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Category: Built Environment
In a Compelling Open Letter, 21 Disability Organizations Unite to Call on the Doug Ford Government to Announce a Plan to Implement the Report on Ontario's Disabilities Act Submitted by Former Lieutenant Governor David Onley Almost Six Months Ago
Posted on July 10, 2019 by admin in Built Environment, Enforcement, Letters to and from Ontario Government, New 2019, Public Money, What's New in Our Campaign
Today, 21 respected disability organizations and groups, reflecting a diverse spectrum of different disabilities, have united to send Ontario's Premier Doug Ford an open letter, set out below. It calls on the Ford Government to announce a plan to implement the final report by former Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley, of his Independent Review of the implementation and enforcement of Ontario's accessibility law, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
This issue is critical for over 1.9 million Ontarians who have a physical, mental, sensory, communication, intellectual, learning or other kind of disability and who still face far too many accessibility barriers in Ontario every day. the Ford Government received the Onley Report 160 days ago, on January 31, 2019. Yet it has not announced a plan to implement this report, even though Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho said that he'd read the report and that Mr. Onley did a "marvelous job".
In its last public statement on this issue known to us, the Government said it was still studying the report. Yet in sharp contrast, the Ontario Government has been known over the past year to act quickly in other areas it considers to be a priority.
The AODA Alliance led the preparation of this open letter, after the Ford Government used its majority in the Ontario Legislature on May 30, 2019 to defeat a reasonable and demonstrably non-partisan motion by NDP MPP Joel Harden that called on the Government to develop a plan to implement the Onley Report. Several MPPs from the Ford Government, including its Accessibility Minister Raymond Cho, disparaged taking the action recommended in that proposed motion as "red tape".
As detailed in the open letter, the Onley Report found that Ontario remains full of "soul-crushing barriers" impeding people with disabilities, and that action to implement and enforce the AODA has been too slow and weak. The Report made detailed recommendations, summarized at the end of the open letter.
The AODA Alliance invites other community organizations and groups to sign this open letter. An organization can be added to the list of signatories by emailing the AODA Alliance at [email protected]
This open letter is just the first part of a new AODA Alliance campaign to press the Ford Government to implement the Onley Report. Further opportunities for action will be unveiled soon, that will focus on what individuals can do to help this effort. Stay tuned for more on that front.
Open Letter to the Premier of Ontario
To: The Hon. Premier Doug Ford
Via Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Room 281, Legislative Building
M7A 1A1
Copy to: The Hon. Raymond Cho, Minister for Accessibility and Seniors
College Park 5th Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 1S5
Dear Premier Ford,
The undersigned community organizations and groups in Ontario are writing to call on the Ontario Government to announce a plan to implement the final report of former Lieutenant Governor David Onley's Independent Review of the implementation and enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
The AODA requires the Ontario Government to lead Ontario to become accessible to over 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities by 2025. Under the AODA, the Ontario Government is required to appoint an Independent Review of the effectiveness of the AODA's implementation and enforcement approximately every four years.
On January 31, 2019, Mr. Onley submitted his final report to the Ontario Government. On April 10, 2019, Ontario's Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho stated in the Legislature that Mr. Onley did a "marvelous job" and that Ontario is not one third the way to becoming accessible to people with disabilities. The Ontario Government has not announced a comprehensive plan to implement the Onley Report's findings and recommendations.
Based on public feedback, the Onley report found that the pace of change since 2005 for people with disabilities has been "glacial." With under six years left before 2025, the report found that "…the promised accessible Ontario is nowhere in sight." Progress on accessibility under this law has been "highly selective and barely detectable."
The Onley Report found "…this province is mostly inaccessible." The Onley report concluded:
"For most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers."
The Report in effect found that there has been a protracted, troubling lack of Government leadership on this issue, even though two prior Government-appointed AODA Independent Reviews called for renewed, strengthened Government leadership.
The Onley Report recommended that the AODA's implementation be substantially strengthened. Among other things, it recommended that the Government substantially strengthen AODA enforcement, create new accessibility standards including for barriers in the built environment, strengthen the existing AODA accessibility standards, ensure improved accessibility training for design professionals (like architects) and reform the Government's use of public money to ensure it is never used to create disability barriers. At the end of this Open Letter is the Onley Report's summary of its recommendations.
Mr. Doug Ford said in his May 15, 2018 letter to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance:
"Too many Ontarians with disabilities still face barriers when they try to get a job, ride public transit, get an education, use our healthcare system, buy goods or services, or eat in restaurants."
A plan of action is needed to address this. The undersigned organizations would welcome the opportunity to work with your Government on this.
DeafBlind Ontario Services)
Ontario Disability Coalition
Views for the Visually Impaired
Easter Seals Ontario
Inclusive Design Research Centre, Ontario College of Art and Design University
Centre for Independent Living in Toronto CILT
Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC)
Citizens With Disabilities – Ontario
David Onley AODA Independent Review Report SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Renew government leadership in implementing the AODA.
Take an all-of-government approach by making accessibility the responsibility of every ministry.
Ensure that public money is never used to create or maintain accessibility barriers.
Lead by example.
Coordinate Ontario's accessibility efforts with those of the federal government and other provinces.
Reduce the uncertainty surrounding basic concepts in the AODA.
Define "accessibility".
Clarify the AODA's relationship with the Human Rights Code.
Update the definition of "disability".
Foster cultural change to instill accessibility into the everyday thinking of Ontarians.
Conduct a sustained multi-faceted public education campaign on accessibility with a focus on its economic and social benefits in an aging society.
Build accessibility into the curriculum at every level of the educational system, from elementary school through college and university.
Include accessibility in professional training for architects and other design fields.
Direct the standards development committees for K-12 and Post-Secondary Education and for Health Care to resume work as soon as possible.
Revamp the Information and Communications standards to keep up with rapidly changing technology.
Assess the need for further standards and review the general provisions of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation.
Ensure that accessibility standards respond to the needs of people with environmental sensitivities.
Develop new comprehensive Built Environment accessibility standards through a process to:
Review and revise the 2013 Building Code amendments for new construction and major renovations
Review and revise the Design of Public Spaces standards
Create new standards for retrofitting buildings.
Provide tax incentives for accessibility retrofits to buildings.
Introduce financial incentives to improve accessibility in residential housing.
Offer substantial grants for home renovations to improve accessibility and make similar funds available to improve rental units.
Offer tax breaks to boost accessibility in new residential housing.
Reform the way public sector infrastructure projects are managed by Infrastructure Ontario to promote accessibility and prevent new barriers.
Enforce the AODA.
Establish a complaint mechanism for reporting AODA violations.
Raise the profile of AODA enforcement.
Deliver more responsive, authoritative and comprehensive support for AODA implementation.
Issue clear, in-depth guidelines interpreting accessibility standards.
Establish a provincewide centre or network of regional centres offering information, guidance, training and specialized advice on accessibility.
Create a comprehensive website that organizes and provides links to trusted resources on accessibility.
Confirm that expanded employment opportunities for people with disabilities remains a top government priority and take action to support this goal.
Fix a series of everyday problems that offend the dignity of people with disabilities or obstruct their participation in society.
The Ford Government Defeated a Proposed Resolution in the Legislature that Called for a Plan to Implement David Onley's Report on Strengthening the Implementation of Ontario's Disabilities Act – The Government Invoked False and Hurtful Stereotypes About the Disabilities Act, Unfairly Disparaging Its Implementation and Enforcement as "Red Tape"
Posted on June 11, 2019 by admin in Built Environment, employment, Enforcement, New 2019, Public Money, What's New in Our Campaign
On May 30, 2019, the Ford Government used its majority to defeat a resolution in the Ontario Legislature about Ontario's Disabilities Act, that was proposed by NDP MPP Joel Harden. Worded in measured terms that tracked Doug Ford's 2018 election pledges on disability accessibility, that resolution called on the Government to create a plan to implement the report of David Onley's Independent Review of the implementation and enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
The Ford Government's defeat of this resolution is a troubling setback for Ontarians with disabilities, as we explain in this Update. There have now been 132 days since former Lieutenant Governor David Onley submitted his final report on the need to substantially improve the AODA's implementation and enforcement. to the Ford Government. Yet the Government has not announced a plan of action to implement that report. As a result, Ontario keeps slipping further and further behind schedule for becoming accessible to Ontarians with disabilities by 2025, the AODA's deadline.
We will have more to say about this over the next days and weeks. We welcome your feedback and your suggestions of non-partisan actions we might take in response to it. Write us at [email protected]
The Harden Resolution and the Onley Report's Findings and Recommendations
Mr. Harden's proposed resolution read as follows:
The June 10, 2019 AODA Alliance Update showed that there were ample strong reasons for the Ford Government to support the resolution. Yet instead, the Ford Government voted against it. The opposition NDP, Liberals and Green Party all voted for the resolution. It is especially troubling that this resolution was defeated right in the middle of National Access Abilities Week.
Conservative Accessibility Minister Raymond Cho told the Legislature on April 10, 2019 that former Lieutenant Governor David Onley did a "marvelous job" in his report. The Onley report found that Ontario is "mostly inaccessible" to people with disabilities and that the pace of change in Ontario on accessibility since 2005 for people with disabilities has been "glacial." The report found that "…the promised accessible Ontario is nowhere in sight." It concluded that progress on accessibility under this law has been "highly selective and barely detectable."
The Onley report had damning things to say about years of the Ontario Government's AODA implementation and enforcement. He in effect found that there has been a protracted, troubling lack of Government leadership on this issue.
The Onley report recommended major new action to substantially strengthen and reform the Ontario Government's AODA implementation and enforcement. Among other things, he called for new accessibility standards to be enacted, and for existing ones to be strengthened. He urged strengthened AODA enforcement, and stronger Government leadership on accessibility. Among the measures he recommended are the four specific measures listed in Joel Harden's proposed resolution.
Why Did the Ford Government Oppose the Harden Resolution?
The Ford Government opposed MPP Harden's resolution in its entirety. The Government did not publicly propose any wording changes that would make the resolution acceptable to the Government.
The reasons which the Government gave in the Legislature for opposing MPP Harden's resolution are deeply troubling. They reflect a serious misunderstanding of the needs of 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities, of the AODA's mandatory legal requirements and of the Onley Report's findings and recommendations.
The Tories' speeches repeatedly invoked harmful and false stereotypes about the actions we need to achieve accessibility for people with disabilities and about accessibility legislation that thankfully have not been voiced at Queen's Park for some sixteen years. As explained further below, the PC MPPs' speeches give rise to a serious concern that the Government does not plan to fulfil its election commitments on accessibility, or its duties under the AODA. Doug Ford did not voice this disparaging attitude towards the AODA during the 2018 election campaign.
The PC MPPs' speeches read as if they were meant to make business owners, and especially small business owners, fear that the AODA is a terrible, unfair and massive burden on them, and that the PCs will defend them from this ogre. For example:
The Ford Government repeatedly claimed that the measures proposed in this resolution are merely wasteful, duplicative red tape that threaten to seriously harm businesses and impose high costs on them, with a particular emphasis on small business. This false claim revives old harmful stereotypes, akin to those which the former Conservative Government of Mike Harris propagated two decades ago. Ontario's PC Party had moved well past this in 2005, when it unanimously voted in support of passing the AODA, and brought motions to try to further strengthen it.
Achieving accessibility for 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities by effectively implementing the AODA is not red tape!
The Ford Government's response to this proposed resolution looks like an All-out attack on the AODA itself, and its core requirement to create and enforce accessibility standards to ensure that Ontario becomes accessible by 2025. the Government in effect took the position that no AODA Built Environment Accessibility Standard should ever be enacted under the AODA, because it might be duplicative of the Ontario Building Code and confusing. Yet a new Built Environment Accessibility Standard could be created while at the same time the Ontario Building Code can be modernized, so that they are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
The Ford Government wrongly claimed that implementing the David Onley Report, through such measures as creating a Built Environment Accessibility Standard and more effectively enforcing the AODA, would not help people with disabilities and would just create barriers for new economic opportunities. The Onley Report and our lived experience prove the Government wrong on this score.
The Government wrongly claimed that Mr. Harden's proposed resolution advocates for the Government to fine small businesses so as to drive them out of business. No one, not the Onley report, nor Mr. Harden's proposed resolution nor the AODA Alliance, is talking about fining small businesses so as to drive them out of business.
The Ford Government appeared to reject outright any improvement in the AODA's enforcement, which the Onley report found to be deficient and in need of strengthening, because there already is enforcement of the Ontario Building Code. Yet Building Code enforcement does not address barriers in customer service, employment, transportation, information and communication, or in existing buildings that are undergoing no major renovations. Moreover the Ontario Building Code's accessibility requirements are substantially deficient. Enforcing them does not ensure the accessibility of buildings.
The only new action on accessibility that the Ford Government pointed to in opposing Mr. Harden's proposed resolution was its diverting 1.3 million public dollars into the Rick Hansen Foundation's private accessibility certification process. We explained in The May 17, 2019 AODA Alliance Update that there are serious problems with the Government diverting public money into such a private accessibility certification process.
To justify its opposition to this proposed resolution, the Government pointed to a number of non-legislated strategies on accessibility which were in whole or in large part launched by the previous Liberal Government under Premier Kathleen Wynne. Simply relying on the insufficient strategies of the previous Liberal Government will not yield any better and faster progress on accessibility than the previous Government's poor record on AODA implementation and enforcement—a record which the Onley Report thoroughly documented and which the Ford Government itself has blasted.
At least some of the Ford Government's reasons for opposing MPP Harden's resolution fly in the face of Doug Ford's 2018 election pledges to Ontarians with disabilities on accessibility in his May 15, 2018 letter to the AODA Alliance. Those pledges are spelled out below and in the June 10, 2019 AODA Alliance Update.
The Ford Government gave no reasons for opposing the proposed resolution's call for a plan to stop public money from again being used to create new disability barriers. To allow public money to be used to create new accessibility barriers is to mismanage public money. The Ford Government's "brand" has been to claim that it is far superior at managing public money than previous governments.
The Ford Government gave no reasons for opposing the creation of a plan to ensure that design professionals (like architects) receive better accessibility training. Yet, Doug Ford's May 15, 2018 letter to the AODA Alliance recognized
" We need Ontario's design professionals, such as architects, to receive substantially improved professional training on disability and accessibility."
Below we set out:
* Our comments on key statements which Progressive Conservative MPPs made in the Legislature in opposition to Mr. Harden's proposed resolution.
* MPP Harden's May 30, 2019 news release, issued after the Government defeated his proposed resolution.
* The full text of the debate in the Legislature over MPP Harden's proposed resolution on May, 30, 2019, as well as the list of how each MPP voted on this resolution.
* The Onley Report's summary of its recommendations.
Our Detailed Comments on the Reasons Why the Ford Government Voted to Defeat NDP MPP Joel Harden's May 30, 2019 Resolution
Here are a series of the key statements in the Ontario Legislature on May 30, 2019 by PC MPPs in opposition to Joel Harden's AODA resolution. they are each followed by our comment on that statement.
Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho stated:
"I'm looking forward to discussing this motion because there's lots of work that needs to be done to tear down barriers in Ontario. We all agree on this.
David Onley's report talked about these barriers. He called them "soul-crushing barriers," and Mr. Onley was not the only one who pointed this out. Previous AODA reviews done by Charles Beer and Mayo Moran pointed out many of the same barriers. After 15 years of Liberal government and three reports, not enough progress has been made. In Mr. Onley's words, "Previous governments have promised much but delivered less than they should have.""
Our comment:
It is helpful that the minister and Government recognize that much more needs to be done. Thus the attention must focus on whether what the Government is doing about the AODA's implementation and enforcement.
2 Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho stated:
" We understand the good intention of this motion, but these solutions lead to more duplication, red tape and high costs for business. One of the barriers that Mr. Onley talks about is a lack of economic opportunities for Ontarians with disabilities. So while we are making Ontario more accessible, we have to proceed carefully. We do not want to put unnecessary red tape and regulations on business. This will actually harm people with disabilities who are seeking employment by limiting their economic opportunities. To put this in perspective, the employment rate for people with disabilities in Ontario is only 58%, compared to 81% for those without disabilities."
This deeply troubling statement appears to summarize the Ford Government's overall strategy for the AODA's implementation and enforcement. It is replete with seriously incorrect claims. It is not the position on accessibility that the PC's communicated to us and the public during the 2018 Ontario election.
It is incorrect for the Ford Government to claim that to create a plan to implement the Onley report would " lead to more duplication, red tape and high costs for business." Ensuring that public money is never again used to create new disability barriers does not "lead to more duplication, red tape and high costs for business." Ensuring that design professionals like architects get proper training on accessibility does not "lead to more duplication, red tape and high costs for business." Creating effective accessibility standards to ensure the accessibility standards of the built environment does not "lead to more duplication, red tape and high costs for business".
For the Government to effectively implement the AODA would help businesses make more money. Accessibility gets them access to a larger customer base and a larger pool of prospective competitive employees.
The Government's claim, particularly in the context of the built environment, flies in the face of Doug Ford's May 15, 2018 letter to the AODA Alliance , where he set out the PC Party's 2018 election pledges on disability accessibility. In that letter, he said, among other things:
"Whether addressing standards for public housing, health care, employment or education, our goal when passing the AODA in 2005 was to help remove the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating more fully in their communities."
"This is why we're disappointed the current government has not kept its promise with respect to accessibility standards. An Ontario PC government is committed to working with the AODA Alliance to address implementation and enforcement issues when it comes to these standards."
"Ontario needs a clear strategy to address AODA standards and the Ontario Building Code's accessibility provisions. We need Ontario's design professionals, such as architects, to receive substantially improved professional training on disability and accessibility."
Ontario's Accessibility Minister is responsible to lead the AODA's implementation and enforcement. He or she is supposed to be a strong advocate for people with disabilities at the Cabinet table. For Ontario's Accessibility Minister Cho to condemn these core recommendations in the Onley Report as "red tape and high costs for business" is to venture into some of the most harmful and false stereotypes about the implementation and enforcement of accessibility legislation such as the AODA that we have faced in many years.
The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party voted unanimously to pass the AODA in 2005. That law requires the Ontario Government to enact and enforce all the accessibility standards needed to ensure that Ontario becomes accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. The AODA explicitly includes "buildings" among the things that must become accessible. The minister's statement here and during the rest of this debate, as well as those of other PC MPPs, read like a virtual repudiation of the AODA as "red tape".
"Another issue is that of AODA enforcement. In Ontario, there are about 400,000 organizations that are required to comply with the AODA, including small businesses, large businesses, non-profits and governments. When we audit those that are not meeting the AODA requirements, we have found that an extraordinarily high number, about 96%, voluntarily comply once they learn what their obligations are. Isn't it better that we achieve compliance by reaching out and working with businesses and organizations rather than fining small businesses and driving them out of business?"
Again, the minister voiced inaccurate and harmful stereotypes about the AODA and accessibility for people with disabilities. No one, not the Onley report, not Mr. Harden's proposed resolution nor the AODA Alliance, ever talks about fining small businesses so as to drive them out of business.
From disclosures we have extracted from the Ontario Government over the past several years, we know that a very small number of the obligated organizations have been subject to any AODA audits. The vast majority of obligated organizations are not audited at all.
Any audits have been quite minimal. The AODA "audits" have only been paper audits, with only one exception that we know of. In a paper audit, the Government only inspects the records or files that the obligated organization has kept on its AODA compliance. In those cases, the Government did not go to the organization's premises to inspect it or find out if the claims about AODA compliance in the organization's paper records are factual.
In the 14 years that the AODA has been on the books, a miniscule number of monetary penalties have been imposed. The previous Government knew of rampant AODA violations for over five years. Yet, the AODA Alliance revealed last year that in 2015, 2016 and 2017 combined, for the thousands of private sector organizations known to have violated this legislation, the Government only imposed a total of five monetary penalties. That's an average of less than two monetary penalties in each of those years.
Moreover, there is absolutely no evidence that any of those penalties were imposed on small businesses. There is no evidence that any of those penalties were so large that they threatened to drive any small business out of business. Indeed, under the AODA regulations that the former Wynne and McGuinty Governments passed on AODA enforcement, the formula for calculating the monetary penalty of a first violator tends to be small e.g. in the hundreds of dollars. There is no public evidence from any of the many Government records that we have unearthed, typically relying on Freedom of Information applications, that the Ontario Government ever imposed any monetary penalties that were larger than that.
Accessibility Minister Cho stated:
"Since I received the report, my ministry staff have been working across government and with stakeholders to address many of his concerns. Some of his recommendations, like restarting the SDCs, were an opportunity to take action quickly, but other concerns needed greater consideration and consultation to properly address. As the minister, it's my duty to ensure that we take the appropriate time to carefully consider his recommendations."
By the time of this debate in the Legislature, the Government had four months to consult on the Onley report. Moreover, the Onley report was itself the product of a province-wide consultation process. As such, there can be no excuse for the further Government delay that the minister here signalled, based on yet more consultations.
The minister said that the Government acted "quickly" on the Onley report's recommendation to resume the work of the AODA Education and Health Care Standards Development Committees. These had been frozen for nine months after the Ford Government was elected. We had been pressing the Government throughout those nine months to end that unjustified freeze on the work of those Standards Development Committees.
Making matters worse, some four months after the Government received Mr. Onley's report (recommending that that freeze be lifted) and well over two months after the Government said it would lift that freeze, the Government has still not scheduled meetings of those AODA Standards Development Committees to resume their work. That is not moving "quickly."
PC MPP Rudy Cuzzetto stated:
"As the minister has already noted, this is not the time to introduce more regulations and more red tape that will just create barriers for new economic opportunities. As David Onley himself said in his report, "the most well-intended rules and regulations sometimes do not get it entirely right.""
This is a second PC MPP who levelled the false and unfair accusation that any effort to improve Ontario's accessibility standards should be rejected as "more regulations and more red tape that will just create barriers for new economic opportunities."
