Not Transforming Disability Supports

GOVERNMENT OF NOVA SCOTIA

Department of Strategic Half-Measures & Selective Compassion
(formerly known as: “We’ll Get to It Eventually”)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2025
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Province Clarifies: “No, We Are Not Transforming Disability Supports. We Are Transforming Press Releases About Disability Supports.”

After considerable public confusion resulting from our November 28 announcement about the $1 million Service Evolution Fund, the Province would like to offer a helpful clarification:

We are proudly supporting disability rights —
as long as those rights belong to a very small, precisely defined, court-mandated subset of Nova Scotians.

If you are part of the other 37.9% of Nova Scotians with disabilities, we encourage you to hold tight, remain patient, and enjoy the educational brochures we’ve produced about inclusion.

“But what about invisible disabilities?”

Great question. We love acknowledging invisible disabilities.
Supporting them, however, remains invisible as well.

Why We’re Only Helping a Tiny Slice of the Disability Community

As the newly released Human Rights Remedy monitoring reports remind everyone (very inconveniently), the Province was legally ordered to stop discriminating against people with disabilities trapped in institutional and warehoused settings.

And we take our legal obligations extremely seriously —
once we run out of ways to appeal, delay, or reinterpret them.

This $1 million fund allows us to appear wildly committed to transformation while actually performing:

Website redesigns
Branding projects
Payroll system upgrades
Communication plans
Strategic plans
Plans to plan other plans
And a few well-timed photo ops

We are delighted to confirm that not a single Nova Scotian will actually be housed or provided new direct support through this initiative. But they will be able to read a beautifully refreshed website explaining why they must continue waiting.

Our “Bold Transformation”: A Closer Look

While the Human Rights Monitor’s Year Two report politely points out progress like a teacher trying to encourage a failing student (“some targets achieved… some partial progress… several still in development… bless your heart”), it also highlights that:

We achieved 22% of our target for new community living support
We remain “in development” on nearly every major deliverable
And we continue to “explore” solutions previously “explored” in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024

We consider this remarkable progress in the field of circular innovation.

Yesterday’s announcement continues our proud tradition of transformation without delivery, commitments without timelines, and funding without outcomes.

Nova Scotians Keep Asking: “Who Actually Benefits?”

We are pleased to confirm that the Service Evolution Fund directly benefits:

Consultants
Communications departments
Social media vendors
Accounting software companies
Political optics
And of course… our quarterly press release schedule

Indirect benefits include:

Absolutely nobody else.

Our Commitment to the Disability Community

The Province reaffirms our dedication to helping all Nova Scotians with disabilities by 2030. Or whenever is most convenient after that. The Accessibility Act gives us lots of runway, and we intend to use every inch of it, taxi at low speed, and potentially circle the runway several times before taking off.

In the meantime, we invite the disability community to continue accessing:

Webinars
Awareness campaigns
Inspirational slogans
Resource hubs
And a slowly growing pile of government PDFs

Together, we can build a more accessible Nova Scotia.
Just not with this round of funding.

ENDS

Department of Strategic Half-Measures & Selective Compassion
Government of Nova Scotia

For less funny information on this matter see:

Recent Government Announcement:
https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2025/11/28/project-funding-help-service-providers-transform-disability-supports

Minister’s Annual Report on Accessibility (2023–24):
https://novascotia.ca/accessibility/docs/ministers-annual-report-accessibility-en.pdf

Nova Scotia Accessibility Act (2017):
https://nslegislature.ca/sites/default/files/legc/statutes/accessibility.pdf

Human Rights Remedy Monitor – Year Two Report:
https://humanrights.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/monitoring_report_year_two.pdf

Nova Scotia Bureau of Absurd Nova Scotia