to erroneous thinking that certain people in society are more deserving of academic opportunities than others, she says.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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