This MPP did not give a fair and accurate account of what the David Onley report said about the need for more and better accessibility standards to be enacted under the AODA. He made it sound like the Onley report somehow supported the PCs' claim that improving accessibility standards would amount to " more regulations and more red tape that will just create barriers for new economic opportunities."
The Onley Report said or implied no such thing. To the contrary, Mr. Onley explicitly recognized the need for more accessibility standards. For example, he echoed our call for the Government to resume the development of new accessibility standards in the areas of education and health care. He called for new and stronger regulatory measures to address disability barriers in the built environment. Mr. Harden's proposed resolution explicitly referred to the latter.
The Onley Report fully recognized the need for improved and sufficient AODA accessibility standards, and for having them effectively enforced. He added that they alone are not sufficient and that more is needed. With that, we also agree.
In the sentence from the Onley report which the MPP quoted out of context, Mr. Onley stated in effect that some accessibility standards may be inadequately written. He stated:
"Another fact of life is that the most well-intended rules and regulations sometimes do not get it entirely right. Examples were cited in the consultations, as noted earlier – from even the best building codes that leave much to interpretation, to power door buttons that some people using wheelchairs cannot push."
"As recognized by Mr. Onley, the built environment continues to be challenging for people with disabilities and for seniors. Our government is taking action on building the environment.
Just last week on May 23, the minister announced that we are partnering with the Rick Hansen Foundation to launch the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification program in communities across Ontario. Speaker, the Rick Hansen Foundation is a trusted partner with expertise in this field. With $1.3 million invested over two years, this program will prepare accessibility ratings of businesses and public buildings, and determine the best way to remove barriers for people with disabilities.
Our investment will see ratings done in approximately 250 buildings across Ontario. This program will complement the work we're doing to reach out and work with businesses and organizations across Ontario, to ensure that they are understanding how they can make their businesses more accessible, and how to comply with the AODA."
The only new action on accessibility that the Ford Government pointed to in opposing Mr. Harden's proposed resolution was its spending 1.3 million public dollars over the next two years in the Rick Hansen private accessibility certification process. We explained in The May 17, 2019 AODA Alliance Update that there are serious problems with the Government diverting public money into a private accessibility certification process, such as the one operated by the Rick Hansen Foundation. The Toronto Star's May 27, 2019 editorial echoes some of the concerns we've raised.
The Ford Government knew that we are deeply opposed to investing public funds in a private accessibility certification process before it chose to divert public money into that process. It is no substitute for modernizing and effectively enforcing Ontario's deficient and outdated laws governing the accessibility of buildings. Leaving it to an unaccountable and unelected private accessibility certification process to decide what our standard should be for the accessibility of buildings is no solution.
"To remove barriers on employment, our Employers' Partnership Table is working to support and create new job opportunities for people with disabilities. The table includes 17 members, representing a range of small, medium and large businesses across Ontario. They're now working on developing sector-specific business cases—to hire people with disabilities—that will be shared with businesses across Ontario, to help them see the benefits of employing people with disabilities.
About 50% of people with disabilities have a post-secondary education, yet unemployment remains very high in this community. Even though employers are finding that hiring people with disabilities improves the bottom line and increases productivity, much more work needs to be done to raise awareness. A single step can be a barrier for people with certain disabilities, but so is not having a job when you are ready and willing to work.
Our government will also continue to outreach with people with disabilities, and consult with non-profits and industry groups on how to improve accessibility in Ontario. We will continue to consult with businesses and business associations through the Employers' Partnership Table."
There appears to be nothing new here. The Ford Government's stated solution to the serious problem of chronic unemployment facing people with disabilities in Ontario is the same strategy that the previous Wynne Liberal Government had been proclaiming for years. This included claiming to bring to employers the positive business case for hiring people with disabilities, and operating a Partnership Council of employers. The previous Wynne Government had been operating two successive Partnership Councils of employers since 2014. Indeed, The Ford Government's statement here sounds very similar to what the Liberal minister responsible for the AODA, Brad Duguid, was saying four years ago on this topic.
Chronic high unemployment facing people with disabilities continues to persist. The previous Government's approach has proven itself to be entirely insufficient. The Onley report documented the serious barriers that still face people with disabilities in Ontario, including in employment.
Minister Cho has elsewhere rightly blasted the former Liberal Government for doing a poor job on accessibility. Yet the Ford Government is just carrying on in the employment context with the previous Government 's same approach.
The Ford Government here and elsewhere during this debate seemed to focus much of its talk and intended effort on "raising awareness on accessibility. We and others, and the Onley Report itself, have shown time and again that this alone is no solution for the problem of recurring disability barriers in our society, which the Onley Report described as "soul-crushing".
Indeed, during Mr. Onley's May 1, 2019 presentation to the Senate's Standing Committee that held hearings on Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act, he convincingly explained how he used to feel that this kind of strategy was sufficient. However, after hearing from people with disabilities during his public hearings in preparation for his report to the Ontario Government, he came to realize that it is not sufficient.
Moreover, the strategy of "raising awareness" was one which the Previous Conservative Ontario Government of Premier Mike Harris proclaimed as its core strategy on accessibility for people with disabilities from 1995 to 2003. That strategy was a failure. That is why Ontario needed the enactment of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act in 2005. In 2005, the Conservative caucus, then in opposition, unanimously supported that legislation.
We therefore need the AODA to be effectively implemented and enforced. That requires much more than "raising awareness."
PC MPP Natalia Kusendova said:
"The challenge with this motion is that it is looking to create more duplication, more red tape and confusion around the built environment. Mr. Onley spoke about the need to take action on the built environment to improve accessibility, and we recognize this."
This is the third PC speaker who opposed Mr. Harden's proposed resolution by repeating the false claim that it calls for "more duplication" and "more red tape". This is made worse by this MPP's further false claim that the resolution is calling for creating "confusion around the built environment."
Right now, there is serious confusion around the built environment. Too many architects, other design professionals, businesses and government officials wrongly think that if they comply with the current highly-deficient accessibility provisions in the Ontario Building Code, they have therefore created a building that is accessible to people with disabilities. Yet we have shown the public, including the Ford Government, that complying with the Ontario Building Code and weak AODA standards does not assure accessibility at all.
For example, our three widely-viewed online videos on accessibility problems in new buildings prove that we need to enact new, stronger laws on the accessibility of the built environment and to improve the training of design professionals. These are two core actions that the Onley report recommended and that Mr. Harden's proposed resolution addressed. Check out:
The AODA Alliance's May 2018 online video showing serious accessibility problems at new and recently-renovated Toronto area public transit stations, available at https://www.aodaalliance.org/whats-new/news-release-grassroots-disability-coalitions-powerful-new-video-shows-serious-accessibility-problems-at-new-and-recently-renovated-public-transit-stations-in-toronto-as-the-future-of-accessibilit/
The AODA Alliance's October 2017 video showing serious accessibility problems at the new Ryerson University Student Learning Centre, available at https://www.aodaalliance.org/whats-new/news-release-grassroots-disability-coalitions-powerful-new-video-shows-serious-accessibility-problems-at-new-and-recently-renovated-public-transit-stations-in-toronto-as-the-future-of-accessibilit/
The AODA Alliance's November 2016 video showing serious accessibility problems at the new Centennial College Culinary Arts Centre, available at https://www.aodaalliance.org/whats-new/news-release-grassroots-disability-coalitions-powerful-new-video-shows-serious-accessibility-problems-at-new-and-recently-renovated-public-transit-stations-in-toronto-as-the-future-of-accessibilit/
"David Onley's report calls for action on the built environment. He notes that reviewing the building code is required. When it comes to this motion, calling for a built environment standard just simply doesn't make sense. It will create duplication with the Ontario Building Code and cause red tape and confusion."
Speaking for the Government, this PC MPP in effect took the position that no Built Environment Accessibility Standard can ever be enacted under the AODA, no matter what it might contain. This is because a Built Environment Accessibility Standard might be duplicative of the Ontario Building Code.
This is wrong. A Built Environment Accessibility Standard can be designed that is complementary to the Ontario Building Code and that creates no such problems for those who are building or renovating buildings.
Moreover, this flies in the face of the position of the Ontario Conservative Party itself. As we noted earlier, in 2005, the Ontario PC Party unanimously voted for the AODA. Its stated purpose is to achieve accessibility in Ontario by 2025, including accessibility in "buildings". It does so through the enactment and enforcement of accessibility standards. Yet this MPP seems to entirely repudiate that role for the AODA in the context of buildings.
A properly-designed Built Environment Accessibility Standard would not create "red tape and confusion." A new Built Environment Accessibility Standard could be created while the Ontario Building Code can be modernized, so that they are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
This MPP has never spoken to the AODA Alliance about this, before deciding to publicly reject and disparage the entire idea of an AODA Built Environment Accessibility Standard. That flies in the face of Doug Ford's written election pledge in his May 15, 2018 letter to the AODA Alliance as follows:
"Building a strong, open dialogue with your organization is most certainly a priority for our party. We encourage you to continue this dialogue and share your ideas and solutions for Ontarians with disabilities."
"Ironically, this motion also calls for greater enforcement of the AODA. When it comes to the issue of enforcement, the Ontario Building Code is as highly enforceable as it gets. Municipal inspectors across the province are already doing this important work, so on the issue of accessibility in the built environment, the building code is the most effective tool that we can use."
This PC MPP seems in effect to claim that there is no need for improved AODA enforcement. Yet the Onley Report called for strengthened AODA enforcement, as has the AODA Alliance.
This PC MPP spoke as if the only accessibility enforcement needed is for the built environment. This disregards three important facts:
First, as we mentioned earlier, the Ontario Building Code accessibility provisions are woefully inadequate. To enforce those is to permit new buildings to be built that are replete with accessibility problems.
Second, the enforcement process for the Ontario Building Code, which the MPP points to as our total solution, does not enforce any of the built environment accessibility requirements that any AODA accessibility standards impose.
Third, AODA accessibility standards that require better enforcement relate to many other kinds of accessibility barriers, and not just requirements for the accessibility of the built environment. The Ontario Building Code enforcement does not enforce any requirements for accessibility in customer service, employment, transportation and information and communication. With great respect, it appears that this MPP knows very little about the AODA, or how it is now working, or about the Onley report.
"We partnered with OCAD University's Inclusive Design Research Centre to develop Our Doors Are Open: Guide for Accessible Congregations, which was shared and highlighted at the 2018 Parliament of the World's Religions conference. This guide offers simple, creative ideas for different faith communities in our province to increase accessibility during worship services and community events.
We also support some of these partners through a program called EnAbling Change. Some recent examples of EnAbling Change projects include a resource guide produced by the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association called The Business of Accessibility: How to Make Your Main Street Business Accessibility Smart. The guide gives helpful tips for businesses on how to become more inclusive and accessible.
We also partnered with the Conference Board of Canada to develop Making Your Business Accessible for People with Disabilities, which is a guide that helps small businesses employ and serve people with disabilities."
Once again, the Ford Government seems to be relying on, if not claiming credit for initiatives that were largely if not entirely started under the previous Liberal Government. For example, the "enabling Change" program to which this MPP refers has been around for many years. This is not the new action for which the Onley report called.
May 30, 2019 News Release by NDP Accessibility Critic Joel Harden
Defeating accessibility motion is an insult to people with disabilities: NDP Accessibility Critic
QUEEN'S Park – NDP MPP Joel Harden, the Official Opposition critic for Accessibility and Persons with Disabilities, released the following statement in response to the Ford government defeating his motion to take action on accessibility:
"I'm deeply disappointed that Doug Ford's MPPs voted down our motion calling on the government to release an accessibility action plan, and implement key recommendations from David C. Onley's third review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The message this sends to 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities is that their human rights are not a priority for this government. Eliminating barriers is not 'red tape' as the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility and other PC MPPs shamefully said, it's about ensuring that people with disabilities enjoy the same opportunities as able bodied citizens. People with disabilities deserve so much better than this. Ontario's New Democrats will keep fighting for a fully accessible Ontario where no one is excluded."
Ontario Hansard May 30, 2019
Private Members' Public Business
Accessibility for persons with disabilities
Mr. Joel Harden: I'd like to move the following motion before the House, motion 68, that, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should release a plan of action on accessibility in response to David Onley's review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act that includes, but is not limited to, a commitment to implement new standards for the built environment, stronger enforcement of the act, accessibility training for design professionals, and an assurance that public money is never again used to create new accessibility barriers.
Interruption.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I'm going to ask our visitors to refrain from clapping or making any comment or any noise. We're delighted to have you here, but we need to allow the members to debate.
Mr. Harden has moved private member's notice of motion number 68. Pursuant to standing order 98, the member has 12 minutes for his presentation.
Once again, I recognize the member for Ottawa Centre.
Mr. Joel Harden: I want to thank my friends in the accessibility gallery and I want to thank my friends in the members' gallery and the folks in the public gallery who have come here today.
There are a few people I want to acknowledge, Speaker, off the top, because I wouldn't be doing my job as a critic if our office didn't take the time over the last number of months to meet with people with lived experience, and people helping folks in the field. I want to acknowledge Anne Mason, Sherry Caldwell, Ashley Caldwell, Carol-Ann Schafer, Richard Aubrey, Peter Vambe, Gerry Boily, Michele Gardner, Farrah Sattaur, Ryan Hooey, Rahima Mulla, Sinead Zalitach, Kirsten Doyle, Lark Barker, David Zivot and their son Sandino Campos. If I've missed anybody—Emily, we acknowledged you and your power earlier. Thank you for coming again. Thank you all for being here; thank you indeed.
Interjections.
Mr. Joel Harden: We get to clap for you this time.
Speaker, with your indulgence, I'd like to begin with a gesture of unanimous consent. One of the first things that happened to me was that the great David Lepofsky and Thea Kurdi gave me a t-shirt. I know the rules of the House are such that for a t-shirt with lettering on it, we need to ask for unanimous consent to wear it. It reads, "Disability justice is love." I'd like to wear this as I make my remarks.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa Centre is seeking unanimous consent of the House to wear a t-shirt while he makes his presentation. Agreed? Agreed.
Mr. Joel Harden: I wore an extra t-shirt just in case. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Thank you, David, and thank you, Thea, for the t-shirt.
I begin wanting to wear this shirt because one of the people who got me started in politics was Jack Layton. Some of his closing words to Canadians before Jack died were: "Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." I think that's a fitting note on which to begin, Speaker, captured, I think, by the shirt David and Thea gave to me, because, as I think about what's before us, given David Onley's report—according to Mr. Onley, we're about 30% of the way there to having a truly accessible province with a lot of row to hoe and a lot of barriers that remain.
Minister Cho has mentioned this quotation in the House, and I'll mention it again too. I think it's a powerful one from Mr. Onley's report. Mr. Onley wrote, "Every day, in every community in Ontario, people with disabilities encounter formidable barriers to participation in the vast opportunities this province affords its residents—its able-bodied residents…. For most disabled persons," however, "Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers." That captures succinctly what I've heard from friends who have lived experience and what, quite frankly, people with disabilities are looking to this Legislature to do, and that's to act with some urgency.
The Onley report is a call to action like recent climate change reports, quite frankly, are a call to action. What we know is that right now, 1.9 million people in the province of Ontario have a disability of one kind or another, and attached to them are families, loved ones and friends. So I would like to say, as the critic for people with disabilities in this building, that this isn't just an issue for anyone; this is an issue for all of us. So far as we maintain services, building infrastructure, anything in this province which discriminates against anyone, it's a human rights matter.
As one person who deputed to a town hall we hosted earlier in April said, "Each and every one of us is one incident away from disability or trauma that requires physical or mental health supports." We also, Speaker, live in an aging society. In an aging society, we need now to be foreseeing the challenges that we have to have met in order to accommodate that aging society.
I want to talk, for the remainder of my time, about what I've heard directly from folks with disabilities who have been so gracious as to inform me, our office and our party about what they believe needs to be done. I want to talk about Blaine Cameron, from back home—hi, Blaine. Blaine is in the chapter of Ottawa ACORN. ACORN is an organization that fights for poor people in this province, in this country and indeed around the world. One of my favourite experiences with Blaine was street canvassing and farmers' market canvassing. Blaine lives in a scooter—lives in a powered wheelchair. What I found increasingly evident to me, every time I went out with Blaine—because he is easily, and I'm sorry for picking favourites, friends in Ottawa, the most charismatic canvasser we have back home—is that he is unable to go door to door because of the built infrastructure of our city in Ottawa. But he kills at farmers' markets, Mr. Speaker. The man cannot keep leaflets in his hands. The man gets donations in person constantly because of how powerfully he describes the need for social and economic justice. And what the people of Ottawa are missing, Speaker, given our built infrastructure, is the chance to see Blaine at the door doing what he does best: talking justice and talking fairness. We're missing out on that because of the way in which Ottawa is designed and the way in which our province is designed.
I want to talk about Rahima Mulla, whom I met in the hall yesterday and whom we've interacted with before. I know that members in the government caucus have met with Rahima. She doesn't get to come here very often to Queen's Park, Speaker, because there are not always appropriate accessible parking spaces for her. She finds—as I've talked to some of my friends up in the accessibility gallery—the narrow runway up there to be very tricky to negotiate. That's work we have to do, quite frankly, in this building.
I want to talk about Neil, whom I met a number of days ago, earlier this week, a lovely gentleman who came in with a walker. Neil asked me to walk him into the members' gallery over there and confided to me as we were walking up the aisle that he really didn't feel it was appropriate that there were stairs in front of the members' gallery on the floor. He looked forward to a day when people with accessibility needs could be seated on the floor, like when the great Steven Fletcher, a member of the federal Conservative caucus, took his place in the House of Commons, as a person who lives in a wheelchair, on the floor. I look forward to the way in which we can make this building more open so that can happen.
I also want to talk about what we've learned in the last number of months from people who have episodic disabilities, Speaker, or what some might call hidden disabilities. I want to talk about Shanthiya Baheerathan, who shared a podium with me earlier this week as she talked about, as a student, what it was like for her to seek accommodation at Ryerson University for her learning disabilities and how difficult it was to self-advocate in an institution which—my experience with Ryerson as an able-bodied person has been quite good, when I've been faculty and visiting and running programs there. But the daily struggle to prove her disability because of the nature in which it fluctuates was extremely difficult for her.
Odelia Bay, who is a scholar at Osgoode Hall Law School who has also been here and has testified before the town hall we held earlier in April, has said the same thing: that we need to have an expanded concept of what disabilities are.
Other folks I've met in the time that I've had here—and it's thanks to MPP Andrea Khanjin from Barrie–Innisfil, who hosted a reception for people from sickle cell Ontario. Sickle cell disease is something that not enough of us are aware of, Speaker. It is, to sight, an invisible disease. But what I've been very saddened to learn, particularly for members of Black and Brown racialized communities, is that when they admit themselves to emergency rooms in great trauma, suffering incredible pain, which is hard for most people to understand, as it has been explained to me, sometimes they're treated with suspicion upon admission.
I'm not impugning the motives of any of our health care professionals. I love them. I'm married to one. I love the work they do. But the reality of people living with sickle cell disease is such that the University Health researchers in this great city of Toronto have begun to do epidemiological studies to figure out why it is that people are treated differently when they contact their primary health care system when they have black or brown skin. In the most sad of cases, we've had people suffer fatalities or serious injuries because they haven't been able to get the health care they need.
Speaker, I look forward to the debate on this motion. I think it's an opportunity for us as a Legislature to say, yes, we're ready. We're ready to act on Mr. Onley's report. I salute the fact that the minister has spoken with urgency on the need of work to be done in this place, and I'm here to support you in that work, but what I like about the motion that I proposed for our consideration today is that it tells us: Actually, let's set some timelines. Let's set some goals. Let's require of people who are being trained to design our public infrastructure in our buildings that they should never again do that in a way that discriminates against people with disabilities.
Thank you, Thea, and thank you, David Lepofsky, and thank you, folks who are here with us today, for all of your advice in that regard. And never let any child feel in this province ever again that their learning doesn't matter to us. Yes, I'm looking at Lark Barker over there, who advocates for dyslexia, people who have stood by children who have felt humiliated as they tried to advance in the public education system, and you've been there for them.
As a province, we need to generalize that right across the board. We need to be there for brain-injured people. We need to be there for everybody who deserves what, quite frankly, socialism means for me: an equal-opportunity society where everybody has the chance to develop themselves to their utmost ability and contribute to this wonderful society in which we live. That's the just society that I first saw embodied in heroes of mine like Jack Layton, Libby Davies, Olivia Chow and others.
When it comes to advocating for people with disabilities, that is something we are perfectly poised to do.
Interjection.
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): The member from York Centre will come to order.
Mr. Joel Harden: On a closing note, because I know the member who was just heckling is a Raptors fan just like myself, on a note of levity, I would invite the government to consider a potential revenue source for you to fund a serious accessibility reserve. We know tonight is game one of the NBA finals. We know, unfortunately, that at the moment, businesses can deduct 50% of the cost of tickets against their business income. I've got a PhD in political economy, so I ran some numbers, given what people are assessing the cost of tickets to be. What that leads me to believe, Speaker, is that tonight, as we celebrate Canada's team, about $45 million is being taken out of provincial coffers in write-offs.
Here's what I would propose to the minister or to the government. I will happily put on a tie, look respectable and go with you to any employer in this province and ask them, "Do you need that business write-off, or do we need that money to make sure that we can make every building in this province accessible, for our health care, our education, our transportation services, and so that this place is open and accessible for people with disabilities?" That is a revenue source we could tap, and I'm here to help you make it happen.
Thanks for listening. I look forward to the debate.
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further debate?
Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: Madam Speaker, I would also like to warmly welcome all the visitors in the Speaker's lounge. Welcome to Queen's Park.
David Onley's report talked about these barriers. He called them "soul-crushing barriers," and Mr. Onley was not the only one who pointed this out. Previous AODA reviews done by Charles Beer and Mayo Moran pointed out many of the same barriers. After 15 years of Liberal government and three reports, not enough progress has been made. In Mr. Onley's words, "Previous governments have promised much but delivered less than they should have." He also points out that while rules and regulations are crucial, what is also required to eliminate barriers is a change of heart.
