Spouse's last words inspire widow to keep fighting Quebec's steep penalties for retirees with disabilities

Fighting back tears, Richard McLean said he hoped people with disabilities would get back the money he feels was unfairly taken away. 

"We have a right to live too," McLean told Radio-Canada's La Facture in February 2020.

McLean died in 2022, but the legal battle he launched against the Quebec government is far from over. 

And sensing the province still doesn't want to do the right thing, a group representing people with disabilities is taking that fight to the United Nations.

McLean's case against Quebec centres on steep penalties that are imposed on people with disabilities when they retire, raising questions of equality and dignity.

In Quebec, if someone goes into early retirement between the ages of 60 and 64, they'll be hit with a reduction of their monthly pension benefits that could reach 36 per cent.

The problem for McLean and many other people who retired with a disability is this penalty is also applied to them even if they were in one of the following situations:

These rules were put in place in 1997 by Lucien Bouchard's Parti Québécois (PQ) government. 

In 2020, McLean took his case to the Tribunal administratif du Québec (TAQ), a tribunal where people can challenge decisions made by provincial ministries and agencies as well as municipalities. 

Last July, the tribunal ruled that the financial penalty is discriminatory and violates the Charter-protected right to equality.

But the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government is appealing the decision to Quebec's Superior Court. 

"Our government is sensitive to the reality of people aged 60 or over who find themselves in a situation of disability," reads a statement from the office of Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard.

"However, the government chose to request an appeal for judicial review of the administrative tribunal of Quebec's decision, in particular, to clarify the applicable law."

The CAQ has also reduced the penalty for retirees with disabilities from 36 to 24 per cent, a small consolation for people who still feel wronged by their own government.