Steven Fletcher was a young professional working as a mining engineer in northern Manitoba, when an automobile collision with a moose in 1996 resulted in paralysis from the neck down. His long hospital stay and rehabilitation charted the course for political activism. He returned to the University of Manitoba to do his MBA at which time he was elected as president of the student union.
In 2004, Steven became the first person with quadriplegia to be elected as a federal Member of Parliament (Conservative). He was appointed as Health Critic. In 2006, Steven was re-elected as MP for Charleswood – St. James – Assiniboia (Winnipeg, MB). Currently, he serves as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health.
What does a Parliamentary Secretary do?
As Parliamentary Secretary for Health, I act as a liaison between the Minister and Parliament, the Health Committee and the public, and in the Minister's absence, I speak for the government on health matters in Question Period and to the media. I'm also involved with policy and legislation development and implementation.
What made you decide to run for public office?
It was more of an evolution than a decision! When I was 23, I had a life-changing accident when I hit a moose with my car. I was paralyzed from the neck down and I found myself on life support and fully conscious. I am able to speak and communicate, but can't move any part of my body.
In the 11 months I spent in hospital, I was exposed to the health care system close-up and saw some things that in my opinion could be improved. Also, as I started to recover, I was told that if I were to survive, things would be very bleak! When it was time for me to leave the hospital, I was asked, "Which long-term care or nursing facility would you like to go to?" Being a 23 year old, I thought – a nursing home? You've got to be kidding! But that was a very real outcome!
So, I began to advocate for myself. I wanted to try and live in the community,
and to make that possible, began my advocacy with hospital officials and bureaucrats
and then with MPIC (Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation). Over time, I found
that my advocacy activity on my own behalf was helping other people too, and
that certainly contributed to my interest in holding public office.
I also decided to use what I had left, which was from the neck up. So, I went
back to university and got a MBA, and was involved in politics there. Then I
got involved in provincial politics and was twice elected as president of the
Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, which led to federal politics. Now,
five years later, I am Parliamentary Secretary for Health in Ottawa.
"With
some pretty common sense planning, people with disabilities can really participate
in society."
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What does the term disability mean to you?
That depends on whom you talk to – there's a spectrum of disability. To me, it
often relates to the activities of daily living and one's ability to have a
normal life. In my case, because I'm completely paralyzed from the neck
down, I have an aide with me 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at home, at work,
wherever I go.
How you feel about your disability is relative like many other things in life. This is an extreme example but on that spectrum, take someone in my situation, paralyzed from the neck down. I want to be a "low level quad" where I can use my arms; a low level quad would like to be a "paraplegic" with use of his arms and hands; and a paraplegic would like to be fully "able-bodied". And there may be an able-bodied person with an invisible disability. So the point I'm making is that how these issues affect daily life varies dramatically, but they can all be defined as a disability.
[Editor's note: Paraplegia refers to paralysis affecting the lower limbs while quadriplegia affects all four limbs. Whether a person is considered a "low level quad" or "high level quad" depends on which cervical vertebrae are affected; lower down the spine usually means less paralysis and more use of the upper limbs (arms/hands).]
How does your own experience of disability inform your work?
Having spent a year in hospital looking at ceiling tiles and many years after that just trying to survive and not having the opportunity to contribute to society, the busier I am, the happier I am. I want to make up for lost time. I wouldn't have appreciated the value of healthy living as much if I had not had my accident.
I am also able to empathize with many different groups of people. I don't know if I would be able to do that as effectively if I had not had my accident.
Finally, I have first-hand knowledge about the health care system. I mean – I've lived through it! I hope to do whatever I can to make the system better.
What do you see as the top issue for people living with disabilities in Canada?
Tackling the taboos! By that I mean raising awareness and understanding that
people with disabilities are all people with feelings like everyone else. In
our society, even in Hollywood movies, people with disabilities are often portrayed
as sinister – you know like the guy in the wheelchair with the cat in
the James Bond movies, Blofeld – he was the villain!
One of the interesting things about being elected as an MP was that when I got to Ottawa, I was struck with how people didn't know how to react to me. They weren't used to seeing an aide with an MP, and when I said aide they assumed I meant political aide; not a health care aide. I was showing my parents around Parliament Hill (a proud moment), when a Senator came over to congratulate me on my win. He patted me on the head and talked to my parents!! He didn't mean anything wrong, but he just didn't know how to react.
From that experience and others like it, it struck me that people who are passing the laws haven't had much exposure to people with disabilities, and the people who are reporting on the laws haven't had much exposure to people with disabilities. Having said that, I think there is a great amount of good will. I'll admit that before my accident, I didn't give people with disabilities much thought and nor did I want to. So I am very empathetic to people's lack of understanding. But this really needs to change, and I believe that educating people about the realities of living with a disability will change attitudes and behaviours over time.
In terms of raising the profile of issues for people living with disabilities in Canada,
I think by demonstrating that I can participate fully in society at the highest level and do so in a competent, integrated and positive manner, without saying a single word about disability, is probably one of the best things I can do.
What do you think is the best way for society to support people with disabilities?
In addition to providing education that debunks myths about people with disabilities, I think we have to recognize that resources need to be provided and there may be an upfront cost, but that the payoff both monetarily but more importantly in the human sense, is a number approaching infinity.
With some pretty common sense planning, people with disabilities can really participate in society.
And a lot of the changes that help people living with disabilities actually enhance quality of life for others in the community. As I said before, there's a spectrum of what we term disability, and as our population gets older, we will notice that there is a lot of commonality between seniors and people with disabilities. Access to transportation and curb cuts, for example, are very simple things that can make a huge difference to both groups. So if we begin to look at society in a holistic sense, we find that a change to benefit one group of people can in fact benefit many people.
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This interview was conducted by the 