We understand the good intention of this motion, but these solutions lead to more duplication, red tape and high costs for business. One of the barriers that Mr. Onley talks about is a lack of economic opportunities for Ontarians with disabilities. So while we are making Ontario more accessible, we have to proceed carefully. We do not want to put unnecessary red tape and regulations on business. This will actually harm people with disabilities who are seeking employment by limiting their economic opportunities. To put this in perspective, the employment rate for people with disabilities in Ontario is only 58%, compared to 81% for those without disabilities.
Madam Speaker, Mr. Onley delivered a thorough and thoughtful report about the barriers many Ontarians face. Since I received the report, my ministry staff have been working across government and with stakeholders to address many of his concerns. Some of his recommendations, like restarting the SDCs, were an opportunity to take action quickly, but other concerns needed greater consideration and consultation to properly address. As the minister, it's my duty to ensure that we take the appropriate time to carefully consider his recommendations.
Mr. Chris Glover: It's an honour to rise today. I'd like to begin my remarks by introducing almost 20 people from Spadina–Fort York and from the city of Toronto who have joined us to be part of this debate. I want to especially thank the MPP for Ottawa Centre, Joel Harden, for bringing forward this motion. I'll introduce the people who are here. We've got Paula Boutis, Heather Vickers-Wong, Madora Rana, Robert Boileau, Alicia Boileau, Mitchell Feinman, Erica Howard, Deborah Fletcher, Dante Wellington, Sherry Caldwell, Ashley Caldwell, Ipek Kabatas, Varla Anne Abrams, Tracy Schmitt—who is also known as "Unstoppable Tracy"—Kati Israel, Michau van Speyk.
I'd like to thank them all for joining us today. Could we give a round of applause to the people who've joined us for this debate?
Applause.
Mr. Chris Glover: When I became a school board trustee in 2010, I organized a group that was called the Special Education Forum, and for eight years we advocated for changes to the school system to make it more accessible. I want to thank the people who came to those meetings—and many of them are here in this room—because they taught me about what it's like, or gave some glimpse of what it's like, to be a person with disabilities. Some of the most important lessons I learned from some students. There were two students in particular, Terrence Bishundayal and Sarah Jama from Martingrove Collegiate, which is the most accessible high school in Etobicoke. They came one day and they talked about their day in that school.
Terrence pointed out something. He said that the nice thing about that school is that the corners in the corridors are cut at 45 degrees, which, when you're using an electric wheelchair, makes it much easier to see people coming from another direction so you avoid collisions. The other thing that he pointed out—and I had been a trustee for a few years at this time and I had never noticed it: The front door to that school was not accessible. There was a hot dog stand, and that hot dog vendor is legendary at Martingrove Collegiate. He said that sometimes he had to take his wheelchair down the grassy slope to get to the hot dog vendor, and it was hazardous. I went to the school the next day and I met him. He was sitting in his chair at the top of the steps, and there were snowbanks on either side, so he actually could not get down to the hot dog vendor, and so he had to get one of his friends to go down. This was the front entrance to the most accessible high school in Etobicoke. So we started advocating.
The other thing that I learned through that group and from the disability advocates I'd been working with is the amount of persistence it takes to make change. It took us four years to finally get an accessible ramp on the front entrance of that school, but finally it was done.
The other person who taught me a lot was Sarah Jama. She's the founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario. She taught me about something called universal design. Every Ontario should know this term, "universal design." Universal design means that when you're designing a building, you design it so that everybody can use it.
Just imagine, for example, if you built a building that only had women's washrooms and what that would mean for men who wanted to be employed, potentially, in that building. Where would they go? How would they possibly get employment in that building? So you've got to think. If you're building a building, you've got to make it for everybody, for anybody. Whether you're using a walker or wheelchair, or whether you're walking in, or whether you have a visual impairment or an auditory impairment, you've got to build a building that makes it possible for everybody to be there.
A big part of the problem that comes from not making our buildings with universal design is the unemployment rate. The employment rate among people with disabilities is only 55%, and it's shameful in this province that we have allowed this to go on. Part of the reason for that, a big part of the reason—and we had a discussion in the committee last week where we were talking about transit—is that our buildings are not accessible and our transit systems are not fully accessible. That's why it's so hard for people to get to work if you have disability.
So when we talk about constructing things, when we're building our subway infrastructure, our buses, we've got to make sure that people with disabilities are going to be able to get to work so that they can have employment and get all the benefits that come with employment, including a life that's not lived in poverty, the social network, all the things you need work for.
The other group that we've been working with over the years, the big issue that we've been focusing on at this disability advocacy group is employment. I mentioned that it's only 55% of people with disabilities; that drops to 26% of people with intellectual disabilities. And that is a real shame.
In Washington state, 87% of people with intellectual disabilities have paid employment versus 26% here in Ontario, which means that 60% of people with intellectual disabilities have the potential to work but we have not designed our society in order to invite them and to make our workplaces welcoming to them. So that's something we really need to focus on, because that's an incredible amount of potential that is being lost, and it's lives that are being disrupted and not being lived to their fullest extent, because of the way that we have designed our society.
Let's see. When the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility was talking about soul-crushing barriers, making inaccessible spaces, making inaccessible transit systems, making inaccessible buildings—these are some of those soul-crushing barriers. We may not think of it because we may not be affected by the design of the buildings that we're looking at, but I would invite all of the members in this House to please listen to people with disabilities. I've learned so much from listening to people like Terrence Bishundayal and Sarah Jama to understand what it means to have a universally designed society where everybody can reach their full potential.
I'm so thankful to the member from Ottawa Centre for bringing forward this motion. I'm absolutely going to support it and I hope the members opposite will support it as well.
Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: I'm proud to rise here today to speak to the motion of accessibility. As the minister has already noted, this is not the time to introduce more regulations and more red tape that will just create barriers for new economic opportunities. As David Onley himself said in his report, "the most well-intended rules and regulations sometimes do not get it entirely right."
I know that the minister is doing a great job working with stakeholders to chart the best path forward to improve accessibility in Ontario. As recognized by Mr. Onley, the built environment continues to be challenging for people with disabilities and for seniors. Our government is taking action on building the environment.
Our goal is to make Ontario open for business for everyone. This is meaningful work that is already under way to improve the lives of people with disabilities. To help businesses better understand the benefits of accessibility, the ministry has taken steps to begin to redesign their website, to make it a more comprehensive one-stop shop on accessibility for the public and businesses, as recommended by Mr. Onley in his report.
In addition to providing resources on accessibility requirements and regulations, we have posted accessibility resources for businesses, to help them understand the benefits of accessibility and break down barriers for people with disabilities.
A business that commits to accessibility sends a strong message that people with disabilities are welcome. For this reason, it is much more likely to attract people with disabilities and their families. This goes for any and all businesses in Ontario that are providing goods and services to the public.
Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: It is truly always an honour to rise in this Legislature on behalf of my constituents of London–Fanshawe. It brings me great pleasure today to speak in support of my colleague's bill, the member from Ottawa Centre's motion taking action on accessibility with regard to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act review by the Honourable David Onley, Ontario's 28th Lieutenant Governor. I had the honour of being in the Legislature when the Honourable David Onley was serving as Lieutenant Governor.
Back in 2005—and that was before I was here—all parties at the time in the Legislature unanimously supported the AODA Act. They actually said, "This is not a partisan issue. It's a non-partisan issue, and we're all on board. We all agree unanimously that this needs to happen, and it needs to happen by 2025."
Every three years, they appoint an independent reviewer of the progress of what has been going on, on this act. In 2017, Lieutenant Governor David Onley was appointed to review the act and report back on what was happening.
He did his homework. He went out and toured the province, and he spoke to people. Then he obviously came up with a conclusion on what was reported.
That's what we need to do. As many people said, we need to listen to the people who have lived experience with disabilities that are physical but also episodic or non-visual, and not only listen but actually take action. Really, 2025 is coming very quickly.
The next review that's going to happen is in 2020, and as far as I'm concerned, we are behind. I hear the member from the Conservative Party talking about how this is going to be more red tape and it's going to have barriers for more economic opportunities. In order to get to work, there has to be a pathway to get there, so therefore places have to be accessible. I'm sure that people who are capable of working want to go out and do their part; they want to feel valuable and contribute to society. But if you can't get to work because there are stairs and there's no elevator, you can't say, "You don't want to work." There has to be a logical process of how to get people to work, and first we need to make sure that places of work are all accessible. That makes sense.
I think that the member who spoke earlier has it reversed. This is not a red-tape bill. This is not making it harder for economic opportunities for Ontario. This is actually moving the bar forward to getting Ontario into a really positive economic opportunity for everyone. If we don't support this bill in the House today, I think we're sending a message to people that it's not a priority. We're saying, "You've got to get to work, and the government side has said that the best social program is a job." That's what they're saying, but then if you need that to happen, what do you logically believe you need to put in place, what metrics do you need in place, to bring out those outcomes? That's what they forget. Usually what they say doesn't sound good to me. They think it sounds good, but they don't have real steps on how to get there.
Put your money where your mouth is and start making things accessible so then you can have those opportunities for people who have disabilities to explore those jobs that they are so capable of doing and they so want. I hope this government is going to stop thinking so narrow-mindedly when it comes to what they think is best and actually listen to what people are telling them, and then act on that. You've done that in a few places when you've pulled back legislation. We know that you did that recently with land ambulance, public health and child care. This is your opportunity to do the right thing from the beginning, rather than backtracking. I hope they support this bill, Speaker.
Ms. Natalia Kusendova: Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this motion. The challenge with this motion is that it is looking to create more duplication, more red tape and confusion around the built environment. Mr. Onley spoke about the need to take action on the built environment to improve accessibility, and we recognize this.
We've taken real action through our $1.3-million partnership with the Rick Hansen building certification program, which will see us provide accessibility ratings of an estimated 250 buildings across Ontario. These ratings will not only certify buildings as being accessible, but it will provide a report with directions to buildings about how they can improve their accessibility. This is real action that we are taking now.
The Onley report highlights the importance of coordinating Ontario's accessibility efforts with those of the federal government. As announced in More Homes, More Choice: Ontario's Housing Supply Action Plan, the government will harmonize our building code with national codes to open new markets for manufacturers and to bring building costs down.
What we are really here to debate is creating a barrier-free Ontario, and a government cannot do this alone. This is why work on Mr. Onley's recommendations, along with other important initiatives, is ongoing. Our government is working closely with many partners to spread the word about the importance of accessibility.
As Mr. Onley recommended, we are working across ministries to inform a whole-of-government approach advancing accessibility. As part of this work, we are working with ministries to look at their policies, programs and services, and identify areas where we can work together to remove the barriers faced by Ontario's 2.6 million people with disabilities. Speaker, this government is committed to accessibility and improving employment prospects for people with disabilities—
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Thank you. I return to the member for Ottawa Centre, who has two minutes to reply.
Mr. Joel Harden: It's hard to know what to say. I had hoped that there would be some goodwill here and I leave out hope that we may have some support for this motion, a declaration of intent, Speaker, written not by me but written by David Onley in this report, written by experts with lived experience and who know what it's like to live in a province that is not accessible to them—not accessible to them.
When I hear words like "red tape," the hair on the back of my neck stands up because I think about people who can't get into hospitals, can't get into schools. I think about children who are being forbidden the opportunity to learn because our services and systems are not accessible to them. And what makes me even angrier, to be honest, although I am trying to be hopeful and optimistic today, is that we are presiding over a province where people tonight will write off $45 million in Raptors game expenses, and we as a province are fine with that. We're fine with that. Last week we announced $1.3 million in a partnership for people with disabilities, which is less, Speaker, than we pay this government's Premier's private lawyer, Gavin Tighe, in salary.
So what people with disabilities are being told is that they matter less than the corporate folks going to the Raptors game tonight, they matter less than the salary we give the lawyer serving the Premier of this province, and that when they ask for better, they are told they are ruining the economy and that it amounts to red tape. That is a really shameful moment for me in this place.
This motion commits us to action. I'm not allowed to ask for money from this government, but I am asking you, on behalf of my friends who are here today and all over this province, to get off the pot and act.
(Later that day in the Legislature after debate on other matters.)
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): We will deal first with ballot item number 73, standing in the name of Mr. Harden.
Mr. Harden has moved private member's notice of motion number 68. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.
All those in favour of the motion will please say "aye."
All those opposed to the motion will please say "nay."
In my opinion, the nays have it. We will deal with this vote after we have finished the other business.
(After votes on other matters.)
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): I'm actually going to seek direction from the table. Is it a five-minute bell right now? Okay.
Call in all the members. This will be a five-minute bell.
The division bells rang from 1531 to 1536.
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Mr. Harden has moved private member's notice of motion number 68. All those in favour, please rise and remain standing until recognized by the Clerk.
Ayes
Armstrong, Teresa J.
Begum, Doly
Bell, Jessica
Berns-McGown, Rima
Des Rosiers, Nathalie
Fife, Catherine
Fraser, John
Glover, Chris
Harden, Joel
Hassan, Faisal
Hatfield, Percy
Karpoche, Bhutila
Lindo, Laura Mae
Mamakwa, Sol
Mantha, Michael
Morrison, Suze
Natyshak, Taras
Rakocevic, Tom
Sattler, Peggy
Schreiner, Mike
Shaw, Sandy
Singh, Gurratan
Singh, Sara
Stiles, Marit
Tabuns, Peter
West, Jamie
Yarde, Kevin
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): All those opposed, please rise and remain standing until recognized by the Clerk.
Anand, Deepak
Baber, Roman
Babikian, Aris
Bethlenfalvy, Peter
Bouma, Will
Calandra, Paul
Cho, Raymond Sung Joon
Cho, Stan
Coe, Lorne
Cuzzetto, Rudy
Downey, Doug
Dunlop, Jill
Fedeli, Victor
Fee, Amy
Ghamari, Goldie
Gill, Parm
Harris, Mike
Hogarth, Christine
Jones, Sylvia
Kanapathi, Logan
Karahalios, Belinda C.
Ke, Vincent
Khanjin, Andrea
Kramp, Daryl
Kusendova, Natalia
Lecce, Stephen
Martin, Robin
Martow, Gila
McDonell, Jim
McKenna, Jane
Miller, Norman
Mulroney, Caroline
Oosterhoff, Sam
Pang, Billy
Parsa, Michael
Pettapiece, Randy
Phillips, Rod
Piccini, David
Rasheed, Kaleed
Roberts, Jeremy
Sabawy, Sheref
Sandhu, Amarjot
Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh
Skelly, Donna
Smith, Dave
Thanigasalam, Vijay
Thompson, Lisa M.
Tibollo, Michael A.
Triantafilopoulos, Effie J.
Wai, Daisy
The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 27; the nays are 52.
The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): I declare the motion lost.
Motion negatived.
Summary of the Recommendations of the David Onley AODA Independent Review
During National Access Abilities Week, Ontario NDP Accessibility Critic Joel Harden Presented a Proposed Resolution for Debate in the Legislature that Called On the Ford Government to Create a Plan to Implement the Report of David Onley's Independent Review of the Implementation and Enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act – There are Many Good Reasons Why the Ford Government Should Support this Proposed Resolution
Posted on June 10, 2019 by admin in Built Environment, Enforcement, Media, New 2019, Public Money, What's New in Our Campaign
A Commendable Effort to Advance the Goal of Accessibility for 1.9 Million Ontarians with Disabilities
Marking Canada's National Accessibility Abilities Week, Ontario NDP MPP and Accessibility Critic Joel Harden proposed a resolution in the Ontario Legislature for debate on Thursday May 30, 2019. The resolution called on the Government to come up with a plan to implement the report of David Onley's Government-appointed Independent Review of the implementation and enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The proposed resolution stated:
We appreciate MPP Harden's bringing forward this proposed resolution for debate in the Legislature. This is an important issue for over 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities.
The Onley report found that Ontario remains full of soul-crushing accessibility barriers. It concluded that Ontario is still mostly inaccessible to people with disabilities, and is not a place where people with disabilities can fully participate as equals. It recommended strong new action to substantially speed up progress in Ontario on accessibility, so that Ontario can reach the goal of full accessibility by 2025, the deadline which the AODA imposes.
Why the Ford Government Should Support MPP Joel Harden's Proposed Resolution
For several reasons, the Ford Government has every reason to find this proposed resolution agreeable, and to support it:
* Last December, Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho stated that the Government was awaiting the Onley Report before it decided how it would proceed in the area of disability accessibility. the Ford Government has now had the Onley Report in its hands since January 31, 2019, a total of 131 days. The Government has shown itself ready and willing to act decisively and very quickly on issues that it considers important.
* The Ford Government has been eager to show voters that it takes a different and better approach to governing Ontario than did the previous Government. The Onley Report shows that the former Government did a poor job of implementing and enforcing the AODA. The new Ford Government has an incentive to do a much better job at this.
* On April 10, 2019, Ontario's Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho said that David Onley did a "marvelous job" in this report. Speaking for the Ford Government in the Legislature, the minister acknowledged that Ontario is not yet even 30% along the way to becoming accessible.
* MPP Harden's proposed resolution in key ways tracks commitments that Doug Ford and the Ontario Conservatives made to Ontarians with disabilities during the 2018 Ontario general election. It is in line with the Ford Government's core messages:
In his May 15, 2018 letter to the AODA Alliance (set out below), spelling out the PC Party's election pledges on accessibility, Doug Ford committed that our issues regarding accessibility "are close to the hearts of our Ontario PC Caucus and Candidates."
In his May 15, 2018 letter, Doug Ford recognized:
The Onley Report reached the same conclusion.
The Onley Report found that Ontario is clearly not on schedule to become accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. In his May 15, 2018 letter, Doug Ford committed:
"Making Ontario fully accessible by 2025 is an important goal under the AODA and it's one that would be taken seriously by an Ontario PC government."
MPP Harden's proposed resolution calls for a new plan of action for improved enforcement of the AODA, as the Onley Report recommended. In his May 15, 2018 letter, Doug Ford committed:
"An Ontario PC government is committed to working with the AODA Alliance to address implementation and enforcement issues when it comes to these standards."
MPP Harden's proposed resolution calls for new accessibility standards in the area of the built environment and new accessibility training for design professionals (such as architects). The Onley Report showed the need for such actions. In his May 15, 2018 letter, Doug Ford pledged:
Mr. Harden's proposed resolution calls for a plan to ensure that public money is never used to create new disability barriers. The Ford Government has emphasized that it wants to ensure that public money is always used responsibly. In his May 15, 2018 letter to the AODA Alliance, Doug Ford promised a change from the " government mismanagement" of the previous Government. No one disputes that using public money to create new accessibility barriers is a form of "government mismanagement."
* Such resolutions in the Legislature are not legally binding. However, they can be viewed as a strong political statement. The Ford Government should not want to be seen as voting against so straightforward a resolution that is important to so many Ontarians, especially since it has repeatedly called itself the "Government for the People."
* The proposed resolution was worded in a neutral and tempered way. It gives the Government a great deal of flexibility on what it could include in a plan to implement the Onley Report, on what to include in an accessibility standard to address the built environment, on how to strengthen AODA enforcement, and on how to ensure that public money is no longer used to create new accessibility barriers. The resolution's wording neither states nor implies any criticism of the Government, nor any partisan arguments or claims against the Ford Government.
* When the Ontario Conservatives last formed a government in Ontario, under Premier Mike Harris, they voted for each of the three resolutions on proposed accessibility legislation that the opposition presented in the Legislature on behalf of the AODA Alliance's predecessor coalition, the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee. For a trip down memory lane, check out the text of the different resolutions which the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed on May 16, 1996, October 29, 1998 and November 23, 1999 regarding the need for accessibility legislation in Ontario.
What Happened in the Legislature on the Day Before It Was to Debate Joel Harden's Proposed Resolution?
How would the Ford Government respond to this proposed resolution? On May 29, 2019, the day before Mr. Harden's proposed resolution was scheduled to be debated in the Legislature, Mr. Harden raised this in Question Period. He Pressed the Government to commit to action to make disability accessibility a priority, given that it was then National Access Ability Week. Below we set out the transcript of the exchange that day during Question Period. We offer these observations about that exchange:
"Last week, we announced further details of our plan to partner with the Rick Hansen Foundation on their building certification program. This $1.3 million that we're investing will allow us to perform accessibility audits on over 200 buildings over the next two years."
The Government has elsewhere said this would lead to certification or audit of 250 buildings over two years.
We have serious and substantial concerns with this. First, as reiterated in our May 17, 2019 AODA Alliance Update, we have for years made it clear that we do not agree with investing public money in a private accessibility certification process, no matter who is operating it. It is an inappropriate use of public money. The Government should instead spend that money on AODA implementation and enforcement.
Second, the minister said that the Rick Hansen Foundation is conducting those building audits as "us" i.e. the Ontario Government. Yet there is no public accountability for this private accessibility certification process, for the measures of accessibility it chooses to use, and for how it goes about its business. If the Ontario Government is to do a building audit, it should be conducted by public auditors with a public mandate and public accountability, based on accessibility standards that the public sets through the Government.
Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho understandably blamed the previous Liberal Government for insufficient action on accessibility. However, the minister then cast some of the blame on the New Democratic Party for the former Liberal Government's poor record on accessibility. The minister said:
"The previous government for the last 15 years did very little, like the Honourable David Onley said. The last 15 years, the NDP supported the last government, so you are on the same team.
The soul-crushing barriers Mr. Onley outlined were also highlighted in the first two AODA reviews by Charles Beer and Mayo Moran. This report is an indictment of the previous government, which your party supported for 15 years."
While we don't wade into partisan political bickering in the Legislature, we are not aware of any support by the NDP of the former Government's slow action on accessibility. To the contrary, the NDP helped us press the previous Liberal Government to take swifter action on accessibility.
The Minister for Accessibility and Seniors also stated:
"Our government is carefully reviewing Mr. Onley's report, which we made public faster than either previous report."
