ODA Update
June 18, 2001

Only 158 days remain until the November 23, 2001 deadline which the Ontario Legislature set for a strong and effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act to be enacted. Here is important news along our journey down the road to the Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario AMO is an important organization. It is made up of many of the local municipal governments across this province. It often advises the Ontario Government on issues that are relevant to local governments. The new Citizenship Minister Cam Jackson approached AMO some time ago about the ODA. He asked for AMO's input on what the ODA should contain vis a vis barriers at the municipal level. AMO developed some ideas on this topic, and sent them to Minister Jackson in a letter dated May 1, 2001. We recently asked for and obtained from AMO a copy of that letter. It is set out below. It includes some encouraging statements about this topic. We have written the President of AMO to follow up on this. See our letter below. AMO's letter accepts a good part of the message we have been bringing to the public.We want to show AMO why the core ingredients we want in the ODA, as reflected in our 11 principles, would be good for municipal and regional governments and the people living in them. We also want to urge AMO to take a position on the ODA which corresponds to the position that so many municipal councils have adopted by their many resolutions on the ODA. In our letter below, we ask the AMO President to arrange a way that the ODA Committee and AMO can work together now to find as much common ground on this issue as possible. We encourage you to take these steps: * If your city, regional or town council has already passed a resolution in support of the ODA, contact them. Let them know about this exchange of letters involving AMO. Ask them to encourage AMO to take a position on the ODA which fully corresponds with the local resolution that your city or town or regional council has passed. You can see most of these resolutions on our web site at: http://www.odacommittee.net/resolutions.html * If your city, town or regional council has not yet passed a resolution in support of the ODA, encourage them to do so now. Urge them to let AMO know when they do. If you need a sample resolution, contact us for this at: oda@odacommittee.net Let's keep building more and more public support for the ODA! ***** Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) 393 University Avenue, Suite 1701 Toronto, ON M5G 1E6 tel: 416-971-9856 fax: 416-971-6191 OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT May 1, 2001 The Honourable Cam Jackson Minister of Citizenship 6th Floor, 400 University Avenue Toronto, ON M7A 2R9 Dear Minister: Thank you for the opportunity to provide municipal input into the development of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA). AMO understands the Province's commitment to this Act and its desire to move forward. In the interest of timely comments to you, this letter conveys the Association's position. A formal AMO report will be published at a later date. First and foremost, AMO agrees that working toward and making reasonable efforts to remove and prevent barriers for all people is good public policy. AMO also believes that in order to implement this statement of principle, the following considerations are needed: Both the provincial and federal governments must take leadership roles in preventing and removing barriers. This includes better training of staff to address the needs of persons with disabilities and educating the public with the goal of changing perceptions (social marketing) and an examination of the tools and programs to support the objective. All orders of government should co-ordinate their efforts. The ODA should have reasonable province-wide standards, which apply to all governments, institutes, and the private sector. This creates a one-tiered barrier-free Ontario as opposed to a multi- tiered Ontario. The ODA could promote full inclusion and take a universal business/access approach, where all segments of the population, aging population, women with children, persons with disabilities, etc., are included in designs. The capacity to finance is a key component to effective policy implementation. In the absence of municipal financial capacity, the federal and provincial governments should fund the costs of implementing an ODA at the municipal levels. The ODA should encourage governments to do business with parties that have similar priorities in regard to the disabled. Persons who are affected by barriers need to be closer to the decision makers throughout the process of implementing and administering the ODA, at the municipal level. Successes and best practices should be tracked and evaluated as they occur and this information should be disseminated to all appropriate parties. Municipalities should have the opportunity to review the ODA Act and any regulations associated with the Act before they are introduced into the legislature, AMO considered a number of approaches but when evaluated against the above considerations, the preferred approach is for local action plans. This approach or any other approach must give municipalities local determination in setting local targets, local priority setting, realistic time frames and flexibility according to local financial capacity. This will be needed for successful implementation. The Province could consider directing within this preferred approach that any new building construction be subject to barrier free design, but an even playing field is needed for both the private and public sector if accelerated accessibility is the government's objective. I encourage your staff to follow up with AMO once you have received the input of the various stakeholders. Further government to government discussions maybe appropriate as you consider how to