Trailblazer, Advocate, Friend: Pam Horton

This article was written by Margaret Fraser, and originally appeared in the edition of DABC’s Transition magazine, Following Their Path: How disability trailblazers are guiding today’s advocacy (Fall/Winter 2025).

Read the full edition in PDF format here and in text-only format here.

If you’re interested in contributing to Transition as an individual or an organization, please email transition@dabc.ca.

This edition of Transition Magazine is dedicated to the late Pamela Horton. Pam served on DABC’s board of directors for close to thirty years. If you’d like to support Transition, we have set up a fund in Pam’s name. We so appreciate any contributions.

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Pam Horton grew up in North Vancouver in the 1950’s and 60’s with her brother, Mom and Dad. She had an active life, loving the outdoors, mastering a range of crafts and later finding work in the administrative field.

On February 9, 1982, at age 28, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She often spoke of this as her second birthday.

When the shock began to wear off, her goals changed. Pam wanted to focus on working on behalf of the disability community—first on the North Shore, then Greater Vancouver and ultimately province-wide.

Pam worked extremely hard to maintain her physical health as much as possible, through physiotherapy and mentally through volunteering. She was an excellent collaborator and communicator. She sat on numerous committees and challenged politicians, civil servants and anyone who would listen. She also made many friends.

Co-chairing the Together Against Violence Network on the North Shore was a perfect example of her understanding of intersectional issues for people with disabilities. Pam always prioritized inclusion. Each November, she enlisted her mother, Ruth, to cut purple ribbons—thousands over the years—to raise awareness of the issues close to her heart.

And Pam was not just a “joiner.” Encouraging and creating advisory committees on disability became one of her most far-reaching contributions to change, not only in the general public’s attitudes, but in those involved in government decisions at every level.

She was instrumental in so many changes in transportation that we now take for granted, such as accessible buses and taxis, including education for drivers on how to respectfully and safely assist those with disabilities.

When it came to income security, Pam worked to improve the living situations for the many people who rely on government assistance and programs, addressing problems from rental costs to equipment expenses.

In 1998, the North Shore Disability Resource Centre opened and it continues its work today. Pam and her various teams raised money for a host of initiatives at the centre including public education.

She worked with youth, adults and seniors and was never afraid to speak up on behalf of others.

In the arts, it was her persistence and invincible approach that led to the wheelchair accessible renovation of Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver.

On the quirky side, Pam was known for her love of owls! You may know an owl represents a wise creature–there’s a connection there–and she amassed a collection of owl-related photographs, trinkets, earrings and kitchen gadgets. You name it.

Her ultimate passion was the successful development of Disability Alliance BC. Pam was the first Executive Director and later sat on the Board of Directors for many years. She used her strong voice to advocate across the province for people with all types of disabilities.

Pam took a courageous stand beside Sue Rodriguez. She supported Rodriguez’s trailblazing right-to-die advocacy in the 90s that eventually lead to the creation of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in BC.

And she did so while also articulating the serious concerns about the potential for MAID to be misused around people with disabilities.

What follows are some thoughts from Pam’s friends and colleagues. The world is a much better place because of Pam. After her passing in May of this year, she will be missed by many and forgotten by none.

“Fearless and respected.”

“Gracious with her time and gave generously.”

“Able to retain her dry wit and knowing smile in the most difficult times.”

“Always kind and generous.”

“A good, truthful friend no matter what.”

“A stellar human being who made a tremendous contribution to our communities and, in many respects, changed so many people’s lives for the good.”

“An unflinching advocate for accessibility and the rights of people with disabilities.”

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Over the course of her 40-year working life, Margaret Fraser worked in a variety of roles with, and advocated for, people with a broad range of disabilities, frail and isolated seniors, youth at risk, new immigrants and adult literacy groups. She held hands-on roles as well as positions in management, and learned much about how folks progress through life–more than a university education can provide. Originally from Scotland, she immigrated to Canada in 1983. She remains an active volunteer in North Vancouver.

The link between Black liberation and Disability Justice movements

This Black History Month, we are reflecting upon the fact that Black liberation and disability justice frameworks have always been linked. Concepts of race and disability have been used to justify discrimination throughout history. Bodies and their perceived functionality were weaponized to uphold slavery in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade; false notions of black peoples’ inferior intellectual capabilities meant that Black people were legally considered less than human. Time and again, Black people have been harmed by medical and societal institutions[1].