It is true that the Ford Government made public the Onley Report quicker than the previous Government made public the 2010 AODA Independent Review by Charles Beer or the 2014 AODA Independent Review report by Mayo Moran.
However, by May 29, 2019, the date of this exchange in Question Period in the Legislature, the Ford Government had had ample time to study the Onley Report and arrive at a plan of action.
So—What Happened with Joel Harden's Proposed Resolution?
So, what happened to Joel Harden's proposed resolution? Was it passed or defeated during
debates in the Legislature on May 30, 2019? For the answer to this suspenseful question, watch for the next AODA Alliance Update. Same AODA Alliance time. Same AODA Alliance channel!
* The text of NDP MPP Joel Harden's resolution that he presented to the Ontario Legislature on May 30, 2019.
* NDP MPP Joel Harden's May 27, 2019 news release, announcing that his proposed resolution would be debated in the Legislature on May 30, 2019
* NDP MPP Joel Harden's guest column in the May 30, 2019 Ottawa Citizen. It explained the resolution that Mr. Harden was seeking to get the Legislature to pass that day. It refers, among other things, to the AODA Alliances efforts on accessibility, and to the online video about public transit accessibility barriers that we made public in May, 2018, and
* A transcript of the May 29, 2019 question that MPP Joel Harden asked the Ford Government during Question Period regarding his proposed resolution on the AODA.
* Text of the May 15, 2018 letter from PC Leader Doug Ford to the AODA Alliance, setting out his party's 2018 election promises on disability accessibility.
Text of the Private Member's Motion by Joel Harden, NDP Accessibility Critic, Debated in the Ontario Legislature on May 30, 2019
May 27, 2019 Ontario NDP News Release
NDP MPP for Ottawa Centre calls on Ford to implement recommendations from AODA third review
QUEEN'S PARK — The Ontario NDP critic for Accessibility and Persons with Disabilities, Joel Harden (Ottawa Centre), held a press conference today to introduce his private member's motion, which calls on the Ford government to implement key recommendations from David Onley's third legislative review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
"The over 1.9 million Ontarians who live with disabilities face constant barriers to their participation in areas including employment, education, health care and recreation," Harden said. "As the population ages, the number of people living with a disability will grow."
The AODA seeks to make Ontario fully accessible by 2025; every three years, an independent reviewer is appointed to assess the Act's effectiveness.
"Former Lieutenant Governor David Onley's third legislative review of the AODA, which was informed by consultations with the disability community and tabled in the Legislature on March 8, makes the disconcerting assertion that, 'For most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity, but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers,'" said Harden.
"The Liberals dragged their feet on meeting the AODA's target, and now the Ford Conservatives are dragging Ontario further backwards, neglecting to lay out a plan of action to implement Onley's recommendations. The recommendations include a commitment to implementing new standards for Ontario's built environment, stronger enforcement of the AODA, accessibility training for design professionals such as architects and an assurance that public funds won't be used to create new accessibility barriers."
At the conference, Harden was joined by Shanthiya Baheerathan of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario and Kate Chung of the Older Women's Network, who both spoke about the need for a more accessible Ontario.
"I, myself, had to fight for years to have my disability recognized and accommodated by my university, and in that process I lost years of my life," Baheerathan relayed. "Enforcing AODA would work towards ensuring that no other 18-year-old need to waste time overcoming barriers and advocating for an accessible space to learn. Instead, they could use that time and energy to actually learn."
Chung said it won't cost the government anything to change building code standards to ensure housing is built accessibly for the many Ontario seniors and people with disabilities who need it. "Yet, it will save millions in health care dollars for vast numbers of people, it will reduce the demand for long-term care beds, and end 'bed-blocking' in hospitals."
"Ontarians with disabilities deserve to have a government that listens to their needs and takes concrete action to reduce the barriers that prevent them from enjoying a full life. The Ford government must act now and implement the Onley report's key recommendations," Harden said.
Harden's motion will be debated in the Legislature on May 30.
Ottawa Citizen May 30, 2019
Originally posted at: https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/harden-ontarios-accessibility-standards-are-falling-woefully-short
Harden: Ontario's accessibility standards are falling woefully short
Joel Harden
Outgoing Ontario Lieutenant-Governor David Onley is saluted while arriving for his last full day in office at Queen's Park in Toronto on Monday, September 22, 2014. A former Ontario lieutenant-governor tasked with reviewing the disability legislation says the province is nowhere near meeting its stated goal of full accessibility by 2025. Darren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS
For an able-bodied person, whether the pillars on the platform of a train station or bus stop are straight or angled is easily taken for granted. For someone who is sight impaired, an angled pillar can mean the difference between constantly bumping one's head or shoulder on a part of the pillar that can't be anticipated by a cane, or being able to commute without threat of pain or injury.
This distinction, which David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, demonstrates in a video he posted online last spring, is just one of countless examples of Ontario's standards of accessibility falling short of the disability community's needs.
For the more than 1.9 million Ontarians who live with disabilities, lack of accessibility is an ongoing barrier to participation in things like education, employment, transit and recreation. From public space design to health care to public information, Ontario's accessibility standards are nowhere near where they need to be to meet peoples' needs, nor where the province pledged they would be in the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
On Thursday, the legislative assembly at Queen's Park will debate my private member's motion, which calls on the Ford government to implement key recommendations from the third legislative review of the AODA. The AODA mandates the standards that public, private and non-profit sector entities must adhere to in the areas of customer service, public space design, communications, transportation and employment. It has set a firm deadline to make Ontario fully accessible for people with disabilities by the year 2025 — a target that, in 2019, no longer feels far off.
To ensure the AODA stays on track, every three years, an independent, non-partisan reviewer is appointed to consult with the disability community and assess whether the AODA and its standards are doing what they're supposed to do — making Ontario more accessible — plus recommending additional steps as needed, to meet the 2025 obligation.
Conducted by David Onley, the former lieutenant governor of Ontario and a disability rights advocate, the AODA's third review should be a major call to action for Ontarians, and certainly, for the Ford government. Onley's report paints a grim picture of the status quo for people with disabilities in this province, and portrays the sluggish pace at which Ontario is moving when it comes to setting or enforcing accessibility standards.
In his report, submitted to the Ford government on Jan. 31, 2019, Onley writes that the AODA's vision has turned out to be "a mirage."
"Every day, in every community in Ontario, people with disabilities encounter formidable barriers to participation in the vast opportunities this province affords its residents – its able-bodied residents," he writes. "For most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers."
Onley's words echo the frustrations I heard from the dozens of Ontarians living with disabilities who traveled from across the province to attend an April 10 town hall on accessibility that our office held at Queen's Park. Several of my fellow NDP MPPs joined Lepofsky, Sarah Jama, co-founder of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, and myself, to listen to account after account of people fed up with Ontario's agonizingly slow progress towards accessibility. Many spoke of the daily barriers they face that stop them living full lives.
Onley's key recommendations to the government include committing to implementing new standards for our built environment, stronger enforcement of the AODA, accessibility training for design professionals and an assurance that public money never again be used to create new accessibility barriers.
The Ford Conservatives should establish a clear plan of action for getting Ontario on track to meet its AODA obligations. I invite the government to vote with the NDP on Thursday, and implement Onley's key recommendations right away, so that Ontarians with disabilities no longer have to wait to live the full lives they deserve.
Joel Harden is the Ontario NDP critic for accessibility and persons with disabilities, as well as
the MPP for Ottawa Centre.
Question Period
Mr. Joel Harden: My question is for the Premier. This week is National AccessAbility Week. While we've made strides and progress in this province, it's thanks to disability rights activists around our towns and cities. Unfortunately, the previous government paid lip service to the goal of accessibility, and this government is on track to do the same.
During the election campaign, the Premier promised stronger enforcement of accessibility laws, a clear strategy to meet accessibility standards, examining our building code requirements for accessibility provisions and requiring design professionals to have accessibility training. But we didn't hear any announcement in the budget on this, and I'm wondering why there's no prioritization of accessibility during National AccessAbility Week for this government.
Hon. Victor Fedeli: To the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility.
Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: I thank the member of the opposition for raising the important question. I want to assure this House that this government takes our responsibilities for Ontarians living with disabilities very seriously.
We know there's more to do, but it's also time for real action and we are taking it right now.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary question.
Mr. Joel Harden: To put that in perspective, to what the minister said, $1.3 million is less than what the Premier of this government is spending on his own personal lawyer in his office, Mr. Gavin Tighe.
People with disabilities deserve more from this government. We know that the last government talked a great talk but delivered very little. We know that Queen's Park, the very building in which you and I are working, is not fully accessible. That is true across this province: Health care, education, transportation and our spaces of recreation remain inaccessible, Speaker, and we are obliged by law to make this province fully accessible by 2025.
Tomorrow, we are going to be introducing a private member's motion that will require us, as a Legislature, to set clear targets on accessibility. I have a very clear question for the Premier or for the minister: Will you be supporting this motion tomorrow?
Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: I will repeat what the opposition member said. The previous government for the last 15 years did very little, like the Honourable David Onley said. The last 15 years, the NDP supported the last government, so you are on the same team.
Our government is carefully reviewing Mr. Onley's report, which we made public faster than either previous report. I will respond to your motion tomorrow.
May 15, 2018 Letter from PC Leader Doug Ford to the AODA Alliance
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance (AODA Alliance)
The Ontario PC Party is pleased to respond to the AODA Alliance's survey for the 2018 Ontario election. Our team is focused on providing a clear alternative to voters. After 15 years of high taxes and government mismanagement under the Wynne Liberals, the people of Ontario are ready for change.
Your issues are close to the hearts of our Ontario PC Caucus and Candidates, which is why they will play an outstanding role in shaping policy for the Ontario PC Party to assist Ontarians in need.
For the Ontario PCs, this remains our goal. Making Ontario fully accessible by 2025 is an important goal under the AODA and it's one that would be taken seriously by an Ontario PC government.
Christine Elliott, our former Health Critic and Deputy Leader, has been a tireless advocate for Ontarians with disabilities. Ms. Elliott called to establish the Select Committee on Developmental Services, with a mandate to develop a comprehensive developmental services strategy for children, youth and adults in Ontario with an intellectual disability or who are dually diagnosed with an intellectual disability and a mental illness.
When it comes to people with disabilities, we have a moral and an economic responsibility to focus on their abilities and not just on what holds them back. Our family members, friends and neighbours who have a disability of some kind are a wellspring of talent and determination.
There's no good reason why a person with a disability should not be able to cast a vote in an election. It's also completely unacceptable that someone should be passed over for a job because of the myth that people with disabilities can't do the work. We have a moral and social responsibility to change this.
The Ontario PC Party believes our education system must minimize barriers for students with disabilities, providing the skills, opportunities and connections with the business community that are necessary to enter the workforce.
When I am elected Premier on June 7th, I promise I will focus on investing in the priorities that matter most to the people of Ontario. Jobs and economic development will be a key focus, and Ontario will be open for business again.
In the coming weeks, our team will be releasing our platform of policies and priorities and a clear vision for a prosperous Ontario.
If you have any further questions please feel free to reach out at any time.
Leader, Ontario PC Party
A Toronto Star News Report and New Editorial Together Show Why the Ford Government Must Now Announce a Comprehensive Plan to Substantially Improve the Implementation and Enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
Posted on June 5, 2019 by admin in Built Environment, Editorials, employment, Media, New 2019, What's New in Our Campaign
On May 21, 2019, the Toronto Star published a report, set out below, that accounted a troubling employment barrier that a job-seeker with a disability has recently faced in Ontario. On May 27, 2019, the Toronto Star published a powerful follow-up editorial on this issue, also set out below.
This editorial was published during National Accessibility Abilities Week in Canada. This is the 15th time a media editorial has backed an issue on which we have been campaigning during the past 25 years of our non-partisan campaign for accessibility.
Here are four important comments on these two newspaper items.
These reports describe an event in our province that, sadly, is not an isolated or unique incident. This incident is just one of many examples that show how far Ontario lags behind when it comes to meeting the goal of becoming accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. In the workplace, people with disabilities continue to face disability barrier after barrier. The result is an unfairly high unemployment rate facing people with disabilities. We have often quoted former Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley, who said that the unemployment rate facing people with disabilities in Canada is not only a national crisis – It is a national shame.
In the face of recurring situations like this, the current Ontario Government has no comprehensive plan of action to meet the goal of full accessibility by 2025. The Ford Government has now been in power for almost one year. It has promised to be a "government for the people". Yet 1.9 million people with disabilities in Ontario don't seem to be treated as a full and equal part of "the people".
A readily-available plan of action is available to the Ford Government, if only it would put it into action. It is the plan of action set out in the Independent Review of the implementation and enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act that former Lieutenant Governor David Onley submitted to the Government on January 31, 2019. That report largely incorporates recommendations that the AODA Alliance presented to the Onley Review.
There have now been 126 days since the Ford Government received the David Onley Report. Yet the Government has still announced no comprehensive plan to implement that report. This is so even though back on April 10, 2019, Ontario's Accessibility Minister Raymond Cho said in the legislature that Mr. Onley did a "marvelous job" and that Ontario isn't 30% towards its goal of being accessible to Ontarians with disabilities by 2025, the deadline that the AODA requires. Moreover, last December, the Ford Government said that it was waiting for the Onley Report before it decided how to proceed to address the disability accessibility issue.
It is encouraging and very much appreciated that the media again came to the AODA Alliance to comment on the broader implications of stories such as these. Indeed, the May 21, 2019 Toronto Star article quoted and drew upon the May 17, 2019 AODA Alliance Update as follows:
"Accessibility advocate David Lepofsky praised Judge for trying to hold Holland Bloorview and the city to account, but said the problem ultimately lies with Queen's Park and its lack of action on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
As noted in a government review of the legislation by former lieutenant-governor David Onley, people with disabilities face "soul-crushing" barriers in their daily lives, particularly when trying to access public and private buildings. And without a renewed commitment and immediate action, Ontario would not meet the law's goal of making the province fully accessible for its 1.9 million residents with disabilities by 2025, he said.
Onley's report, released in March, calls for stronger enforcement and repeated earlier calls for the province to develop new accessibility standards for both new construction and building retrofits, Lepofsky noted.
"The government has announced no plans to implement the report's spectrum of recommendations, even though (Accessibility Minister) Raymond Cho said in the legislature that David Onley did a 'marvellous job' and that Ontario has only progressed 30 per cent towards its target of becoming fully accessible to people with disabilities," Lepofsky said.
Although Ontario's April budget earmarked $1.3 million over two years for the Rick Hansen Foundation to help finance a private accessibility certification process, Lepofsky said public money should be spent to fund Onley's recommendations.
"The Onley report recommended important and much-needed measures to address disability barriers in the built environment that the Ford government has not yet agreed to take," he said. "It did not recommend spending scarce public money on a private accessibility certification process.""
It is also very encouraging to us and to all who support and take part in our ongoing grassroots accessibility campaign that the Toronto Star added its important voice to ours in its May 27, 2019 editorial, set out below. That editorial called for the Ford Government to take action on the Onley Report. It also echoed our disagreement with the Ontario Government's spenting 1.3 million public dollars on the problematic strategy of a private accessibility certification process – in this case, the one being offered by the Rick Hansen Foundation. The editorial stated:
"Onley's report was both a withering indictment of how far (or, rather, not far) we've come and a guide to help get Ontario on track.
He called attention to the still extensive barriers in the built environment – such as the corridor too narrow for an adult wheelchair that kept Judge from getting her dream job – and the need for better accessibility rules, which the province is far too slow in developing, let alone implementing.
He recommended tax breaks for those improving accessibility in public and private buildings, training for architects in inclusive design and dramatically boosting enforcement. In total, he made 15 recommendations in his report, which was released two months ago.
The Ford government, by way of Raymond Cho, the minister for seniors and accessibility, thanked Onley for a "marvellous job." Then, seemingly, it shelved his report.
It has not acted with any urgency on his recommendations. Instead, in its April budget – a month after Onley's report – the government opted to put $1.3 million into financing a private accessibility rating system.
For a building to be certified under the Rick Hansen Foundation's accessibility program, its "public entrance and all its key functional spaces and amenities must be physically accessible for everyone."
The province already knows well how poorly it's doing on that front and how few buildings will meet the gold standard. The minister himself claims Ontario's "accessibility is not done even 30 per cent."
So, as worthy as the foundation's certification program may be, a government that is earmarking so few resources for accessibility as this one would do better to spend them removing actual barriers than on handing out certificates and window decals to the good buildings.
Only then will the province be moving toward its promise to "ensure people with disabilities have the support and resources they need to live fulfilling and productive lives."
Because right now, as Onley wrote, for "most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers.""
We know we've been sending out more Updates than usual, in order to get you caught up on recent developments. Stay tuned for more news on this issue over the next days. And always feel free to send us your feedback. Write us at [email protected]
Toronto Star May 21, 2019
Originally posted at https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/05/19/toronto-preschool-for-kids-with-disabilities-cant-accommodate-staff-who-use-wheelchairs.html
She lost out on a job working with disabled kids – because she uses a wheelchair
Laurie Monsebraaten
The Toronto Star May 21, 2019
As a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, Ashleigh Judge has faced barriers all her life. But the Toronto early childhood educator didn't expect to be turned down for a job in a preschool that serves children with disabilities because the building is inaccessible.
"It's not the first time I have faced this problem," said Judge, 33.
"But it's the first time it was so blatant. It was really disappointing, especially coming from an agency that should be doing better."
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital has been operating Play and Learn Nursery School in a city building on Eglinton Ave. W. for 33 years. Although the Forest Hill-area program is on the main floor, it does not have an accessible washroom and the classrooms are located off a hallway that is too narrow for an adult wheelchair.
Judge says she is happy to use the accessible washroom in the library next door, but wonders why the city's leading agency serving children with disabilities has done so little to make the learning space more accessible.
Stewart Wong, a spokesperson for Holland Bloorview, says the hospital's main campus near Bayview and Lawrence Aves. is fully accessible, as is a community-based preschool in Scarborough. But he acknowledges the Play and Learn site is not.
"We have spoken to the city about accessibility issues," Wong said.
"We have worked really hard to be as inclusive as possible in everything that we do. But working in buildings that are decades old presents a challenge."
The hospital has not considered moving Play and Learn, Wong said, but would "welcome a conversation to explore more accessible options."
Judge called the office of area Councillor Mike Colle in early April with her concerns, but never heard back.
When the Star contacted Colle's office last week, the councillor said he sympathizes with Judge.
"People with disabilities have enough problems without having difficulty getting jobs because buildings are inaccessible," said Colle, who represents Ward 8 (Eglinton-Lawrence).
As part of a city audit of the building last year, the Play and Learn site has been targeted for an accessibility upgrade in early 2020, he said.
"I don't know if Holland Bloorview knew that, but the city is on track to make those upgrades in January or February next year," he said.
"I will certainly be keeping an eye on it and make sure our facilities manager also knows there is an interest here."
Judge is pleased the city is planning to renovate the building, but is frustrated it has taken so long, noting she first raised the issue with Holland Bloorview in 2017 during its "Dear Everybody" accessibility awareness campaign, and that the province introduced accessibility legislation in 2005.
"This is the first I am hearing about it," she said about the planned retrofit.
"And you'd think Holland Bloorview would have told me if they knew about it. It makes me wonder if the city is doing this just because (the Star) called."
Judge has an honours BA in psychology from York University along with Seneca College certificates in rehabilitation services and life skills coaching.
In 2011, she obtained her early childhood education diploma from George Brown College and has just completed certification as an early childhood resource consultant to work with kids who have special needs.
Over the years, Judge has worked at March break and summer camps at Holland Bloorview and logged more than 500 volunteer hours at the hospital.
"I grew up in the system. I know what it's like and I think I have a lot to offer," she said.
"I also think I would be a good role model for the children – and their parents."
Judge says she is well qualified and physically able to work in a preschool setting. She has worked part-time jobs with the city's EarlyOn child and family centres since 2015. She has no trouble picking up small children and can change diapers using a lower change table.
"When I saw a chance to work at Holland Bloorview, I jumped at it," she said of the two permanent part-time jobs that were posted at Play and Learn last December.
According to a memo from the preschool staff shared with the Star, Judge "gave an excellent interview" for the position, "has a lot to offer children and families at Holland Bloorview" and would be "well suited for a wide variety of roles working with both children and families."
Judge says she told the preschool she could rearrange her school schedule to start when needed.
But staff told her the building's inaccessible hallways were an insurmountable barrier to Judge's employment there. Undeterred, Judge asked if the program could accommodate her in its accessible Scarborough location. And if there were no positions there, she asked if the hospital would commit to offering her the next position that became vacant that matched her skill set.
"I also told them I would be willing to help them advocate to renovate the Eglinton Ave. location," Judge said.
Judge says her advocacy offer was ignored and that her request for placement in the next available position was met with a long email from human resources, telling her the hospital follows strict hiring protocols and procedures and that she would have to apply like everyone else.
"It was pretty frustrating. What happens when the kids they're serving now get older and they want to come back and get a job with Holland Bloorview?" she said.
"Advocacy and accessibility and the need for inclusiveness don't stop when you turn 18."
The hospital doesn't comment publicly on personnel matters, Wong said. But he said it has specialized staff teams that work with job applicants and current employees to make the workplace accessible.
The hospital is also committed to helping youth find meaningful employment as adults and offers a wide range of services, including volunteer opportunities, employment training programs and supported job placements, he said.
"We have lots of programming that opens up a world of inclusion for persons with disability."
Originally posted at https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2019/05/27/ontario-is-falling-short-on-breaking-down-barriers.html
The barriers are still up
An early childhood educator who is uniquely qualified to work in a preschool for disabled children couldn't get the job because the building isn't fully accessible for wheelchairs.
Surely this is just what former Ontario lieutenant-governor David Onley meant when he wrote of the "soul-crushing" barriers that people with disabilities face in their daily lives.
Ashleigh Judge, a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, has worked incredibly hard to make her way in a world that is clearly not designed for her, and
the Ontario government has failed her by not moving quickly enough or thoroughly enough to change that, as it is required by law to do.
