ODA Committee Update
dated Nov. 4, 2003
Posted Nov. 5, 2003

ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMMITTEE UPDATE ODA Committee Writes New Liberal Government's Citizenship Minister November 4, 2003 SUMMARY Today the ODA Committee wrote the new Liberal Government's Citizenship Minister, Marie Bountrogianni. She has been assigned responsibility for the ODA. We congratulate her on her new post, and offer our help. See this letter below. Send us your feedback at: oda@odacommittee.net ***** ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMMITTEE c/o Marg Thomas 1929 Bayview Avenue, Toronto ON M4G 3E8 Tel: (Voice direct) 416-480-7686 Fax: 416-480-704 Voice mail: 416-480-7012 email: oda@odacommittee.net TTY: c/o Susan Main 416 964-0023 ex. 343 Web site: www.odacommittee.net November 4, 2003 The Honourable Marie Bountrogianni Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Children's Issues 400 University Avenue 6th Floor Toronto, Ontario M7A 2R9 Dear Minister, Re: Ontarians with Disabilities Act On behalf of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee, I want to congratulate you on your recent re-election and on your appointment to the position of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and for Children's Services. We look forward to working together with you as you undertake the lead responsibility for fulfilling the Liberal Government's election commitments to develop a new, strong and effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act. As you gear up for this important new challenge, you may find it helpful to review the input from the disability community over the past two years on the ODA issue, and especially its input in the fall of 2001 to the Legislature's Standing Committee on Finance during hearings on the Conservative Government's ODA bill. The strong message in that input was that that bill needed to be strengthened to make it mandatory for barriers against persons with disabilities to be removed and prevented along reasonable time lines, to require the establishment of effective accessibility standards, to extend barrier removal and prevention requirements to the private sector as well as the public sector, and to provide for effective enforcement of the ODA. We were delighted that the Liberal Party has shared in that message. Again, please accept our congratulations on your new post. There is much work now to be done. We welcome the chance to work together with you, your Ministry's staff, and all other stake-holders to make a barrier-free Ontario for persons with disabilities a reality as soon as reasonably possible. Sincerely, David Lepofsky, C.M. Chair Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee cc: Hon. Dalton Mcguinty (416) 325-9895 Dwight Duncan (416) 325-2201 Ernie Eves (519) 941-3246 Robert Runciman (613) 342-2501 Howard Hampton (416) 325-8222 Peter Kormos (905) 732-9782

 

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