A/HRC/43/41/Add.2 psychosocial disabilities and women and young girls from various socioeconomic backgrounds. She received additional information through 44 written submissions from civil society organizations and persons with disabilities. 8. The Special Rapporteur also engaged through teleconferencing with officials of British Columbia, including from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, the Ministry of Attorney General, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. She also spoke with officials from the Assembly of First Nations to learn about the situation of indigenous persons with disabilities. 9. The Special Rapporteur thanks the federal, provincial and territorial governments for the transparency, openness and excellent cooperation extended to her prior to and during the visit. She is grateful to the federal Office for Disability Issues and Global Affairs Canada for coordinating her visit. She particularly thanks all the persons with disabilities and their organizations who shared information on their situations, their concerns and their desire for change. B. General context 10. Canada is a federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories. It is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. The Governor General represents the Queen, who is the Head of State, and the Prime Minister is the Head of Government. 11. Canada ranks thirteenth out of the 189 countries on the 2018 human development index, placing it in the “very high human development” category and among the world’s highest income countries.1 The average life expectancy of Canadians reached 82 years in 2017. It is expected that one in five Canadians will be aged 65 or older in 2024. The country’s Gini coefficient is 34.0. In 2017, Canada achieved its lowest poverty rate of 9.5 per cent.2 12. On 1 January 2019, the population of Canada stood at 37,314,442; 3 of that total, 4.9 per cent reported having indigenous origins. According to the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disabilities, one in five Canadians (22 per cent) aged 15 years and older are persons with disabilities. Women (24 per cent) are more likely to have a disability than men (20 per cent). At the provincial level, the prevalence of disability ranges from as low as 6.9 per cent in Nunavut, to as high as 30.4 per cent and 26.7 per cent in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick respectively. The percentage of persons with disabilities in Ontario and British Columbia was 24.1 and 24.7 respectively, compared to 16.1 per cent in Quebec.4 II. Cross-cutting considerations A. Legal framework 13. Canada is party to several core international human rights treaties but not to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights or the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. Canada ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2010 and acceded to its Optional Protocol in 2018. The Government made an interpretative declaration and a reservation to its article 12. In 2016, Canada acceded to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate 1 2 3 4 United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2019 (New York, 2019). Ibid. See www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/91-002-x/91-002-x2018004-eng.htm. See www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310037401. 3