Judge is not the only person who is unable to fully contribute to the workforce and broader community because of the barriers she encounters. She's just one of the 1.9 million Ontarians with a disability.
But when a woman with a disability can't get a job working with children with disabilities because a City of Toronto building isn't up to the task, that really should be a wake-up call about how far Ontario is from meeting its legal obligation to create a barrier-free province.
In 2005, Ontario passed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). It requires the province to be fully accessible by 2025.
It was groundbreaking legislation when it was introduced; it even served as a blueprint for other jurisdictions.
But, as Onley said in his recent review of that legislation, "14 years later, and the promised accessible Ontario is nowhere in sight."
To make matters worse, the province is now all but certain to miss its legislated deadline of 2025.
The province already knows well how poorly it's doing on that front and how few buildings will meet the gold standard. The minister himself claims Ontario's
"accessibility is not done even 30 per cent."
That's why Judge is not wheeling her way down the hallway to her dream job working with preschoolers.
102 Days after the Ford Government Received the Report of David Onley's Independent Review of the AODA, the Government Has Still Not Announced a Detailed Plan to Implement It
Posted on May 13, 2019 by admin in Built Environment, Education, Enforcement, Health Care, Letters to and from Ontario Government, Media, New 2019, Public Money, What's New in Our Campaign
We have recently focused a lot of attention on Parliament in Ottawa, and on Bill C-81, the proposed federal Accessible Canada Act. Yet we never lose sight of important issues at the provincial level at Queen's park. Here's the latest!
In a nutshell, the Ford Government has been proceeding at the speed of a turtle in slow motion, when it comes to the implementation and enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Almost 11 months after the new Ontario Government took office, we've seen no indication of any action to speed up and strengthen the AODA's faltering implementation and enforcement. This stands in striking contrast to certain other areas of governing, where the new Ontario Government has shown itself quite ready to act in a swift and decisive way. In this Update you can read the latest about the following issues, and then read the actual documents on point:
* Ontario Accessibility Minister wrote the AODA Alliance on April 10, 2019 but had little to say.
* On April 10, 2019 Ontario's Accessibility Minister was questioned in Question Period in the Legislature about the Onley Report on the AODA's implementation and enforcement, but again had little to say.
* Letters to the editor in newspapers continue to be a great way to help our accessibility campaign, as recent examples show, and
* Over two months after the Ford Government said it was lifting its 9-month freeze on the work of the AODA Health Care and Education Standards Development Committees, no new meetings of These Committees have even been scheduled.
We will have more to say on recent developments on the Ontario front over the next weeks.
1. A Closer Look at Recent Developments on the Provincial Front
a) Ontario Accessibility Minister Wrote the AODA Alliance on April 10, 2-019 But Had Little to Say
On April 3, 2019, Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho wrote the AODA Alliance. We set out his letter below.
The minister was answering two earlier letters from the AODA Alliance. In our February 6, 2019 letter, we asked the Minister to immediately lift his Government's long freeze on the work of Standards Development Committees that were developing recommendations on what to include in new AODA accessibility standards to tear down disability barriers in the areas of health care and education. We also asked his Government to quickly make public the final report of David Onley's Independent Review of the AODA's implementation and enforcement.
In our March 11, 2019 letter, we asked the Government to "clearly and publicly accept the findings in the Onley report regarding the AODA's implementation and enforcement." We also asked him to quickly take action on five priority areas identified in the Onley report, namely:
to appoint a new Standards Development Committee under the AODA to address the removal and prevention of all kinds of disability barriers in the built environment. The Onley report identified this as a top priority. That Standards Development Committee should be free to address, among other things, requirements in the deficient Ontario Building Code. It should be able to address built environment in residential housing. It should also conduct the mandatory 5-year review of the 2012 Public Spaces Accessibility Standard. The Ontario Government remains in violation of the AODA, because it has not yet appointed a Standards Development Committee to conduct that mandatory review. It was obligatory to appoint that review by the end of 2017, when the former Ontario Government was still in power.
to now launch a short, focused public consultation leading to your Government's identifying the other accessibility standards that need to be developed to ensure that the AODA leads Ontario to become accessible to people with disabilities by 2025.
to substantially strengthen the Government's enforcement of the AODA, which the Onley report showed to be substantially deficient and ineffective.
to launch a major reform to ensure that public money is never used to create or perpetuate disability barriers, whether as a result of public spending on infrastructure, procurement, business grants or loans, or research grants. As part of this, a major reform is desperately needed regarding how Infrastructure Ontario deals with disability accessibility needs in the projects in which it is involved. We would add to the Onley report the fact that a similar reform is desperately needed at Metrolinx when it spends billions of public dollars on public transit infrastructure, and
to now implement a program to ensure that students in Ontario schools receive curriculum on accessibility for and inclusion of people with disabilities in society, and to ensure that key professional, like architects, get much-needed training on accessibility for people with disabilities.
Our March 11, 2019 letter thanked the Government for releasing the Onley report to the public on March 7, 2019 and for announcing that it was lifting its freeze on the work of the existing AODA Standards Development Committees that had been working in the areas of health care and education. Our letter urged the Government to get these existing advisory committees back to work as quickly as possible.
Minister Cho's responding April 3, 2019 letter to us, set out below, was exceedingly general. It said nothing and committed to nothing on any of the issues we had raised and that then remained outstanding. He re-announced that the Government had lifted the freeze on the Standards Development Committees working in the areas of disability barriers in health care and education, something he'd earlier announced on March 7, 2019. Beyond that he only said that he'd have more to say at some unspecified future time.
The minister also said this in his letter:
"We are always interested in listening to businesses, non-profit organizations and the broader public sector to hear their views on accessibility."
He made no mention of consulting with people with disabilities on accessibility. This takes on greater significance below. Read on!
b) On April 10, 2019 Ontario's Accessibility Minister Was Questioned in Question Period About the Onley Report But Had Little to Say
On April 10, 2019, MPP Joel Harden, the NDP accessibility critic, directed questions at Accessibility Minister Cho about the Onley Report. He asked the minister if the Government accepts the findings in the Onley Report. He also asked for the minister's plans regarding the implementation of the Onley Report's recommendations. Below we set out the Hansard transcript of that exchange.
This was raised in the Legislature on an especially appropriate day. Later that day, NDP MPP Joel Harden held and hosted a Town Hall meeting at the Legislature for people with disabilities to describe the disability barriers they face and the corrective action they need. MPPs of all parties were invited to attend.
AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky was invited to co-MC the Town Hall. For several hours stretching through the afternoon, individuals and disability organizations presented pointed and troubling illustrations of the barriers that persist in 2019, 14 years after the AODA was enacted.
In response to MPP Harden's question whether the minister accepts the Onley Report's findings, Minister Cho said that Mr. Onley did a "marvelous job" in his report. The Minister criticized the previous Ontario Liberal Government's performance on the accessibility issues and said "…the accessibility is not done even 30%." This seems to be a helpful recognition by the minister that Ontario has a long way to go to reach full accessibility by 2025, as the AODA requires. The Onley Report did not cite a specific 30% figure, but found that Ontario is far behind its goal of reaching accessibility by 2025.
In response to Mr. Harden's question whether the minister would be releasing a plan of action in response to the Onley Report, and if so, when, the Minister said:
"After the Honourable David Onley completed his review, we tabled the review. I talked to him—three times, I went to see him—and he emphasized getting jobs for people with disabilities is most important. That's why we're going to focus and I'm going to hold my own town hall meeting with the business community."
That answer included no commitment to create a plan of action in response to the Onley Report. The minister committed to no time lines for doing so.
The only action that the minister announced was a plan to hold a town hall for businesses. Of course, that could be one helpful step. However it is far less than what we need or what the Onley Report calls for. Here again, as in the case of the minister's April 3, 2019 letter to the AODA Alliance the minister talked about consulting businesses, but not people with disabilities. We need the Government to do much more than to hold a town hall for businesses.
We want to thank MPP Harden for raising this issue in Question Period. We also thank him, his staff, and the other NDP MPPs and staff who helped make this Town Hall such a success. We also thank the MPPs from other parties who came to watch some of the Town Hall. In our usual spirit of non-partisanship, we encourage and invite all parties to host similar Town Hall events for the public including people with disabilities.
c) Letters to the Editor in Newspapers Continue to Be a great Way to Help Our Accessibility Campaign
As in the past, letters to the editor in Ontario newspapers remain a great way to help advance our ongoing non-partisan accessibility campaign.
On March 15, 2019, the Toronto Star ran two letters to the editor about the need for more provincial action on accessibility. One was by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. The other was by Janis Jaffe-White, a tenacious advocate for students with disabilities. We set these out below.
These letters were written to comment on and follow up on a great March 13, 2019 Toronto Star editorial that had called for action on accessibility as a result of the David Onley AODA Independent Review Report.
Whenever you notice an article on an accessibility issue in a newspaper, we encourage you to take the opportunity to get more coverage for this issue by sending in your own letter to the editor. If it gets published, let us know. You can always write us at [email protected].
d) Over Two Months After the Ford Government Said It Was Lifting Its 9-Month Freeze on the Work of the AODA Health Care and Education Standards Development Committees, No New Meetings of These Committees Have Even Been Scheduled
Last June, in the wake of the June Ontario election, the work of AODA Standards Development Committees in the areas of disability barriers in our health care system and education system were frozen. For those of you who have been following our AODA Alliance Updates for several months, You will recall that we spent a great deal of time and effort to get the Ford Government to lift that freeze.
After months of this effort, the Ford Government agreed partway through last fall to lift its freeze on the work of the Employment Standards Development Committee and Information and Communication Standards Development Committee. However it left the other Standards Development Committees frozen. They were focusing on disability barriers in health care and education. We need those remaining advisory committees to get back to work, developing recommendations on the disability barriers and education that need to be removed and prevented in new AODA accessibility standards.
The Ford Government gave various excuses for that freeze. The Minister for Accessibility and Seniors needed time to be briefed, we were originally told. Six months after the freeze went into effect, and long after the Minister for Accessibility and Seniors had had ample time to be briefed, the Government said for the first time that it was awaiting the David Onley AODA Independent Review Report before it decide what to do about the freeze.
That reason for continuing the freeze was unconvincing. It was quite obvious that Mr. Onley would recommend that that freeze be lifted. Mr. Onley submitted his report to the Ontario Government on January 31, 2019, fully 102 days ago. He did indeed recommend that that freeze be lifted.
The Ford Government waited until March 7, 2019 to announce that it was lifting that freeze. Yet over two months since that announcement, and over four months since the Ford Government received the Onley Report, no meetings have yet even been scheduled for the Standards Development Committees working in the areas of health care or education.
On May 6, 2019, members of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee received an email from the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario. AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky is a member of that Standards Development Committee. We set that email out below.
On the one hand, it is good that Accessibility Directorate of Ontario is finally reaching out with preliminary steps that aim towards scheduling the next meeting of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee. As well, the email describes some changes to the way the Standards Development Committee will be operating.
We are open to improving the process for the Standards Development Committees. Our brief to the Onley AODA Independent Review included an entire chapter that detailed problems with the way the former Ontario Government operated those committees. The previous minister had, we regret, been unwilling to make changes as a result of concerns we had raised last spring.
We are, however, concerned about some of the specific changes announced in this new email. There is no reason why the Government should have waited over two months since it announced it decision to lift its freeze on these Standards Development Committees just to ask members of those committees whether they want to continue on those committees, and whether they have changed their job. That inquiry should have been made back on March 7, 2019, when the Government announced that these committees would resume their work. The Government has not yet canvassed about available dates so that the next committee meeting can be scheduled.
It appears that the Government has substantially reduced the amount of actual time when the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee can meet and do its important work. We assume that the same will be the case for the Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committee and the Health Care Standards Development Committee. The Government is reducing meetings from two days to one, and reducing by an undisclosed amount the total number of meeting days. This is especially problematic since the committees lost the chance to do any work over the past year due to the Government's freeze on their work. During that year, they could have been making substantial progress if not coming close to finishing their work. students with disabilities and health care patients with disabilities are suffering the consequences.
It appears that the Government wants out-of-town committee members to take part in meetings by phone rather than in person. While reasonable cost-saving measures are understandable, this measure threatens to create real problems. The K-12 Education Standards Development Committee has over 20 members. It is hard to build the kind of cooperative exchange of ideas and views if some if not many are taking part over a speaker phone.
The Accessibility Directorate of Ontario's email says that Committee members will later receive a letter of re-engagement from the minister. This is an unnecessary step. Those who were previously appointed to these Standards Development Committees remain as members of these Standards Development Committees under the AODA. The June 2018 election and its results did not change that, or dissolve these Committees. There is no need to add yet another bureaucratic step to this process which has already been delayed for too long.
We will keep you posted on developments on this front.
2. April 3, 2019 Letter to the AODA Alliance from Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho, In Response to the AODA Alliance's February 6 and March 11, 2019 Letters to the Minister
Thank you for your letters regarding the review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. I appreciate hearing your thoughts and concerns.
The government is taking immediate action as it continues to work towards improving the lives of people with disabilities. We are resuming the Health Care and K-12 and Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committees, which is something we've heard Ontarians ask for.
We are always interested in listening to businesses, non-profit organizations and the broader public sector to hear their views on accessibility. I am also working with my colleagues across other Ministries to review the Honourable David Onley's Third Legislative review of the AODA and move forward with a plan to improve accessibility in Ontario.
The government will continue to consider Mr. Onley's recommendations and will have more to say on next steps in the future. We are committed to working with Ontarians towards improving accessibility and we will take the time to get this right for all Ontarians.
Thank you again for writing. Please accept my best wishes.
3. Ontario Hansard April 10, 2019
Originally posted at https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/house-documents/parliament-42/session-1/2019-04-10/hansard
Mr. Joel Harden: My question today is for the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility. Today, people with disabilities from across Ontario are converging right here at Queen's Park because we're hosting an open forum for them. They are fed up with our province's agonizingly slow progress towards making this province fully accessible and the barriers that are preventing them from living their lives to the fullest.
In his report on the third review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, the Honourable David Onley said the following: "For most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers."
My question to the minister: Do you accept the findings of the Onley report?
Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: I'd like to thank the member for raising that question. First of all, I'd like to thank the Honourable David Onley. He did a marvelous job; I read the report.
I'd like to refer that question to the Liberal Party. They were in government for 15 years and the accessibility is not done even 30%.
By the way, I will drop by your town hall meeting.
Our government is open for business for everybody, even people with disabilities, and I'll try my best as minister.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?
Mr. Joel Harden: Thank you to the minister for that answer, but 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities actually deserve better. This is a human rights issue. Stalling any further and only looking backwards is not an option.
The AODA sets a target for this province to be fully accessible by 2025, but the Onley report says we are nowhere near achieving that goal. Mr. Onley has 15 recommendations—Speaker, to the minister—for improving accessibility through stronger enforcement, new standards for buildings and making sure public money is never used again to create new barriers. Will the minister be releasing a plan of action and response to the Onley report, and if so, Speaker, when can we expect that plan of action?
Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: Thank you again for the question. After the Honourable David Onley completed his review, we tabled the review. I talked to him—three times, I went to see him—and he emphasized getting jobs for people with disabilities is most important. That's why we're going to focus and I'm going to hold my own town hall meeting with the business community. Thank you for the question.
4. The Toronto Star March 15, 2019
Originally posted at: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2019/03/15/praising-advocacy-for-those-with-disabilities.html
Praising advocacy for those with disabilities
Time to clear the way, Editorial, March 13
Three cheers for the Star editorial "Time to clear the way." It calls for the Ford Government to swiftly implement former Lieutenant Governor David Onley's report that shows that 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities still face far too many disability accessibility barriers. As the leading non-partisan disability coalition that's campaigned for accessibility for almost a quarter century, we strongly support Onley's findings and key recommendations.
We've asked Ford's minister to accept Onley's findings and to get to work swiftly on taking action. Ontarians with disabilities cannot afford more months of waiting.
As Onley said, Premier Ford needs to make accessibility for people with disabilities a major priority.
David Lepofsky, Toronto
The editor is right. This situation is "clearly unacceptable." Thisis a violation of human rights under the Ontario Human Rights Code. The basic problem is lack of enforcement of the law. Everyone has the legal right to be treated equitably.
Onley is right as well. People with disabilities often feel they "don't belong here." School is a mini-society where inclusion develops attitudes of acceptance and belonging. It is not the curriculum that is the problem. It is the living of acceptance of all individuals within the school system and wider community. To achieve accessibility and full participation of everyone, an emphasis must be placed on compliance with and enforcement of the legally mandated human-rights requirements.
Janis Jaffe-White, Toronto
5. May 6, 2019 Email from the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario to Members of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee
Please see the message below, sent from the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Division. We ask that you kindly provide your response by Friday May 10th.
Dear Kindergarten-Grade 12 Education Standards Development Committee Members,
We are pleased to confirm that the Government has announced that it will be resuming the work of the committees that have been exploring the development of new accessibility standards in Health Care, Kindergarten – Grade 12 and Post-Secondary Education under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
We wish to confirm your continued interest to sit on this committee. In addition, per the requirements of the Act regarding committee composition, we will be reviewing members' institutional affiliations or roles to determine if any have changed – for example, if any members have switched employers or organizational affiliations, or moved to new roles within the same organization.
It is important to note that since your last meeting, there have been some changes to the way the committees will move forward. Changes will include:
The overall number of meeting days will be decreased;
The time allocated for meetings will be decreased (e.g., 1-day versus 2-day meetings);
Members are asked to participate in meetings via teleconference, where appropriate; and,
Before scheduling travel and/or accessibility supports, Ministry pre-approval is required.
This new approach is consistent with the government's efforts to increase efficiencies and is intended to help the committees reach their goal of submitting an initial recommendations report to the minister in a more effective and streamlined way.
Please reply to this email to confirm your continued interest in sitting on the Kindergarten-Grade 12 Education Standards Development Committee, as well as any relevant changes to your status.
All returning members will receive a formal invitation to re-engage from the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility, the Honourable Raymond Cho.
We look forward to working with you once again soon.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Division
At the Senate, Federal Disability Minister Carla Qualtrough Answers Senators' Questions on the Weak Bill C-81 (Proposed Accessible Canada Act) – Read the AODA Alliance's Commentary on the Minister's Key Answers
Posted on April 23, 2019 by admin in Built Environment, Canada, New 2019, Public Money, Transportation, What's New in Our Campaign
Here is a rare glimpse into how the Federal Government is thinking about the concerns that we and many others have expressed about the weak Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act.
On April 3, 2019, the federal minister responsible for people with disabilities, Carla Qualtrough, appeared before the Senate's Standing Committee on Social Affairs to kick off that committee's study of Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act. Minister Qualtrough made an opening statement to explain and defend Bill C-81. The Senators then took turns questioning her and her senior public service official, the Director General of the Office of Disability Issues James Van Raalte.
Many of the Senators' questions sound like they were inspired in whole or in part by the AODA Alliance's March 29, 2019 brief to the Senate and feedback from other disability organizations with similar concerns about the bill. We express our appreciation and gratitude for the Senators doing so.
Below we set out a series of 17 important excerpts from Minister Qualtrough's presentation, with our comments on these statements. We will post her entire presentation to the Standing Committee on our website once it becomes available.
In our comments, set out below, we respectfully disagree with some of the minister's statements, and explain why. In other cases, we identify key comments she has made which support the narrow package of amendments to Bill C-81 that we placed before the Senate last week, and asked for their adoption.
You can read the specific amendments we asked the Senate to make to Bill C-81, and the short brief we submitted in support of those amendments. You can also visit the AODA Alliance website, Canada page to see in one place all our efforts over the past four years to campaign for the enactment of a strong and effective national accessibility law.`
Please help our campaign. Before May 2, 2019, please send the Senate Standing Committee a short email to express your support for the amendments to Bill C-81 that the AODA Alliance has requested. We are so appreciative of the individuals and organizations that have already done so. Email the Senate at: [email protected]
Excerpts from Federal Disabilities Minister Carla Qualtrough's April 3, 2019 Presentation to the Senate's Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Plus AODA Alliance Commentary on Those Remarks
Excerpt 1
Minister Qualtrough: Bill C-81 complements the Human Rights Framework in Canada. It does not take anything away from existing human rights obligations under the Canadian Human Rights Act or the duty to accommodate.
Our Comment: This is not correct. Section 172 of the bill re-enacts section 172 of the Canada Transportation Act. That provision provides that when the Canada Transportation Agency enacts an accessibility standard regulation, it in effect prevails over and can water down or cut back on the duty to accommodate passengers with disabilities.
If a CTA regulation says that Air Canada has an excessive five hours to help a passenger with a disability off an airplane when it arrives, that passenger cannot complain to the CTA that Air Canada could easily have accommodated them more quickly without undue hardship.
This is not a hypothetical fear. The Canadian Transportation Agency has proposed new accessibility regulations that, if passed, threaten to cut back on disability human rights. We explain this in detail in the AODA Alliance's April 18, 2019 brief to the CTA.
We've been asking the Federal Government for months to remove s. 172 from the bill. The AODA Alliance's proposed amendments to Bill C-81, now before the Senate, would remove s. 172 from that bill. That would help make the minister's statement here become true. However the Federal Government has not yet publicly said that it would agree to a repeal of s. 172. Our 7th proposed amendment to Bill C-81, placed before the Senate, is as follows:
Subsection 172(2) of the bill should be removed from the bill. As well, the bill should repeal its counterpart, s. 172(2) of the Canada Transportation Act, which provides:
"in relation to a matter have been complied with or have not been contravened, the Agency shall determine that there is no undue obstacle to the mobility of persons with disabilities."
Note: s. 172(2) of the bill uses the word "barrier "instead of the word "obstacle", but is otherwise the same as s. 172(2) of the Canada Transportation Act.
As well, our 8th proposed amendment to Bill C-81 that we placed before the Senate provides as follows:
Section 6 should be amended to add the following to the principles set out in it:
Minister Qualtrough: I'm extremely proud to say that the proposed accessible Canada act enjoys widespread endorsement and support from so many in the disabilities community.