Here in Canada, we have a similar history of the deployment of racism and ableism as tools to perpetuate harms. The Alberta Sterilization Act[2], repealed in 1972, predominantly impacted Black and Indigenous women with disabilities, and allowed for sterilization to occur without their will, knowledge, or consent. Today, Black and racialized people with disabilities have some of the highest unemployment rates[3]. Many are forced to live in legislated poverty with social assistance rates that are below the poverty line. Though these conditions impact Canadians with disabilities of all races, its impact can particularly be felt amongst Black and Indigenous Canadians with disabilities. Black and Indigenous Canadians with disabilities also have disproportionate amounts of fatal interactions with policing institutions and corrections, many of which start off as mental health calls.[4] Specifically, D’Andre Campbell[5], Abdirahman Abdi[6], and Soliman Faqiri[7] come to mind as examples.

Ableism also disproportionately impacts racialized people on a global scale. Across the world, wars and genocides in countries including Palestine, Sudan, and Congo will result in mass disability rates.

Black people with disabilities have always been leaders in resistance. Many Black freedom fighters, like Harriet Tubman, were known to live with disabilities that were often caused by their enslavement. In her case, she lived with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and was instrumental in freeing hundreds of slaves through the underground railroad [8]. During the civil rights movement, the 504 protests occurred, where people with disabilities occupied a federal building for over a month to push for the adoption of legislation that would protect the public rights of people with disabilities. During these protests, the Black Panthers, a Black focused movement based civil rights organizations, supported the 504 protests by providing food and resources to the protesters [9]. The Black Panthers also focused on health and disability rights advocacy, leading nation-wide screenings for Sickle Cell Anemia in the Black community, inspiring calls for Federal funding and research for a cure [10].

Lastly, the creation of disability justice as a framework is an example of the link between Black and disability-based resistance work. Disability Justice as a framework was created by Black and racialized, disabled and queer artists in San Francisco. [11]. The creation of this framework paved the way for disability rights work to move away from rights-based analyses and created the move toward a justice-based analyses with inclusion-based frameworks in relation to disability organizing. 

Racism and its historical context cannot be separated from systemic ableism and its historical context.  This connection has also linked the struggles of Black and racialized disabled people throughout history and has forever linked Black liberation and disability justice organizing today, both in Canada and across the world. Black people with disabilities are a large part of the disability community. It is our role as advocates for racial and disability justice to acknowledge the intersections that continue to intertwine our movements for an ableism-free world together.

To learn more about these connections, check out the following books:

• Black Disability Politics by Samantha Dawn Schalk
• Black skin, white masks by Frantz Fanon
• DisCrit : disability studies and critical race theory in education by David J. Connor, Beth A. Ferri, and Subini A. Annamma, editors.
• The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability Hardcover by Jasbir K Puar
• Blackness and disability: critical examinations and cultural interventions edited by Christopher M. Bell.
• Embodied injustice: race, disability, and health by Mary Crossley.

[1] What Was Drapetomania? The Racist Pseudoscience of Slavery-Era America — Simply Put Psych

[2] Sterilization of Indigenous Women in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia

[3] Research — Race and Disability Canada

[4] Tracking (In)Justice: Documenting Fatal Encounters with Police in Canada | Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société | Cambridge Core

[5] D’Andre Campbell fatally shot by police in Brampton home after calling for help, family says | Globalnews.ca

[6] The Abdirahman Abdi inquest: A day-by-day guide | CBC News

[7] ‘No longer any doubt,’ says Soleiman Faqiri’s family as inquest deems Ontario jail death a homicide | CBC News

[8] The Tragic Injury Harriet Tubman Never Recovered From

[9] The 504 Protests and the Black Panther Party – Disability Social History Project

[10] Beyond Berets: The Black Panthers as Health Activists – PMC

[11] 10 Principles of Disability Justice | Sins Invalid

BC Budget 2026: Staving off debt; no new funding

DABC’s Statement on the 2025 BC Budget

February 17, 2026

BC Budget 2026: Staving off debt; no new funding

The BC Budget for the 2026/2027 fiscal year was announced at the legislative assembly in Victoria on February 17, 2026. Helaine Boyd, Disability Alliance BC (DABC)’s Executive Director, was invited to attend the announcement and review the budget materials.

