Paving the way to Full Realization of the CRPD’s Rights to Legal Capacity and Supported Decision-Making: A Canadian Perspective

This paper was written for a legal capacity symposium, “In From the Margins: New Foundations for Personhood and Legal Capacity in the 21st century,” being held at the University of British Columbia in April, 2011. It therefore focuses specifically on the article of the CRPD that addresses legal capacity, Article 12 is the section of the CRPD that specifically addresses the topics of legal capacity and decision-making. Before embarking on an analysis of Canada’s laws in the context of the extent to which they comply with Article 12, it is necessary to first explore its broad implications for decision-making regimes. What are the implications of the predominance of substitute decision-making regimes?