Our Comment: The Federal Government has received widespread feedback from Canada's disability community that Bill C-81 is too weak and needs to be strengthened. For example, see the Open Letter to the Federal Government which fully 95 disability organizations co-signed, and which was sent last October. See also the extensive feedback on Bill C-81 which disability organizations presented to the House of Commons' Standing Committee. Disability organizations there repeatedly pressed for this bill to be strengthened.
Minister Qualtrough: As part of our whole-of-government approach, Bill C-81 builds upon the existing work done by regulators and, if passed, will strengthen their mandates to ensure accessibility in their sectors. This was demonstrated at the recent CTA announcement I attended, where the publication of draft accessibility regulations was announced, with the intention of making Canada's transportation system the most accessible in the world.
Our Comment: It may at first sound good that the Canadian Transportation Agency wants to make Canada's transportation system the most accessible one in the world. However, after a closer look, it falls far short of what people with disabilities in Canada need and deserve.
What people with disabilities deserve and are entitled to is an accessible transportation system. Bill C-81 is entitled an Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada. The CTA's much more diluted objective would be fulfilled if Canada's transportation system were to become slightly more accessible than all others – no matter how inaccessible all others are. In other words, by the CTA's impoverished approach to accessibility, people with disabilities in Canada could end up having to put up with many accessibility barriers in transportation forever.
As well, we noted earlier that the CTA has proposed new transportation accessibility regulations that threaten to reduce the human rights of passengers with disabilities, a very troubling development to which the AODA Alliance's April 18, 2019 brief to the CTA objects.
Minister Qualtrough: This approach ensures that accessibility is everyone's responsibility and that we can't waste any time once the bill receives Royal Assent.
Our Comment: Regrettably, Bill C-81 does not ensure that we don't waste any time once this bill receives Royal Assent. To ensure this, a series of mandatory time lines must be added to the bill.
Minister Qualtrough: Finally, the development of regulations has begun, with the CTA posting their first draft of accessibility regulations, and the consultation process has started for the development of the multi-year accessibility plan regulations.
Our Comment: This may seem a bit technical, but the regulations that the Canadian Transportation Agency are now finalizing are not being created under Bill C-81. They are being developed under the existing national transportation legislation that has been on the books for years. It is our understanding that these regulations have been under development for the past three years, well before Bill C-81 was introduced into the House of Commons in June 2018 for First Reading.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has had the power to make such regulations for many years. We anticipate that it was the fact that the Federal Government promised national accessibility legislation in the 2015 federal election that helped motivate the Canadian Transportation Agency to finally take a serious look at using its decades-old power to make comprehensive accessibility regulations in the transportation field.
Moreover, the CTA's posting of those draft regulations is a matter of concern, as noted earlier, since they threaten to reduce human rights protections for passengers with disabilities, as the AODA Alliance's April 22, 2019 brief to the CTA demonstrates.
Excerpt 6.
Minister Qualtrough: The Canadian Human Rights Act absolutely imposes a duty to accommodate. Nothing in this act changes that obligation on employers, on service providers and on program deliverers within the federal jurisdiction. There was confusion in provincial jurisdictions that had enacted accessibility legislation, and we've made every effort to avoid such confusion. Whatever standard is created by CASDO will not necessarily create any kind of defence for an employer, service provider or program deliverer in terms of their individual duty to accommodate a specific individual.
I have to emphasize that as a former human rights law practitioner, it is very important to me, and it has been, to preserve the duty to accommodate.
Our Comment: We repeat our comments for Excerpt 1, above, where we disagree with the minister's similar earlier statement.
We also respectfully disagree with the minister's statement that "…we've made every effort to avoid such confusion" When this bill was before the House of Commons last fall, we asked the Federal Government to amend Bill C-81 to include language akin to the strong language on point in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The Federal Government did not do so. Unlike this bill, section 38 of the AODA provides:
" 38. If a provision of this Act, of an accessibility standard or of any other regulation conflicts with a provision of any other Act or regulation, the provision that provides the highest level of accessibility for persons with disabilities with respect to goods, services, facilities, employment, accommodation, buildings, structures or premises shall prevail."
We are troubled by the minister's equivocal statement as follows:
"Whatever standard is created by CASDO will not necessarily create any kind of defence for an employer, service provider or program deliverer in terms of their individual duty to accommodate a specific individual."
Compliance with a voluntary, non-binding standard recommended by the proposed new Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization should simply not be a defence to a human rights complaint. Here the minister more equivocally said it is not "necessarily" a defence. That means that it could be a defence, in some situations.
It may be that the minister simply inadvertently misspoke here. However, her statement can contribute to the very confusion about the duty to accommodate that she wants to avoid.
Senator Munson: As you well know, the Senate is a chamber of sober second thought and we take looking at these bills very seriously. I am sure there will be an appetite for amendments by the time we are done our hearings.
On this particular sign language and other aspects of the bill, there are people in the community who feel it doesn't go far enough. Yes, we'll have it for the first time, and yes, it's history in the making and that sort of thing, but it just doesn't go far enough. Would you be open to amendments?
Minister Qualtrough: I would certainly defer to your process and recommendations, but yes, I want to make this bill, this eventual law, the best it can possibly be.
Our Comment: This is a very helpful, positive and important statement by the minister. The minister herself is open to the Senate making amendments to Bill C-81 to make it the best law it can possibly be. This should lay to rest any fear that by making such amendments, the Senate would thereby jeopardize the bill's passage.
This is further reinforced by the statement by Senator Munson (the bill's sponsor in the Senate) during the Committee's April 10, 2019 hearings:
"We're here for a reason. There are going to be amendments…"
Senator Forest-Niesing: With respect to deadlines, provinces with an Accessibility Act, their own Accessibility Act, have an implementation deadline, especially for total accessibility. What was the reasoning in not having a deadline in Bill C-81?
Minister Qualtrough: To be honest, this is one of the more difficult differences of opinion as we have had as a disability community in this law and in this whole process. This is because there is a very honest and staunch belief within the community that we need a deadline, that we need to make a statement saying Canada will be barrier free by X or Canada will be accessible by X. And there is an equally passionate group of individuals who believe that setting a timeline in the distant future will give people excuse to wait to take action and also believe that because accessibility is always changing and evolving as a concept, and as technology changes and as we grow in our understanding and evolve around accessibility, we won't know what a barrier-free Canada looks like.
If we decided in this law to say by 2030 Canada will be barrier-free, first of all, I'm not sure we could achieve that, quite frankly. Second, we don't know what barrier-free will mean and look like then.
I heard everyone, and we took back that feedback, and there are still some us of who are agreeing to disagree on this one. While we don't disagree that we need to work towards a barrier-free Canada, we don't agree about the need for that deadline.
Instead, we've chosen to focus on getting things started. Let's get the first regulation made within two years. Let's do a review of the act within five years of the first regulation. Let's put the board of CASDO in place this summer. Let's have the space for CASDO. Let's get things going.
That seemed to be the broader consensus. It certainly ended up being where we landed as a government.
Quite frankly, it's not necessary legislative practice to create these kinds of statements. We don't have a criminal code that says we will be crime free by X date. We don't have a Human Rights Act that says we will be discrimination free by this date. I'm not sure other jurisdictions have found it to be beneficial to have these timelines.
Every regulation that is established will have a timeline, so as soon as we have a standard, the regulation will say employers have to have this standard in place by X.
There will be built-in timelines. Some will be quick because we're adopting an existing standard. Some will take longer because it's a more complex issue.
At the end of the day, after listening to everyone, the decision was not to put that deadline in place. You will hear from stakeholders opinions that disagree with me and our government, but I assure you it has been thought out and considered. I respect their opinion, and this is where we landed.
Our Comment: We respectfully disagree with the minister. Our responses to her remarks are largely found in the April 11, 2019 presentation to the Standing Committee by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. We add a few points here.
Yes, new kinds of barriers will no doubt crop up in the future. That is a marginal factor. We nevertheless need this legislation to set an end date to reach full accessibility. A resilient flexible law can be designed to identify and adapt to address those new kinds of barriers as they come up.
The Federal Government's repeatedly referring to accessibility as some sort of amorphous moving target is unhelpful. Overwhelmingly, we know what accessibility is and what is needed. Obligated organizations don't need any further reasons to be reluctant to act in this area.
Contrary to the minister's statement, there is substantial support among people with disabilities for including in this legislation an end date for reaching full accessibility. This is not a matter of a dispute among people with disabilities at the grassroots. Rather there is a dispute between the disability community on the one hand, and the Federal Government on the other.
The minister here repeated the Federal Government's weak reasons for rejecting this request last fall when the bill was before the House of Commons. She again stated at the Senate:
"We don't have a criminal code that says we will be crime free by X date."
Sadly, we know that there will always be crime. The Criminal Code is there to help reduce it, and to protect the public when it occurs. That is no comparison to disability barriers. Were it so, then the Government that is sponsoring a bill "to ensure a barrier-free Canada" is conceding before we even begin that we in reality will never achieve a barrier-free Canada. We believe Canada can do better than that.
The minister said that instead of including an end date in the bill for reaching full accessibility, they decided to focus on getting the bill's machinery up and running over the next weeks and months. She said:
This creates the incorrect idea that we have a false choice that we must make. We must either decide to add an end date to the bill for achieving full accessibility, or we must instead choose to work on getting the bill's machinery up and running quickly now.
The Federal Government did not have to choose one or the other, to include an end date for reaching full accessibility in the bill, or instead, to get started right away on getting the bill's implementation up and running. The Federal Government can do both.
It is very commendable that the minister is so eager, active and enthusiastic about getting the bill's implementation up and running so quickly. We caution that in 2005, her Ontario counterpart was just as energetic and enthusiastic just as the AODA was being enacted. A few years later, things started to dramatically slow down in Ontario. We have never gotten it sped up again. We need this bill to include strong time lines, tied to an end date, to prevent that from recurring at the federal level.
We have provided the Senate with a complete solution to the minister's concern that the addition of an end date for full accessibility to this bill might lead obligated organizations to delay taking action on accessibility. We have recommended that the Senate add the following to the bill:
5.2. Nothing in this Act, including in its purpose of the realization of a Canada without barriers on or before January 1, 2040, should be construed as authorizing or requiring any delay in the removal or prevention of barriers as soon as reasonably possible."
Minister Qualtrough: Employment is definitely one of the seven areas recognized as an area of priority in the bill, and the bill applies to all areas of federal jurisdiction. It doesn't apply to areas of provincial jurisdiction. Other provinces do have accessibility legislation. I'm encouraged by the fact that a number of provinces have basically put on hold their intention to create provincial legislation that parallels ours, waiting to see ours and then wanting to create something that's seamless in terms of the experience for the everyday Canadian.
Our Comment: We would consider it a backwards step for people with disabilities if any provincial government put on hold its consideration of developing a provincial accessibility law pending the passage of Bill C-81. We need provinces to speed up action in this area, not slow it down. We know the since-defeated BC Liberal Government had used the development of Bill C-81 as its excuse for continuing to dodge the development of a BC Disabilities Act.
If any provincial government has its planning efforts on hold, we would urge them to get right back to work now on developing provincial accessibility legislation.
Excerpt 10
Senator Moodie: Thank you, Minister Qualtrough, for your presentation today. As a physician and a Canadian, I'm proud that we're leaders in this space and that this bill is going to take us to the fore in continuing to demonstrate to the rest of the world that Canadians understand the needs of people with disabilities.
My question, though, challenges the bill a bit. The concerns I'm hearing are around the notion that the federal government and various federal agencies will have, with this bill, the sweeping power to exempt organizations from a number of these important accessibility obligations. The government can even exempt itself; is that correct?
Can you speak to the extent to which the federal government and federal agencies can exempt organizations from accessibility obligations, and can you explain why you felt it necessary to exempt organizations from the obligations that are stated in Bill C-81?
Minister Qualtrough: Thank you for the question, senator. Again, this is not the first time I have heard this concern.
In this legislation, we had to balance wanting to encourage innovation — so organizations that are already doing things very, very well — with holding to account organizations that aren't doing so well. Creating the opportunity for an exemption allows organizations that already have innovative and comparable accessibility practices to what we may create as a standard to get an exemption, because they're already doing something that effectively has the same end results. At the same time, an organization that may need a little more time to get up to that standard is allowed the opportunity to be granted an exemption for a period of time.
This is not kind of an exclusion or a get-out-of-jail-free card. The reasons for granting the exemption have to be published publicly. It is not as though we are going to exempt you from ever having to be accessible. It is a recognition that, one, your practices are already akin to what is contained in a given standard, or two, you need a little bit more time to get up to the standard that has been established for a justifiable reason that will be made public and reviewed three years.
Senator Moodie: So I'm hearing you say that in three years, even if I get an exemption the first go-around, I will be reviewed again.
Minister Qualtrough: Absolutely. The reason is technical.
Mr. Van Raalte: You'd actually have to reapply. It's not just a review. You have to initiate the fact that —
Minister Qualtrough: It expires.
Mr. Van Raalte: It expires, and you would have to reapply, justify and demonstrate that you still require an exemption, from your perspective. Then there's still an approval process.
Our Comment: We disagree with the minister's justification for the bill's current exemptions powers. An exemption from this legislation's requirements is not needed to encourage innovation.
If an organization is already meeting or exceeding the requirements of an accessibility standard, they have no need for an exemption. If they are close, but need a bit more time, that is typically and easily dealt with through the flexibility in the enforcement process.
Moreover, the minister spelled out the specific situations when exemptions are to be granted. Yet the bill does not limit the Government to only granting exemptions in those situations. For example, the Government could exempt itself for any reason it wishes, not just for the reasons that the minister gave (i.e. they need a little more time or are already in substantive compliance with the results that the standard seeks to achieve).
Senator Omidvar: You've described the bill as a first or an incremental step. There are critics who say it is unnecessarily timid. I'm going to read a portion of an email that I got that deals with splintering — with a multitude of agencies being responsible for enforcement, regulation-making and overseeing complaints.
So the concern is that the bill's implementation and enforcement are therefore less effective, it is more confusing, it's more complicated, it's more costly, and there is a variability of decision-making and possibly of standards. I hear this when the advocates say that this will make it much harder for people with disabilities to navigate the system, to find out what rights they have and to get violations fixed.
So I understand the no-wrong-door approach, but I also understand that too much of a GPS with variability will make it completely confusing. Will you respond to this criticism?
Minister Qualtrough: I will. I, too, have received email — maybe that same email and maybe more than once.
Senator Omidvar: We all did.
Minister Qualtrough: If I had a blank piece of paper, and I could design the system of my liking and choosing, it might not look like this. However, we didn't start out with a blank piece of paper; we started out with a fully functioning, complicated system of federal government that included regulators that were already doing this work — regulators that, to be honest, we didn't always hear good things about and regulators whose powers we have beefed up.
But it became very clear very quickly as the design of the system started to take hold that we were in a position of having to either pull out from the CTA and CRTC. There are three at play here: the CTA, the CRTC and then the Canadian Human Rights Commission does everything else. In terms of the number of regulators, we've got the CTA doing transportation, the CRTC doing telecommunications and broadcasting; and then the Human Rights Commission doing everything else. Taking it out of the CTA or the CRTC would be costly. In some ways, at the end of the day, it wouldn't recognize the expertise they had built up and that they absolutely can and will improve upon.
But we heard very concretely — and I'm sure you'll hear yourselves from the kind of more technically minded regulators that are the CTA and the CRTC — that when you're designing and responsible for safety — CTA airplane seat design comes to mind. The CTA is responsible to design an airplane seat, and the first consideration is safety, of course, and what has to be built into that seat design.
For an outside regulator to come in and say, "Yes, you have to design a seat, but you have to take into consideration all of these accessibility needs," it was deemed better for the CTA to be the one to include and incorporate accessibility considerations into the design of that seat.
To be very clear, the non-technical aspects of the business of the transportation sector in Canada will be under the purview of the CHRC. So if there's a customer service standard, an employment standard, built environment standard — those are all going to be imposed on the VIA Rails, the Air Canadas, et cetera. It's the more technical sides of those sectors that will be the purview of those specific regulators.
It was a compromise, because I recognize it makes the system more complicated for the complainant and the end user. That's why we've taken the efforts we have even now. There are committees. The heads of the CTA, the CHRC and the CRTC are already meeting to figure out how they're going to work together to make sure that from the complainant's point of view it is seamless, but we know it's more complicated. It was a sectoral approach that we chose as a compromise, recognizing we weren't starting from scratch and recognizing the complicated technical nature of the business in which these two established regulators are in.
I'm confident that there will be bumps along this road, but we will get to a place where whenever someone files a complaint, it will end up where it needs to be, and the chief accessibility officer and the chief accessibility commissioner will make sure of that.
Our Comment: Contrary to the minister's suggestion, the Canadian Transportation Agency and the CRTC do not have demonstrated expertise in disability accessibility. Their insufficient performance in this area for many years suggests much the opposite.
We have warned that this splintering of the bill's implementation and enforcement among different federal agencies is very confusing. It is hard to figure out from the bill who does what, as between the Accessibility Commissioner, the Canadian Transportation Agency and the CRTC.
The minister's presentation reinforced this concern. She incorrectly described the division of responsibility between these agencies. She stated:
The minister here is saying that the Canadian Transportation Agency will be responsible for technical issues regarding transportation, but not things like the built environment. In fact, under Bill C-81, the Canadian Transportation Agency and not the Canadian Human Rights Commission is responsible for setting standards for the built environment in places like airports and train stations. Section 120 of the bill provides in part:
"120 The only regulations made under subsection 117(1) that apply in respect of a regulated entity that is required to comply with any provision of regulations made under subsection 170(1) of the Canada Transportation Act are those that relate to the identification and removal of barriers, and the prevention of new barriers, in the following areas: …
…(b) the built environment, other than a passenger aircraft, passenger train, passenger bus, passenger vessel, aerodrome passenger terminal, railway passenger station, bus passenger station or marine passenger terminal;"
We sympathize with the minister's confusion. This bill is itself very confusing and difficult to understand, even for those with extensive expertise in this area.
The minister said the Government is splintering the bill because of the costs of not splintering the bill. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the Federal Government has claimed that it would be more costly to have this bill's accessibility regime all enforced by one federal agency, the new ,Accessibility Commissioner , rather than splintering it among four agencies. It is the first time the Government has claimed it would be more costly to have all regulations made by the Federal Cabinet, rather than splintering this responsibility among three agencies, the Cabinet, the Canadian Transportation Agency and the CRTC.
The Government offered no specifics on what these supposed added costs would be. It did not offset these against the greater costs under this bill, as written, to the Government, to people with disabilities and to obligated organizations of having this bill's implementation and enforcement so splintered. For example, under the bill as now written, it will cost the airlines more to produce two separate accessibility plans and to deal with two different regulatory agencies, the Accessibility Commissioner and the Canadian Transportation Agency, than if they only had to prepare one plan and file it with one federal agency.
Senator Poirier: On Bill C-81, it does not include a deadline for achieving full accessibility, compared to the different provincial accessibility legislation, like the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. This act has clear deadlines for achieving the full accessibility for Ontarians on or before January 1, 2025.
Can you explain to us why you have not put a deadline established in Bill C-81?
Minister Qualtrough: Absolutely, senator. As I said, that was a topic of rigorous debate and discussion, and sometimes disagreement, over the course of going through this whole journey with respect to this legislation. Where we landed, as I said, was focusing on getting things started, not imposing a deadline that in any way would disincentivize organizations to get going on this. It was about recognizing that what we consider accessible today will not be good enough 10 years from now and knowing, quite frankly, that we're a long way off from being accessible or barrier-free.
We concluded that it just wasn't the best way to get going on this. I don't know if I could elaborate further. At the end of the day, we figured putting in place the requirement that regulations and standards be put in place within two years by each of the regulators and that a review of the law happen within five years of the first regulation coming into force — taking the steps in parallel now to get this thing off the ground and going was the better course of action.
Our Comment: We repeat our comments under Excerpt 8, above.
Senator Dasko : I guess another thing that I've heard from some people who think this bill should go farther than it does has to do with the federal government's lack of intention here to take a stronger role when it comes to direct federal spending on infrastructure projects or spending in many areas where the federal government funds projects and creates projects and so on, the critique being that it doesn't go far enough in insisting that barriers are not there when these projects are undertaken. So just at the beginning, I suppose, before federal money is given to these projects, not enough is being done in this bill to ensure that those projects are barrier-free. It's a critique I've heard, and I'd like to hear what you might have to say about it.
(Procedural discussion omitted)
Minister Qualtrough: At the end of the day, what I would say is we've pushed the language in the law as far as we can go while still respecting federal jurisdiction. James is probably better to answer the technical side as to how far we can go, but this will apply to federal policies and federal programs. It won't apply to financial transfers like the health transfer because that's effectively a provincial jurisdiction that we're helping to fund, but it doesn't give us authority, as I understand it, to actually impose that condition down that far. Maybe I'm not explaining it right. I apologize. It's jurisdictional.
To be very clear, though, this will transformatively change the Government of Canada in terms of every department and agency will have to have an accessibility plan. We have already established in my office, for example, a centre for accessible procurement, meaning we will be having policies and processes. We won't procure things that aren't accessible.
The Prime Minister has appointed a deputy minister responsible for an accessible public service, whose job it is every day to figure out how we are going to have to be ready and how we will be ready in our government with its employees to adhere to this law.
Can you talk to more about how far we can go down, please? Because I can't remember the language in the law.
Mr. Van Raalte: I think you've covered it, minister. Departments will have to be able to report on their programs, policies and services. They will have to do that reporting in consultation with people with disabilities. They are at the table for that. So that will actually give both the government and the public forward-looking perspective on the plans of those organizations, such as planned spending and program priorities in a forward-looking way that will allow us to have those discussions. You want to be thinking about the accessibility measures included in those investments.