In June 2025, DABC submitted our recommendations for the 2026 Budget, and in August 2026, the Select Standing Committee on Finance released their Report on Budget 2026 Consultation. Our Statement in response to this report can be found here.

Our top recommendations for the 2026 BC Budget were:

1. Indexing Disability Assistance rates to inflation, and removing clawbacks from employment insurance income and spousal income for people on Disability Assistance.
2. Streamlining the provincial bus pass program for people with disabilities to include HandyDART rides.
3. Build more affordable, accessible housing that includes two, three, and four-bedroom units.

All three recommendations were highlighted in the Select Standing Committee on Finance’s budget 2026 report; however, none resulted in new funding or initiatives within the Budget 2026 announcement today.

Budget 2026 may be considered one of the more austere budgets tabled in the past decade. Due to rising debt, the BC Government focused on measures to retain core services and find ways to increase revenue, rather than announce any new initiatives or investments into new services.

New Child and Youth Disability Benefit and Supplement

This Budget includes the new BC Children and Youth Disability Benefit (CYDB), which was announced by the Province last week. The CYDB replaces the existing autism funding for children with disabilities, as administered by the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). We wrote about this in an initial post on our website here.

Overall DABC’s reaction to this new benefit is mixed. One the one hand, we are pleased to see that this new CYDB includes eligibility across the disability spectrum. On the other hand, we note that the amount provided under this benefit is still a reduction from the previous autism funding of $22k a year.

The Province’s announcement of the CYDB last week did not provide much detail, so this Budget gave DABC the opportunity to clarify eligibility and policy information with MCFD. This is what we learned:

Families can receive either $6,500 or $17,000 for each child with a disability. The amount that families can receive is based on the disability-related needs of the child. It is not clear how MCFD will decide what disabilities count as more “significant” than others, and therefore how families can access the maximum amount of $17,000 per year.

DABC is concerned that this range in amount will create a hierarchical system under which certain families who care for children with disabilities will receive more than other children with disabilities. Understanding that this is a new program, DABC cautions MCFD not to create a system that pits families with children with disabilities against each other. All people with disabilities, regardless of age or type of disability, deserve to have their needs met!

DABC has further learned that there will be two ways for MCFD to assess a child’s eligibility of the CYDB:

1) Families can present a diagnosis of their child from a medical practitioner. MCFD clarified that diagnoses presented through this option would be the more “common” type of “significant” disabilities; autism and down syndrome were given as examples. DABC is concerned that this option may leave some families ineligible if their child doesn’t have a diagnosis, or a diagnosis that isn’t considered “common” or “significant” enough. DABC also notes that families may pay out of pocket to receive a diagnosis if their child’s disability is not supported through the traditional healthcare system. We have already seen this occurring in the autism community, where the provincially subsidized public autism assessment for children under the age of 18 can be carried out free of charge to the family, however the waitlist is very long and many families opt to go the private route so that they can start receiving funding from MCFD. DABC worries that this bottleneck will occur with other types of disability assessments, creating a barrier for families with children with disabilities in getting the funding they need for their child’s care.

2) The other way that MCFD can assess a child’s eligibility of the CYDB is where families apply through a “needs-based pathway” in which clinical experts “in collaboration with” MCFD will adjudicate on applications. To DABC, this option seems similar to the PWD application process, in that a person’s disability will need to be proved “severe” enough in order to access funding. DABC has also seen clinical experts being used to effectively restrict access to funding, rather than to benefit the applicant. For instance, when people on PWD need medical equipment, they submit a medical equipment supplement form to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction (SDPR) in which SDPR uses clinical experts to adjudicate on those applications. DABC has witnessed that these clinical experts may disagree with the applicant’s need for medical equipment, and instead approve cheaper alternatives that may not fully meet the needs of the individual. Therefore, DABC is concerned that this application pathway may result in certain children with disabilities being excluded from funding because a clinical expert has deemed that their disability isn’t “significant” enough.

