Lansdowne Children’s Centre takes time to remember this November 11

November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada. It’s a day to recognize the sacrifices of those who are serving and have served in our nation’s military; those who were never able to come home, and those who came home, but were forever changed.

Lansdowne Children's Centre is taking time to honour those who lost their lives or were forever changed as a result of war.

Leading up to Remembrance Day, Lansdowne Children’s Centre is inviting staff and visitors to personalize a poppy with the name of someone important to them who served; these are being put together in a wreath display at the Brantford centre.

For Lansdowne, it’s important to mark Remembrance Day, particularly as it relates to the Second World War; it’s not only a day to honour the memories of the soldiers, but also and especially the victims of war.

When considering the horrific statistics of how many people were murdered by the Nazi regime – approximately 6 million Jewish people, around 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war, about 1.8 million Polish people and many, many more – it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the savage brutality of it all.

But it is vitally important to remember and recognize that the earliest victims of Nazi atrocities were people with disabilities.

The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring was passed in Germany in 1933, and allowed for the forced sterilization of people who had been regarded as ‘unfit’ to have children, which included people with physical and mental disabilities. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s website states that around 360,000 people were sterilized by force, while the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reports that the number was approximately 400,000.

Then in 1939, about two years before Jewish people were targeted as part of the ‘Final Solution,’ people with disabilities – around 250,000 to 300,000 (about 10,000 of whom were children) – were the first to be murdered. These included people with Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy.

Initially, parents of infants and toddlers with physical and/or mental disabilities were encouraged to admit their children into what they were led to believe were pediatric clinics, but as the Holocaust Encyclopedia’s website notes, “In reality, the clinics were children’s killing wards,” where the children were subjected to either lethal overdoses of medication or starvation. Later, these grisly efforts were expanded, and gas chambers – which were later used to execute millions of primarily Jewish people with brutal efficiency by the Nazis – were developed to streamline these murders.  

As the Holocaust Encyclopedia’s website states, “The Euthanasia Program represented in many ways a rehearsal for Nazi Germany's subsequent genocidal policies.”

The atrocities committed during the Second World War brought into sharp focus the need to formally acknowledge that all people are unequivocally equal.

The Canadian Encyclopedia’s website states, “The time between the end of the Second World War and the signing of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 is often referred to as the Rights Revolution in Canada.” There was a groundswell of support for and awareness of the necessity of formally recognizing the human rights of groups that had been marginalized before, including people with disabilities.

Consequently, Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms reads in part: “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”

Immediately following the Second World War, there was also a greater focus on better understanding and supporting people with various disabilities and conditions.

For instance, the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) notes on its website that while “Prior to the 1940s there was little organized interest in CP care with a few exceptions … By 1946, the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults (Easter Seal Society) began a campaign to improve care for children with cerebral palsy and set up a CP Advisory Medical Council comprised of six professionals with an active interest in the field.” The American Academy for Cerebral Palsy was officially founded in 1947, and since 1946, has been alternating its annual meetings between Canada and the United States.

Closer to home, Lansdowne’s origins can be traced back to 1952 in Brantford, with the founding of the Parents Council for Cerebral Palsy.

Today, Lansdowne is a highly accredited children's treatment centre (CTC) and SmartStart Hub, connecting caregivers with resources, services and supports for infants, children, and youth with physical, communication, and/or developmental needs. Supporting nearly 4,000 unique children and families annually, Lansdowne works with child and youth clients and their families at centres in Brantford, Caledonia, Dunnville and Simcoe, and in a variety of community settings such as homes, schools, childcares, early learning environments, and camps, as well as through virtual means using streaming video. Lansdowne strives to work collaboratively to help clients and their families achieve optimal potential.

Learn more at www.lansdownecentre.ca