Ms. Qualtrough: Having said that, in terms of what's in the law, we've taken a number of steps in parallel to embed accessibility into our new programs and our new processes. I'll give you an example. With the National Housing Strategy or our infrastructure program, accessibility is baked into these initiatives.
A fun example I like to give is around our infrastructure. Transit is a priority for our government. Historically, for whatever reason, whether it be oversight or intention, upgrades with respect to making buses more accessible have not been included as eligible expenses for communities to claim and use infrastructure dollars for. We literally added a box on a piece of paper three years ago where we told communities that they could use this money to make their community buses more accessible. In that one year, $810 million was spent on accessible transit. We didn't advertise it. We didn't highlight it anywhere. We changed the form, and communities recognized the values of accessible transit and invested in their communities.
I could give you so many examples, as we've pursued this law, of the things that we've done in terms of government policy, programs and initiatives to make the way we govern a more accessible experience, both for the people who work in government and the people we serve.
Our Comment: As the AODA Alliance presentation to the Senate's Standing Committee on April 11, 2019 shows, we respectfully disagree with the minister's claims that the Federal Government cannot do more here. The minister's statements make it sound like the Federal Government is powerless to attach accessibility strings when it gives federal public money to a local or provincial government to help build a hospital, subway station, or university building.
This is incorrect. The Federal Government has a significant "spending power" which lets it attach federal conditions to federal money that it gives out. If a provincial government or other local organization doesn't want to comply with those strings, it is free to simply refuse to accept the federal money.
For over three decades, the Canada Health Act, a federal law, has attached federal strings to federal money that is given to provinces to help finance their health care systems. One of those legal requirements is the accessibility of health care services (not in the disability sense of accessibility) If the minister is correct – that the Federal Government has no power to attach strings to federal money that is spent in provincial areas of responsibility – then she is admitting that the Canada Health Act is unconstitutional. That would be a surprising thing for a federal cabinet minister to claim.
We believe that the Federal Government could include in Bill C-81 a requirement that no federal cabinet minister or department may agree to give federal public money to any organization, federal or provincial, to contribute to the building or renovating of infrastructure, unless the recipient agrees to meet federal accessibility requirements. If the minister were correct, then the Federal Government is simply powerless here. It can give money to help fund the construction of a local subway station, but is powerless to say that the subway station must have elevators, and not just stairs, to reach the subway. We disagree.
This too is not a hypothetical issue. The AODA Alliance has produced a widely-viewed online video that shows serious accessibility problems at new Toronto subway stations, recently opened, that were built in part with federal money.
The minister gave examples of commendable new policies that the Federal Government has adopted to promote the procurement by the Government of accessible goods, services and facilities. We applaud these. However, they are merely policies, not legal requirements. A subsequent minister or Government could abolish or disregard them with the stroke of a pen, without requiring any public debate. That is why we want such requirements embedded in the bill.
Senator Kutcher: Thank you, minister, for your very clear and well considered answers to these questions. Our task is to try to assist in making the bill the best it can be. You mentioned one area that I think you suggested we could dive a little bit deeper on and that was the sign language domain. So my question is: Are there any other areas that you or your team —
Minister Qualtrough: Boy, am I allowed to answer this question?
Senator Kutcher: — would like to highlight as something we could have a more intensive focus on as we study the bill?
Minister Qualtrough: I think some sort of recognition, as you say, of sign languages as being the first language of Canadians who are Deaf is certainly what we have all heard and you will hear.
Senator Munson asked a question about the duty to accommodate, and perhaps to avoid confusion that could be explicit. I know it is at law and I would suggest case law has already clarified that point but I think it might be worth . . . nobody usually asks me that question.
Yes, I mean, if there are things that you think can be improved, certainly please explore that. My concern is getting it passed. I think it's a really good piece of law and I wouldn't want anything to get in the way of that. Sorry to be so direct. The community has done such good work and I feel a real heightened obligation to deliver this for them. This is once in a generation and people have fought for a long time before me to have this conversation nationally. This is a genie we are not putting back in the bottle. It's pretty exciting. Sorry I don't have further feedback for you but those two would be at the top of my mind.
Our Comment: The minister here again indicates that she is open to amendments to the bill. That is helpful.
As areas that the Senators might focus on as part of their study of the bill, the minister referred to possible recognition that Sign Language is the first language of people who are deaf, and something explicit about the duty to accommodate. She said that those two items are at the top of her mind. She did not specifically commit to passage of amendments to that end. She commendably invited the Senate to explore things in the bill that "can be improved."
Minister Qualtrough: May I add something on the duty to accommodate piece because it's really important and kind of something I'm obsessed with. We need to make it very clear to Canadians that this is a really important legally enshrined tenet of human rights law in this country and nothing we are doing here takes away any organization's obligation to accommodate individuals. In some cases, a small business who has complied with the standard might say, "We have complied," and that might meet their duty to accommodate but the Government of Canada it might not. We need to be very clear and I need it on the record from me so I can sleep tonight that this in no way, in any way negates any organization's obligation to accommodate individuals on the grounds of disability.
Our Comment: We repeat our comments under Excerpts 1 and 6 above.
Senator Eaton: Minister, is there another country who does this better than we are going to do it? Is there another country that is an example to us?
Minister Qualtrough: Our neighbour to the south has the Americans with Disabilities Act, which has an anti-discrimination component which would be covered off in our country by the human rights legislation and an accessibility standards component. So we have spent a lot of time looking at their model. It's obviously a different kind of structured country, federal, state, but what I'm hoping, because I'm at heart a competitive athlete, is that this becomes the international standard that has built upon what other countries have been doing. The States has been doing it for 30 years, but I would like to believe ours will be better.
Our Comment: We commend the minister for wanting Canada's new accessibility legislation to be better than the American legislation, and better than other laws around the world. However, as now written, Bill C-81 regrettably falls well short of that goal. It is also in some key ways weaker than Ontario's AODA, which itself has run into significant implementation and enforcement problems over the past 14 years.
Senator Omidvar: Very quickly, you have talked about the fact that there is a timeline, that within two years agencies have to enact one regulation. However, what is the quality of that regulation? Is there a concern that it could be an inconsequential one, a minor procedural matter without actually embracing the spirit of what you are trying to propose?
Minister Qualtrough: I don't think the law provides the safeguard that you are asking about. What I do think, though, is that CASDO is that safeguard. So having CASDO created with a board of directors with a majority of individuals with lived experience, and they get to decide which regulations take priority and what comes first and what comes second and who does what and what the priorities are. That group of individuals will be tasked with making sure there are substantive regulations in place as quickly as possible based on their agreed upon priorities.
Our Comment: We respectfully disagree with parts of the minister's description of this legislation. The minister correctly stated that the bill does not ensure that the regulation that must be enacted within two years is something more than an inconsequential procedural regulation.
However, she is incorrect in stating that the new Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization is a safeguard to ensure that substantive regulations are enacted as soon as possible. CASDO has no such power under this bill. CASDO has no authority to enact any regulations whatsoever. It can only give advice. It can recommend what should be included in accessibility standard regulations. The Federal Government, the CRTC and the Canadian Transportation Agency need never listen to CASDO's advice, and need never give a reason for refusing to act on CASDO's advice.
As for the regulation that must be enacted within two years, that regulation is NOT an accessibility standard regulation. As the Senator's question mentions, it is a procedural regulation that the Government must enact in the first two years. CASDO has no control over those procedural regulations. Contrary to the minister's suggestion, CASDO is therefore not an effective safeguard to ensure that those regulations are meaningful.
Canada Transportation Agency Proposes New Regulations that Threatens t Reduce the Duty to Accommodate Passengers with Disabilities in Air Travel and Other Transportation that the Federal Government Can Regulate, According to a New Brief by the AODA Alliance
Posted on April 18, 2019 by admin in Briefs, Built Environment, Canada, New 2019, Transportation, What's New in Our Campaign
Canada Transportation Agency Proposes New Regulations that Threaten to Reduce the Duty to Accommodate Passengers with Disabilities in Air Travel and Other Transportation that the Federal Government Can Regulate, According to a New Brief by the AODA Alliance
Today, the AODA Alliance submitted a brief to the Canada Transportation Agency on the draft regulations that it is proposing to enact under the Canada Transportation Act to address the many barriers that people with disabilities face in the parts of Canada's transportation network that the Federal Government can regulate, such as air travel. We set out our brief below.
The CTA posted these very detailed draft regulations on March 9, 2019 and gave the public 30 days to comment on them. We regret that we are submitting our brief after the CTA's deadline for comment. We were not able to prepare this brief sooner, as we have been devoting so much time to our campaign to get Canada's Senate to strengthen the weak Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act.
We regret that we did not have time to post a draft of this brief earlier, for your feedback, as we ordinarily do when we are preparing briefs like this. We had to prepare this brief in an extraordinary rush.
Our brief provides an excellent illustration of why we need the Senate to strengthen Bill C-81. Parts of this draft regulation that we had time to analyze threaten to weaken the protection of the duty to accommodate people with disabilities. This is because s. 172 of the Canada Transportation Act says that once a regulation like this is enacted, it serves as a cap on the duty to accommodate people with disabilities, in so far as the CTA can enforce it. Our brief illustrates by example how this draft regulation would reduce protection for the duty to accommodate people with disabilities in federally-regulated transportation.
We therefore oppose the passage of this draft regulation, for the reasons we set out in this brief. We regret having to do so, because on our first review of the draft regulation, there appear to be some good things in it. As our brief explains, we nevertheless oppose its enactment because it threatens to reduce the rights of people with disabilities.
Sadly, our brief provides a good illustration of some of the problems with Bill C-81. We have called on the Senate to amend Bill C-81 to remove the damaging and harmful s. 172, so that regulations like these cannot serve to weaken the rights of people with disabilities. Our brief illustrates why that amendment to Bill C-81 is so vital to people with disabilities. We will find out on May 2, 2019 whether the Senate's Standing Committee on Social Affairs will take up our recommendations for strengthening Bill C-81, including the repeal of s. 172.
It is not too late for you to help. Please email the Senate's Standing Committee by writing [email protected] and urge the Senators to strengthen Bill C-81. Send them this brief to give a good example of why we need them to get rid of the harmful s. 172.
You should read the specific amendments we asked the Senate to make to Bill C-81, and the short brief we submitted in support of those amendments. You can also visit the AODA Alliance website, Canada page to see in one place all our efforts over the past four years to campaign for the enactment of a strong and effective national accessibility law.
www.aodaalliance.org Email: [email protected] Twitter: @aodaalliance
Brief to the Canada Transportation Agency on the Draft Regulations Posted for Comment on the Canada Gazette Entitled "Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations"
To: Canada Transportation Agency
Care of Sonia Gangopadhyay
Acting Director
Centre of Expertise for Accessible Transportation
15 Eddy Street
K1A 0N9
In this brief, the AODA Alliance offers the Canada Transportation Agency our summary feedback on the draft regulations which the CTA posted in the Canada Gazette for public comment within 30 days on March 9, 2019, entitled "Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations". (ATPDR)
The AODA Alliance regrets that it has had to submit this brief past the CTA's deadline for feedback. We regret that our volunteer coalition did not have the capacity to address this earlier. The CTA's short 30-day public consultation period on these complex regulations overlapped with the pivotally important hearings on Bill C-81 (the proposed Accessible Canada Act) by the Senate. Moreover, a proper analysis of the CTA's highly-technical document, which runs over 100 pages, is not something a voluntary grassroots organization can readily undertake on such short notice. This is made more challenging by the draft regulations' complexity and, at times, impenetrable text.
Due to the insufficient time, we have not been able to fully review and analyze the entirety of the draft regulations' details. We here address a short number of key points that amply support our core conclusion.
Our position in this brief is summarized as follows:
We commend the CTA for embarking on developing modernized accessibility standard regulations. These are long overdue. We share the CTA's conclusion that the current situation facing passengers with disabilities is unacceptable, and that mandatory enforceable regulations are needed.
We accept that there are some helpful provisions in the draft regulations. However despite this, the draft regulation should not be enacted in its current form, especially if Parliament does not remove s. 172 from the Canada Transportation Act. This is because as written, the draft regulation threatens to reduce human rights of passengers with disabilities.
The Canada Transportation Agency should not infer that the short list of key concerns addressed in this brief are the only concerns that we would have raised about these draft regulations, had we had a fuller opportunity to digest and analyze them.
In general we share the concerns about this proposed regulation that the Alliance For Equality of Blind Canadians has set out in its excellent April 6, 2019 brief to the CTA which is available at:
http://www.blindcanadians.ca/sites/aebc/files/docs/brief/3208/Canada%20Gazette%20regs%20Brief%20final%2004-06-2019.docx
The AODA Alliance is a non-partisan community coalition that has advocated in Ontario since 2005 for the effective implementation and enforcement of Canada's first comprehensive provincial accessibility law, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005. We are the successor to the community coalition that successfully campaigned from 1994 to 2005 for the AODA's enactment. We have advised many, including several provinces, a United Nations conference, the European Union, Israel and New Zealand.
Among many other activities, we have been extensively involved in providing input to the Transportation Accessibility Standard enacted under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. Our activity at the provincial level in the transportation area can be seen by visiting https://www.aodaalliance.org/transportation/
3. Endorsing Certain Specific CTA Findings
The CTA's posting of draft regulation makes a number of key findings which the AODA Alliance endorses and supports.
The CTA correctly recognizes that Canada is not a leader in this area on the international stage. It acknowledged:
"Canada lags behind other countries that have comprehensive and enforceable regulations in this area."
Later it wisely recognized:
"The CTA's RMI revealed that its existing accessibility instruments represent a patchwork of regulations and voluntary standards, some of which are outdated and inadequate in their scope. This has resulted in inconsistent accessibility-related services and reduced access to transportation services for persons with disabilities."
Still later the CTA recognized:
"Canada's heavy reliance on voluntary codes of practice currently leaves it lagging behind other key jurisdictions that have comprehensive and enforceable accessible transportation regulations, notably the United States and the EU."
Later the CTA similarly recognized how out-of-date its regulatory regime in this area has been:
"The current CTA regulations, voluntary codes of practice, and some of the guidance material relevant to accessible travel are outdated and contain significant gaps. While some gaps have been partially addressed through the CTA's adjudication of individual accessibility complaints, this approach has resulted in an uneven playing field for industry, as some transportation service providers named in complaints are required to remove undue obstacles while others are not. As a result, extensive consultations have confirmed wide support from disability rights organizations, the general public and industry for the development of a single, comprehensive set of accessible transportation regulations that apply across the national transportation system."
Elsewhere the CTA fairly acknowledged that its regulatory regime in this area to date has been inadequate, where it states:
"However, current accessibility provisions for the national transportation system are generally voluntary (i.e. not legally binding), and have not kept pace with developments since the early 2000s."
4. CTA's Goal In the Draft Regulation is Confused
At points, the CTA sets its goal well below the human rights standard. This is especially troubling, since the CTA states that it is trying to align itself with Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act. That proposed legislation is called "an Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada."
At other points, CTA merely says it aims to make transportation "more accessible", a tepid and inadequate goal. The CTA states:
"The proposed Regulations would require these entities (collectively referred to herein as "transportation service providers") to take steps to meet certain standards to make travel more accessible and consistent for persons with disabilities."
Later the CTA acknowledges a stronger and far more appropriate goal of a barrier-free transportation system:
"The overarching objective of the proposed regulatory package is to promote the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in society by creating comprehensive and enforceable accessible transportation requirements that are applicable to all modes of transportation, and enabling persons with disabilities to travel with a predictable and consistent level of accessibility across a barrier-free modern national transportation system."
Still later, but within just a few pages of those earlier contradictory statements, the CTA in one paragraph both sets a correct goal of "equal access" and shortly thereafter the incorrect diluted goal of "more accessible":
"The ATPDR would ensure that all Canadians, including persons with disabilities, have equal access to the national transportation system. Transportation service providers subject to the proposed Regulations would be required to take steps and meet the proposed standards to make travel more accessible and consistent for persons with disabilities."
We recommend that the CTA use consistent language that makes it clear that aim of the regulation is the achievement of a barrier-free and fully-accessible transportation system. We also recommend that a provision be added to the regulation that makes it clear that nothing in this regulation should be construed as reducing any duties to accommodate passengers with disabilities as guaranteed either in the Canada Human Rights Act or the Canada Transportation Act.
5. Draft Regulations Threaten to Create a New Legal Barrier that Can Impede Human Rights Duty of Transportation Providers to Accommodate
The AODA Alliance opposes the adoption of any CTA regulations that could threaten in any way to reduce the duty of transportation providers to accommodate passengers with disabilities as guaranteed under human rights laws. This includes any threat to reduce the duty of transportation providers under the Canada Transportation Act to remove and prevent undue obstacles or barriers to travel by passengers with disabilities.
For this reason, we regret that we must oppose the adoption of the draft regulation. While it includes some helpful contents, it also includes provisions that threaten existing human rights entitlements.
We have not had the time to screen the entire draft regulation to find all the threatening provisions, in order to see which parts, if any, of the draft regulation is irrelevant to that pressing concern. Before proceeding with this regulation, the Federal Government should put this draft regulation through a careful screening, with input from the disability community and the Canadian Human Rights Commission for that purpose.
Our concern arises from the fact that s. 172 of the Canada Transportation Act provides that once the CTA has enacted a regulation in an area, passengers with disabilities are barred from bringing an individual claim that a barrier is an "undue obstacle" in that area, if that would require the transportation provider to do anything more than the regulation requires. In effect, the CTA regulation sets a cap or ceiling on the scope of the duty to accommodate of transportation providers. The transportation provider need do no more, even if the regulation does not ensure effective accommodation, and even if further accommodation efforts are possible without undue hardship.
Section 172 provides, referring to the Canada Transportation Agency:
The AODA Alliance and other disability organizations have asked Parliament to repeal s. 172. That would leave the human rights duty to accommodate intact. Regulations enacted by the CTA could reinforce it, but never reduce it. The Federal Government has not done so. It has given no reason for its refusal to do so.
Instead of removing this unfair provision in the CTA legislation, Bill C-81 preserves it. The Federal Government refused our request to remove it from Bill C-81. We have asked the Senate to remove it. The Senate has not yet indicated whether it would do so.
When the CTA appeared before the Senate's Standing Committee on Social Affairs to discuss Bill C-81 on April 10, 2019, it did not identify this problem or express any opinion on the AODA Alliance's call for s. 172 to be repealed. To our knowledge, the Senators did not ask the CTA about this specific provision at those hearings.
When federal Disabilities Minister Carla Qualtrough appeared on April 3, 2019 before the Senate's Standing Committee on Social Affairs to speak to Bill C-81, she stated:
Yet Bill C-81, whose creation she led, preserves and perpetuates s. 172, which is a threat to the duty to accommodate people with disabilities.
We here identify a troubling example in the draft regulations which on their face threaten to cut back on the duty to accommodate. As a painful irony, this threat arises from provisions which on their face give the impression that they seek to assist with the accommodation in transportation of passengers with disabilities.
We specifically focus on the draft regulations' imposing a duty on passengers with disabilities to give advance notice to transportation providers of a request for certain prescribed accommodations. This problem arises from a combination of sections 29, 32, 34 and 35 of the draft regulations, which we set out here in material part.
Section 29 of the draft regulations provides:
"Advance notice — at least 48 hours
29 (1) If a person with a disability makes a request for a service set out in this Part at least 48 hours before the scheduled time of departure, the carrier must provide the service.
No advance notice required
(2) Despite subsection (1), if a person makes a request for a service referred to in any of paragraphs 32(a), (b), (g) and (i) to (w) or section 34 or 35 less than 48 hours before the scheduled time of departure, the carrier must provide the service.
Advance notice — 96 hours
(3) Despite subsection (1) and subject to subsection (2), a carrier may require that a request for a service set out in this Part be made 96 hours in advance of the person's scheduled time of departure if the period of advance notice that is required by the carrier is reasonably necessary in the circumstances because of the type of service that is requested by the person.
If no advance notice
(4) Despite subsections (1) and (3), if a request for a service that is subject to a time limit referred to in those subsections is not made within the time limit, the carrier must nonetheless make a reasonable effort to provide the service."
Section 32 of the draft regulations, to which s. 29 refers, provides:
"32 A carrier must ensure that personnel, on the request of a person with a disability, provide the following services to the person without delay:
(a) assisting the person with registering at the check-in counter;
(b) permitting the person, if they are unable to use an automated self-service kiosk or other automated check-in or ticketing process, to advance to the front of the line at a check-in counter or ticket counter;
(c) assisting the person in proceeding through any security screening process at the terminal, including by
(i) providing personnel to assist the person to proceed through the security screening process, or
(ii) collaborating with the relevant security authority or security personnel at the terminal to permit a person who is not travelling with the person with a disability to have access to the security screening checkpoint so that they may assist the person with a disability to proceed through the security screening process;
(d) assisting the person in proceeding to the boarding area after check-in;
(e) before boarding, transferring the person between the person's own mobility aid and a mobility aid provided by the carrier;
(f) assisting the person in boarding and disembarking and, in the case of a person travelling on a ferry, assisting the person in moving to and from a vehicle deck to a passenger deck;
(g) assisting the person in storing and retrieving their carry-on baggage;
(h) before departure and on arrival at the destination, transferring the person between a mobility aid and the person's passenger seat;
(i) assisting the person in moving in and out of a mobility aid space;
(j) before departure or, if impossible because of time constraints, after departure, describing to a person who is blind or has a visual impairment the layout of the aircraft, train, ferry or bus, as the case may be, including the location of washrooms and exits, and the location and operation of any passenger-operated controls at the person's passenger seat;
(k) assisting the person in accessing any entertainment content that is offered on board, such as by providing them with a personal electronic device and assisting them in using that device;
(l) before departure, providing the person with an individualized safety briefing and demonstration;
(m) on board an aircraft, train or ferry, providing the person with an on-board wheelchair;
(n) on board an aircraft, train or ferry, assisting the person in moving between their passenger seat and a washroom, including by assisting them in transferring between their passenger seat and an on-board wheelchair;
(o) on board an aircraft, permitting a person to use the washroom that has the most amount of space, regardless of the travel class for which the washroom is designated or where it is located, if the person is using the washroom in an on-board wheelchair or with the assistance of any support person or service dog;
(p) if a meal is offered on board, describing to the person all the food and beverages that are offered for consumption or providing a menu in large print or in Braille;
(q) if a meal is served on board to the person, assisting the person with the meal by opening packages, identifying food items and their location and cutting larger food portions;
(r) if the person is not able to access a food service car on a train, permitting the person and any support person to order a meal, and be served the meal, at their passenger seats;
(s) assisting the person in proceeding through immigration and customs;
(t) assisting the person in retrieving their checked baggage;
(u) assisting the person, after disembarkation, in proceeding to the general public area;
(v) assisting the person, after disembarkation, in proceeding to a location where the person may receive assistance to proceed to the curbside zone from personnel of the terminal operator; and
(w) assisting the person, if they are transferring to another segment of their trip within the same terminal, in proceeding to a location where the person may receive assistance from personnel of the receiving carrier."