As the CYDB is a new program, DABC advocates that MCFD collaborate in community with families and children with disabilities to develop equitable access to this funding.

DABC notes that the CYDB is not income-tested, which we are happy to see, and we call upon the Provincial Government to make all provincial disability benefits (such as PWD) fair by removing income testing for all.

In addition to the CYDB, families can also receive the new Child and Youth Disability Supplement, which is provided at a max of $6,000 (depending on income) per each child with disability, and tied to eligibility with the Disability Tax Credit. This supplement is through the tax system and is for funding to support aids for children with disabilities.

Spousal Cap

This Budget also included an acknowledgement of changes to the PWD spousal cap, as noted in our statement here. No new changes to the spousal cap were announced. DABC continues to advocate for the full removal of the spousal cap, as noted in our joint-letter here.

Income taxes

This Budget presents two changes to income taxes:

1. Income tax brackets will not change from 2027-2030. Historically, income tax brackets have increased to adjust for inflation. As income tax brackets will not change, this means that any tax credit amounts will also not change.
2. The lowest income tax bracket tax rate will increase from 5.06% to 5.6%. For those on low income, they will be able to utilize the BC Tax Reduction Credit, which is not a new credit, but it will increase by $115 to offset the increase in taxes owed.

DABC notes that the Province has increased the tax rate in order to maintain inflationary costs for core services, and to reduce the overall debt level incurred by the Province. However, we question why the BC Government has chosen to increase the tax rate for the lowest income tax bracket in order to cover costs, rather than focusing on higher income tax brackets.

Reduction in Public Service

The Budget includes a reduction in BC Government staff jobs in the public sector to reduce costs. DABC advocates for these job cuts to not affect the  front-line staff who are supporting income assistance and disability assistance applicants and recipients, as these case workers are sorely needed. As shown from this January 2026 report from the office of the BC Ombudsperson, the amount of time that people wait on hold to speak to a case work at SDPR is already shockingly long.

Involuntary Care

The BC Budget announced: “New investments of $131 million will support intensive, specialized mental health and addictions treatment for people with concurrent challenges of complex mental illness, addictions and acquired brain injuries. It will also fund involuntary treatment beds in Prince George, Maple Ridge and Surrey.”

DABC finds it concerning that this Budget, which has few new initiatives, chose to dedicate funding to increasing beds for involuntary care, when further focus should be put on protecting the rights of those who have been involuntarily held, and to provide supports to these individuals so that they can receive care in community.

Long-Term Care

The BC Budget does not announce new investment to long-term care, instead “re-pacing” current slated projects for building long-term care facilities in future years. While increasing the amount of residential units for long-term care may be needed due to our aging population, DABC advocates for the Province to also focus funding on home care services so that people can age in place in their homes, and be part of their community.

Further Budget Announcements to Note:

• A $167-million investment in the Classroom Enhancement Fund will result in more teachers for everyone, as well as special education teachers and teacher psychologists and counsellors for children with disabilities.
• Another $653 million in federal funding will expand public coverage to include free medications for diabetes and enhanced coverage for menopausal hormone therapy.

Overall Assessment

This budget does very little to support individuals and families on low income struggling with the affordability gap. There are no new tax credits or incentives for British Columbians.

DABC does not see this budget making any real difference in the lives of the disability community, with the exception of the new Child and Youth Disability Benefit. We have empathy for children with autism and their families who must now navigate a whole new system for support at MCFD that is less than what they could have accessed under the previous autism funding system, but we ultimately hope that this new benefit will provide broader support to children with all disabilities. Ultimately, the aim is to ensure that everyone’s needs are met, whether they are a child or an adult with a disability, and regardless of their type of disability. The Province has work to do to ensure that their income systems are equitable and fair, and that’s where individuals and families who are most affected can advocate for change.

There was no mention of poverty reduction in Budget 2026 whatsoever. It seems that the Province have sacrificed any advancement in their poverty reduction efforts in the wake of rising debt; it is unfortunate to see that the people most affected by rising cost of living are left with very little to take from this budget.

DABC will continue to advocate for changes that will increase dignity, independence, and equal and full participation for people with disabilities in our province.