ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMMITTEE UPDATE

June 13, 2002

The Honourable Carl DeFaria
Minister of Citizenship
400 University Avenue, 6th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2R9

Dear Minister:

Re: Ontarians with Disabilities Act

Thank you for your May 9, 2002 letter. We know that much needs to be done
for the Government to effectively implement the Ontarians with Disabilities
Act 2001, and for the Government to fulfil the 13 important commitments it
made to Ontarians with disabilities last fall in connection with this
legislation.

As part of our ongoing effort to provide the Ontario Government with
constructive assistance in achieving our goal of a barrier-free province
for people with disabilities, The Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee
is very pleased today to send you an important document that we have
prepared for you, the Accessibility Directorate and the Accessibility
Advisory Council.

We enclose our "PROPOSED ONTARIO GOVERNMENT ONE-YEAR ODA WORKPLAN." In it we have identified a list of important tasks that we recommend
that the Ontario Government undertake over the next year to implement this
legislation effectively. In preparing it we solicited input from our membership
across Ontario, and carefully analyzed the terms of the ODA 2001 and the
Government's 13 commitments to persons with disabilities made last fall.

We hope that you and the Government, including the Accessibility Council,
will find this Proposed Workplan helpful. We know that the workplan is
ambitious. We hope and trust that you will agree that the pressing needs of
over 1.5 million Ontarians with disabilities call for ambitious action. As
the Workplan states, we also hope that you will find our suggestions
reasonable, or will adopt comparable strategies and time-lines in your
final workplan.

We have concentrated our recommendations on setting priorities for
meaningful action that will make a real difference in the lives of
Ontarians with disabilities. We believe that action in setting mandatory
provincial standards and timetables is key success in this regard.

We are eager to provide you with any additional feedback and assistance
that we can concerning our Proposed Workplan. We are also eager to learn
from you about the specifics of the workplan that you adopt.

In your May 9, 2002 letter you encourage us to contact David Shannon, chair
of the Ontario Accessibility Council. Please be assured that we are now
doing so. We will similarly offer to assist him and the Council in any way
we can to ensure that the ODA 2001 is effectively implemented as soon as
possible, and that strong, effective and mandatory regulations are enacted
under it.

Yours sincerely,

David Lepofsky, C.M.
Chair
Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee

cc: The Hon. Ernie Eves 325-7578
Chris Stockwell 325-7755
Dalton McGuinty 325-9895
Dwight Duncan 325-2201
Steve Peters 325-7262
Ernie Parsons 325-4757
Howard Hampton 325-8222
Peter Kormos 325-7067
Marilyn Churley 325-3252
Tony Martin 325-3720
David Shannon
Nadia Temple

Enclosure: ODA Committee's PROPOSED ONTARIO GOVERNMENT ONE-YEAR ODA WORKPLAN