Sections 34 and 35 of the draft regulations provide:
"34 If a person with a disability who is in a wheelchair, a boarding chair or any other device in which the person is not independently mobile is waiting at a terminal for departure after check-in or in order to transfer to another segment of their trip, the carrier must ensure that personnel
(a) provide the person with a place to wait that is close to personnel who are available to provide assistance to the person; and
(b) periodically inquire about the person's needs and attend to those needs if the services requested by the person are services that are required by this Part.
35 Unless a person with a disability is able to request assistance from personnel by means of a call button, the carrier must ensure that personnel periodically inquire about the person's needs and attend to those needs if the services requested by the person are services that are required by this Part."
This draft regulation would legislate the creation of a new legalized barrier to the duty to accommodate, namely a requirement for passengers with disabilities to give advance notice to the transportation provider 48 hours before the travel, when seeking certain specified accommodations. That means that passengers with disabilities don't have an assurance of a vital accommodation service if they have not given 48 hours advance notice to the transportation provider, where they are requesting any of the following accommodations:
Assisting the person in proceeding through any security screening process at the terminal (s. 32c).
Assisting the person in proceeding to the boarding area after check-in (s. 32(d)).
Before boarding, transferring the person between the person's own mobility aid and a mobility aid provided by the carrier (s. 32(e)).
Assisting the person in boarding and disembarking and, in the case of a person travelling on a ferry, assisting the person in moving to and from a vehicle deck to a passenger deck (s. 32(f)).
Before departure and on arrival at the destination, transferring the person between a mobility aid and the person's passenger seat (s. 32(h)).
Assisting the person in moving in and out of a mobility aid space (s. 32 (i)).
Before departure or, if impossible because of time constraints, after departure, describing to a person who is blind or has a visual impairment the layout of the aircraft, train, ferry or bus, as the case may be, including the location of washrooms and exits, and the location and operation of any passenger-operated controls at the person's passenger seat (s. 32(j)).
Assisting the person in accessing any entertainment content that is offered on board, such as by providing them with a personal electronic device and assisting them in using that device (s.32 (k)).
Before departure, providing the person with an individualized safety briefing and demonstration) s. 32(l)).
On board an aircraft, train or ferry, providing the person with an on-board wheelchair (s. 32(m)).
On board an aircraft, train or ferry, assisting the person in moving between their passenger seat and a washroom, including by assisting them in transferring between their passenger seat and an on-board wheelchair (s. 32(n)).
On board an aircraft, permitting a person to use the washroom that has the most amount of space, regardless of the travel class for which the washroom is designated or where it is located, if the person is using the washroom in an on-board wheelchair or with the assistance of any support person or service dog (s. 32(o)).
If a meal is offered on board, describing to the person all the food and beverages that are offered for consumption or providing a menu in large print or in Braille (s. 32(p)).
If a meal is served on board to the person, assisting the person with the meal by opening packages, identifying food items and their location and cutting larger food portions (s. 32(q)).
If the person is not able to access a food service car on a train, permitting the person and any support person to order a meal, and be served the meal, at their passenger seats (s. 3r)).
Assisting the person in proceeding through immigration and customs (s. 32(s)).
Assisting the person in retrieving their checked baggage (s. 32(t)).
Assisting the person, after disembarkation, in proceeding to the general public area (s. 32(u)).
Assisting the person, after disembarkation, in proceeding to a location where the person may receive assistance to proceed to the curbside zone from personnel of the terminal operator (s. 32(v)).
Assisting the person, if they are transferring to another segment of their trip within the same terminal, in proceeding to a location where the person may receive assistance from personnel of the receiving carrier (s. 32(w)).
Providing a person with a disability who is in a wheelchair, a boarding chair or any other device in which the person is not independently mobile, while waiting at a terminal for departure after check-in or in order to transfer to another segment of their trip, to provide the person with a place to wait that is close to personnel who are available to provide assistance ,and periodically inquire about the person's needs and attend to those needs if the services requested by the person are services that are required as listed in that Part of the regulations. (s. 34).
Unless a person with a disability is able to request assistance from personnel by means of a call button, to ensure that personnel periodically inquire about the person's needs and attend to those needs if the services requested by the person are services that are required by this Part. (s. 35).
Advance notice is simply not justified for many if not most of these accommodations – assuming it can even be justified for any of them. These all involve a transportation provider deploying existing staff on hand. We cannot see how a transportation provider would change its plans or operations 48 hours before a trip in response to such advance notice. Even if advance notice were justified, which we dispute, a full two days is excessive.
Making this problematic situation even worse, s. 32(3) would allow a transportation provider to unilaterally require even more notice, namely 96 hours (4 days) for any of the foregoing, in circumstances that passengers with disabilities could not reliably know in advance. Section 32(3) provides:
" (3) Despite subsection (1) and subject to subsection (2), a carrier may require that a request for a service set out in this Part be made 96 hours in advance of the person's scheduled time of departure if the period of advance notice that is required by the carrier is reasonably necessary in the circumstances because of the type of service that is requested by the person."
When could an airline, for example, possibly need fully four days' notice in order for a flight attendant, already present on the plane to do any of the following:
* Before departure, providing the person with an individualized safety briefing and demonstration )s. 32(l)).
* On board an aircraft, permitting a person to use the washroom that has the most amount of space, regardless of the travel class for which the washroom is designated or where it is located, if the person is using the washroom in an on-board wheelchair or with the assistance of any support person or service dog (s. 32(o)).
* If a meal is served on board to the person, assisting the person with the meal by opening packages, identifying food items and their location and cutting larger food portions (s. 32(q)).
Section 32(4) of the draft regulations attempts to reduce the harshness of this new barrier to effective accommodation of passengers with disabilities. It provides:
By s. 32(4), a passenger's failure to give the required notice is not automatically barred from any accommodation. However, the only effort that the transportation provider must make to provide a needed accommodation in circumstances of no advance notice is effort that is simply "reasonable." The draft regulation provides no criteria for assessing the reasonableness of the transportation's efforts.
Section 32(4)'s "reasonable efforts" clause is worded in terms that risks falling short of the human rights duty to accommodate. Under the human rights duty to accommodate, the transportation provider has the duty to make serious and substantial efforts, tailored to the individual's specific needs, including investigating alternative solutions where needed, as well as the burden to show that it was impossible for the transportation provider to do more than it did to accommodate the passenger with a disability, without undue hardship. "Undue hardship" is a recognized and tough test to meet. It is not mere "reasonableness" of its effort.
These sections in the draft regulations read as if they were written for, if not by, the transportation sector. Such provisions are emblematic of why so many in the disability community oppose the CTA being assigned the proposed accessibility mandate under Bill C-81.
Many if not most or all of the accommodation services listed above that are subject to this new prior notice requirement are ones which passengers with disabilities have been able to request without prior notice up to now. As such, the draft regulations here threaten to serve as a real step backwards.
The regulations impose no duty on a transportation provider to effectively notify all passengers that it will require a 96 hour notice period for any or all of the listed accommodation services. Merely posting this on a website provides no assurance that passengers with disabilities will know to check, and will check at the right place. Must all passengers with disabilities start surfing the web or phoning their airline 96 hours in advance in case they might need one of these accommodations?
This notice requirement also presents a serious new barrier for passengers who are travelling at the last minute, e.g. for business, or to address an emergency or to attend a funeral. Passengers without disabilities are not similarly burdened. As such, this appears quite discriminatory.
The draft regulations do not require transportation providers to provide a reliable, quick, easily-accessed means for passengers with disabilities to give the required notice to the transportation provider. Members of the public are all too aware of the difficulties when trying, for example, to simply get a live person on the line when calling a major transportation provider. Even when a passenger tries to contact either of Toronto's major passenger airports, Pearson International Airport or Billy Bishop Airport, to request curbside assistance in advance of arriving at the terminal, frustrating barriers have been encountered. Some have secured media attention. Had this been so important for the airlines, we anticipate that they would have already created a fast, effective and easy-to-use to give such advance notice.
6. Exceptions and Exemptions that Are Too Broad Fly in the Face of Supreme Court Human Rights Requirements
The draft regulations include exceptions and exemptions that are too broad. We have not had the time to isolate and analyze all of these. They all needed to be screen for human rights concerns before enactment of this regulation can be considered.
The CTA's explanation of the draft regulations includes:
"The proposed ATPDR would set minimum accessibility standards that would apply to any new buildings or facilities purchased by Canadian transportation service providers after the one year following the coming into force of the proposed Regulations. In addition, any major modifications made to existing equipment or facilities would be required to comply with the proposed Regulations."
This appears to permit a transportation to acquire a new building with accessibility barriers over a year after this regulation comes into force. The draft regulations need to be vetted to ensure that they do not allow a transportation provider or terminal to acquire a new building or part of a building during the year after the regulation comes into force, that does not meet the regulation's accessibility requirements.
As another example, the draft regulations set requirements for accessibility features that must be included in new passenger airplanes. According to a complex series of provisions that are hard to decipher, some of these requirements do not apply to a "pre-existing" airplane. Section 62(4) defines a pre-existing airplane or like equipment as follows:
"(4) In subsections (1) to (3), a pre-existing aircraft, train, ferry or bus means an aircraft, train, ferry or bus that was
(a) purchased or leased by the carrier before the day on which this section comes into force; or
(b) purchased or leased by the carrier on or after the day on which this section comes into force, if the carrier has submitted the invitation for bids in respect of that aircraft, train, ferry or bus before that day."
This provision does not come into force for one year after this regulation is enacted (See s. 162). As such, it appears that an airline could rush out now and buy new airplanes that do not meet the accessibility requirements for new airplanes, over the months before the regulation comes into effect. This flies in the face of the duty of each transportation provider not to create new disability barriers. It was a CTA case before the Supreme Court of Canada that established this principle in Council of Canadians with Disabilities v. ViaRail ## cite. [2007] 1 SCR 650, citing with approval Lepofsky, M. David. "Federal Court of Appeal De‑Rails Equality Rights for Persons With Disabilities — Via Rail v. Canadian Transportation Agency and the Important Duty Not to Create New Barriers to Accessibility" (2005‑2006), 18 N.J.C.L. 169.
All the timelines in these draft regulations need to be vetted to ensure that they do not violate the principle that the Supreme Court of Canada enunciated in the ViaRail case.
7. Curbside Assistance Provisions Fraught with Difficulties
We offer one other illustration of a concern with the draft regulations that show the risk of their being quite weak, namely the provision regarding curbside assistance at a transportation terminal. We do not here suggest that this provision violates existing human rights. Rather, we point to this because the CTA, when appearing before the Senate's Standing Committee on Social Affairs, highlighted this part of these regulations. CTA chair Scott Streiner told the Senate's Standing Committee on Social Affairs on April 10, 2019:
"The second example I would give relates to curbside assistance — that is, curb to gate assistance in airports. For travellers using mobility devices, particularly wheelchairs but also those who require guidance for blind travellers, or others, we all know that it can be a challenge, even if you don't have a disability, to find your way from curbside to gate. Certainly, we require assistance in some cases for persons with disabilities.
There have been instances that have come to our attention where there's been confusion about who provides that assistance between the airport, the airline and folks that found themselves not receiving the kind of assistance they need in a timely way. Again, these new regulations make it clear who has to do what. That's a gap we're trying to address through regulations."
It is commendable that the draft regulations aim to ensure that passengers with disabilities can get curbside assistance to get into an airport or other transportation terminal, so they can check in. However, the provisions have excessive loopholes and leave far too much to the discretion of transportation provider and terminal operators. Contrary to Mr. Streiner's presentation to the Senate and his commendable aims here, they do not make it clear to passengers with disabilities who does what.
Section 137 provides that a terminal operator must provide to passengers with disabilities "without delay" accommodation services such as"
"(c) assisting the person to proceed between the curbside zone and the check-in area or, if there is no check-in area, between the curbside zone and a representative of a carrier."
Section 137(2) qualifies that a terminal does not have to provide that service if the transportation provider is providing that service. Section 137(2) provides:
" (2) Despite subsection (1), a terminal operator is not required to provide a person with any assistance referred to in that subsection if a carrier is already providing that person with that assistance."
Section 136 requires the terminal operator to publish information about the availability of this curbside assistance. Section 136 provides in part:
"136 A terminal operator must publish, including by publishing on its Internet site, information about the services or facilities available at the terminal for persons with disabilities, including information about
(a) the curbside zone, including where the curbside zone is located and how to request assistance to or from the curbside zone;"
Taken together, these provisions are too confusing and slippery. Here again, they appear to serve the interest of terminal operators and transportation providers, who are given excessive discretion. Passengers with disabilities are left with uncertainty and unpredictability.
First, the regulation sets no time target that the terminal or transportation provider must meet to provide this curbside assistance. "Without delay" is entirely unpredictable and hard to enforce. A passenger with a disability could be left isolated, with no nearby staff, waiting and waiting alone in front of an airport in the middle of a freezing February day, without knowing how long they must continue to wait. They won't know how much earlier they must arrive at the airport to be sure they get assisted to arrive inside the terminal to check in, in time to ensure that they don't miss their flight. This does not serve the fundamental goal of predictability that the CTA emphasized in its explanation of these regulations.
By not specifying a specific maximum time requirement, this leaves each transportation provider free to set its own time lines, hoping that passengers with disabilities won't bother taking on the burdensome chore of filing and litigating a case before the CTA over this. transportation providers know that few passengers with disabilities will wish to take on the hardship of litigating against a well-funded transportation provider over the interpretation of the vague words "without delay".
Second, the draft regulations create confusion facing passengers with disabilities over who is responsible to provide this curbside assistance. The provision imposes the duty on the terminal. However, it leaves it open to an airline to provide the service, in which case the terminal is excused. Yet the provision imposes no specific duties on the airline that does offer the service. Does the "without delay" clause apply to the airlines too? If the airline doesn't provide the service, has the passenger a right to demand it from the terminal operator? How can the passenger give the 48 or 96 hour notice that the terminal operator might demand?
For a passenger with a disability who just wants to get into an airport's front door and up to the counter, this is a legal/regulatory mess dressed up as a helpful accommodation. Add to this the ordeal, while standing outside on that freezing February day, fearful of missing one's flight, of then having to try to get someone on the phone from the airline or airport to figure out who is supposed to help, or trying to surf the web to see if there is an up-to-date posting on the airline's or airport's website that might point to the right phone number. Navigating such websites for assistance and trying to reach a live person on the phone with correct information on a topic like this is already a vexing challenge.
Third, there appears to be no requirement that all passengers including passengers with disabilities be notified of this service when their ticket is purchased, as part of the ticket documentation. Similarly, there is no requirement that the transportation provider or terminal have, and make public, an easily-reached phone number to call when en route to the terminal, to give advance warning that they are about to arrive. Requiring notice 48 or 96 hours in advance does little to help the terminal or transportation provider. Being able to call to seek this accommodation when a few minutes away, and to reach a live person in direct contact with the help personnel, would go much further to make a service like this become reliable.
We hope that in our rush to provide useful feedback on this complicated and at times, opaque draft regulation, we have not inadvertently made any incorrect descriptions of its provisions. If we have, we ask the CTA to notify us, so that we can correct our submission.
This draft regulation shows why it is essential for Parliament to immediately repeal s. 172 of the Canada Transportation Act. People with disabilities should not have to fear that the enactment of a regulation like this, despite some helpful provisions, can end up reducing their rights. They face too many barriers now in Canada's transportation system. They should not face further hurdles, created by a regulatory authority whose mandate is to tear down such barriers and to prevent the creation of new ones.
Come to the April 10, 2019 Queen's Park Accessibility Town Hall – and – Powerful Toronto Star Editorial Calls on Ford Government to Swiftly Implement the Onley Report
Posted on March 13, 2019 by admin in Built Environment, Editorials, Media, New 2019, Public Money, What's New in Our Campaign
1. Come to Queen's park on April 10, 2019!
Here is a great chance to have your say and to show your support for action to achieve n accessible Ontario. We encourage one and all to come to Queen's Park on April 10, 2019 to attend an Accessibility Town Hall that is being hosted by Ottawa Centre NDP MPP Joel Harden. Below we set out Mr. Harden's announcement of this event. It includes a link for you to RSVP if you are going to attend.
We are honoured that AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky will be speaking at this event. This is your chance to share information about the disability barriers you face and the actions that you need the Government to take.
The AODA Alliance is strictly non-partisan. We are open to take part in similar events, organized by any of the political parties. We encourage all the parties in the legislature to organize similar events.
2. A Powerful Toronto Star Editorial Calls for Swift Government Action to Implement the Onley Report on the Disabilities Act's Implementation and Enforcement
Here's another great development in the long road to a constitutional Ontario for people with disabilities. A strong editorial in the March 13, 2019 Toronto Star, set out below, endorses the final report of David Onley's Independent Review of the AODA's implementation and enforcement. This is the fourteenth time a newspaper editorial has backed our cause since our predecessor, the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee, was formed in the late fall of 1994.
That editorial, the Onley report itself, and the AODA Alliance's March 8, 2019 news release on the Onley report, together are a great starting point for the April 10, 2019 Queen's Park Town Hall on accessibility in Ontario. We encourage you to widely circulate both that editorial and the announcement of the April 10, 2019 Town Hall that are included below in this Update.
In our March 11, 2019 letter to Minister for Accessibility and Seniors Raymond Cho, the AODA Alliance called on the Ford Government to act now on the Onley report's findings and recommendations. We don't want the Government to now drag its feet with months of study and pondering before it acts. It took the Ford Government fully nine months to lift its unnecessary freeze on the work of AODA Standards Development Committees that are developing recommendations for new accessibility standards in the important areas of education and health care. We don't want that kind of delay repeated here.
Text of MPP Joel Harden's Announcement of the April 10, 2019 Queen's Park Accessibility Town Hall
I've had the pleasure to act as Critic for Accessibility & People with Disabilities; Seniors' Affairs; Pensions in the Ontario Legislature, and in that time I've met with many folks in the disability rights community. I have had a lot to learn, and greatly benefited from conversations with passionate leaders.
Time and again, I've heard that we are not prepared to meet Ontario's obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), most notably that Ontario be a fully accessible province by the year 2025. This message was powerfully reinforced recently by the Honourable David C. Onley's Report on the Third Review of the AODA.
Ontario needs a plan of action on accessibility, and it's time to open up the Ontario Legislature to hear from those directly impacted by failing to meet AODA targets.
And so, with that in mind, I write to invite you to an Accessibility Town Hall at the Ontario Legislature on April 10, 2019. Following Question Period, a lunch will be hosted in Room 351, followed by three hours of open presentations to listen to your perspectives.
I am pleased that David Lepofsky (Chair, AODA Alliance) and Sarah Jama (Disability Justice Network of Ontario) will be on hand to offer brief remarks prior to these open hearings. All necessary accommodations will be available to ensure you can participate.
Please join us! Ontario needs your ideas, expertise, and passion to ensure this province is accessible to all, where everyone can live their lives to the fullest.
RSVP here: http://www.joelharden.ca/accessibility_town_hall
My very best,
MPP for Ottawa Centre
Official Opposition Critic for Accessibility & People with Disabilities; Seniors' Affairs; Pensions
The Toronto Star March 13, 2019
Originally posted at: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2019/03/12/ford-government-must-fulfill-ontarios-promise-to-people-with-disabilities.html
Time to clear the way
Accessibility review
Fourteen years ago, Ontarians with disabilities might have been hopeful that the barriers that prevent them from fully participating in daily activities,
from getting to work to eating in a restaurant, would be dismantled.
After all, the government of the day was ahead of its time when it passed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act with the goal of making
the province fully accessible by 2025. But last week their disappointments were given heartfelt voice in a scathing review that concludes the province
is nowhere near accomplishing its goal.
Indeed, Ontario's former lieutenant governor David Onley found that for "most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless,
dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers."
This is clearly unacceptable. The Ford government must quickly implement Onley's 15 sensible recommendations, starting with his request that Premier Doug
Ford make accessibility a government-wide priority.
As it stands, 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities are receiving the message that "you don't belong here," says Onley, who himself uses a wheelchair.
That should be viewed as a violation of both human and civil rights.
In fact, it's no different, Onley says, than "the signs of a bygone era in foreign countries telling people which water fountains they could or could not
use and which restaurants and buses they could or could not use."
The bottom line, he says, is that investing in accessibility is both the right thing to do and also provides social and economic benefits for everyone,
including the province's increasing numbers of seniors.
Among Onley's common-sense recommendations:
Offer tax breaks and other financial incentives to improve accessibility in public and private buildings alike.
Ensure that architects are trained in inclusive design.
Redesign Ontario's education curriculum to educate students about accessibility issues, starting in kindergarten.
Reform the way infrastructure projects are managed to ensure public money is never spent on actually creating barriers to accessibility.
Review accessibility standards in building code amendments for new construction projects and major renovations, as well as in provincial guidelines for
how public space is designed.
Onley's review is not the first to point out the glacial pace of progress on accessibility reform in this province. It is the third. It's time the government
listened and acted.