(Oakville, Ontario) — A group of concerned family members of residents of Central West Specialized Developmental Services (CWSDS) supportive living homes will protest on Friday, October 17th at 10:30am. The protest will take place at 53 Bond Street, Oakville, Ontario.
The family members are demanding that CWSDS return all residents with developmental disabilities to their respective supportive living homes. They will read an open letter to Premier Ford urging immediate action.
Amid a labour dispute, all residents of CWSDS group homes have been moved, without consent, from their supportive living homes to a centralized location at 53 Bond Street, Oakville.
For media interview, contact:
Rabia Khedr 905-270-9679 Alena Malina 775-771-2669
Sheree Burnett-Gualtieri 519 212-5614 Nancy Gamble 519-498-4559
Background
Arbitrary relocation of Ontario residents with developmental disabilities due to labour dispute violates rights and endangers safety
As parents and siblings of people living on Central West Specialized Developmental Services (CWSDS) properties, we are deeply concerned that decisions taken in response to the current labour dispute are violating the rights of our loved ones with developmental disabilities and endangering their physical and emotional safety.
Residents were, without choice, relocated from their homes in Mississauga, Milton, Georgetown and Burlington into one large Oakville facility without their usual services and supports to aid daily living. This sudden displacement, disruption, and uprooting from their homes and communities, is having harmful and significant impacts on residents with developmental disabilities, many of whom have complex care needs.
Currently, all residents from CWSDS supportive living homes have been arbitrarily moved to one central location at 53 Bond Street in Oakville. “The plan to relocate all residents to one location means residents will be forced to live with strangers. They will lose the ability to take part in their daily activities and community programs that bring them joy, health and connection,” says Rabia Khedr, sister and disability activist.
The rights of people with disabilities are enshrined in provincial, federal and international law. Ontario’s Human Rights Code, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities all affirm the inherent dignity, equality and respect owed to people with disabilities.
We will not allow these fundamental human rights to be dismissed or violated. People with developmental disabilities have the right to live with dignity and respect. The relocation of all residents to one congregated location without consent is a fundamental breach of trust and a severe violation of rights.
“It is unconscionable for people with disabilities, in violation of their rights and with the potential for devastating consequences, to be moved from their homes without their consent as a way to navigate an evolving labour dispute,” says Robert Lattanzio, Executive Director of ARCH Disability Law Centre.
OPSEU Local 249 which represents the developmental support workers at all of CWSDS supportive living homes reports that on September 17, CWSDS management requested a “No Board” report to put the Employer in a legal lock out position as of October 09, 2025 at 12:01am.
To date, negotiations continue between CWSDS management and the union. In the event of a lock-out or a strike, CWSDS management plans to have ill-trained and unfamiliar temporary agency workers replace the highly skilled developmental support workers.
Family members of CWSDS group homes are perplexed as to why management decided to summarily uproot all residents from their homes, and house them without consent at 53 Bond Street. As the labour negotiations continue, the families of CWSDS group home residents are demanding that their loved ones be returned immediately to the security and routine of their respective homes.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Reeve, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