proceed. Yours very sincerely, Ann Mulvale President cc: The Honourable Chris Hodgson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing The Honourable Brian Coburn, Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs The Honourable Dan Newman, Minister of Northern Development and Mines ***** ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMMITTEE c/o Marg Thomas 1929 Bayview Avenue, Toronto ON M4G 3E8 Tel: (Voice direct) 416-480-7686 Fax: 416-480-7014 Voice mail: 416-480-7012 email: oda@odacommittee.net TTY: c/o Susan Main 416 964-0023 ex. 343 Web site: www.odacommittee.net June 15, 2001 Ms. Ann Mulvale, President Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) 393 University Avenue, Suite 1701 Toronto, ON M5G 1E6 tel: 416-971-9856 fax: 416-971-6191 Dear Ms. Mulvale, Re: Ontarians with Disabilities Act I am writing on behalf of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee. We are a province-wide grass roots non-partisan coalition of individuals and over a hundred community organizations. Our membership is diverse with respect to race, socioeconomic status, age, and demography. We have come together to achieve a barrier-free province for Ontarians with disabilities, enabling all people with and without a disability to participate equally in all aspects of provincial life. We are advocating for legislation requiring the removal of barriers in all provincial sectors and the prevention of new barriers before they are created. The Ontario government committed over six years ago to enact the Ontarians with Disabilities Act. It also committed in its April, 19, 2001 Throne Speech to introduce this legislation during the current legislative session. A resolution of the Ontario legislature unanimously passed eighteen months ago, set November 23, 2001 as the final deadline for passage of a strong and effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act. We understand that the new Citizenship Minister Cam Jackson has communicated with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to seek its input in the development of the forthcoming Ontarians with Disabilities Act. I recently spoke with staff at AMO's policy department about this. AMO has given the ODA Committee your May 1, 2001 letter to Minister Jackson, for which we are most appreciative. We are pleased with AMO's support indicated in your May 1 letter to Minister Jackson for important activities aimed at removing and preventing barriers against people with disabilities in Ontario. We view it as an indication that both AMO and the ODA Committee would very much benefit from further collaboration between us on this issue. At this time, it would seem opportune for all interested parties to meet and discuss legislative possibilities for the Ontarians with Disabilities Act which would benefit all who will be affected by this legislation. Municipal participation is critical to successful and effective legislation in this domain. Because this legislation is expected soon, the time is ripe for this collaboration. We are very encouraged to find that there is widespread strong support for the kind of legislation we seek among municipal councils of cities and towns throughout the province. This is clearly indicated by resolutions passed by over twenty municipal and regional councils across Ontario, calling for the enactment of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act. Many of these councils have endorsed the eleven principles for this legislation which we formulated and which the Ontario legislature unanimously adopted by resolution on October 29, 1998 (see copy enclosed). Those principles identify such elements as: the legislation's goal of a barrier-free province, the need for prompt and effective enforcement that goes beyond the barrier-by-barrier litigation- driven approach under the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the provision of a process for input from those affected by the legislation,such as persons with disabilities and municipal governments, in the setting of standards under the legislation. The municipalities and regional governments that have adopted supportive resolutions on the Ontarians with Disabilities Act reflect a clear majority of the population of Ontario, as well as the full diversity of communities from the largest cities to the smallest towns. Furthermore, a poll conducted in June, 1999 by the government and our own poll conducted in 1997 show strong support throughout the province for the kind of legislation we seek. In this context, we believe that discussions between the ODA Committee and AMO leadership would critically facilitate overall success in province-wide barrier removal and prevention via the forthcoming Ontarians with Disabilities Act. We were delighted to see that your May 1, 2001 letter to Minister Jackson recognized the need for important core ingredients for the Ontarians with Disabilities Act. We also know from discussions I had recently with your policy staff that such discussions would provide us with an opportunity to identify concerns specific to the municipal sector, to which the ODA Committee has given considerable thought. For example, we are keenly aware of and sensitive to the fact that the Ontarians with Disabilities Act must take into account the practical reality that we cannot have the same expectations of smaller towns as would be the case for larger cities. For example, it is a core principle of the ODA Committee that the expectations and time lines for removing and preventing barriers must be sensitive to the available resources and capacity of specific organizations such as diverse municipalities in order to achieve success at this kind of activity. A good start now along an important and fruitful path for a successful Ontarians with Disabilities Act would be for AMO and the ODA Committee to work together to discuss the immediate development of this legislation. To this end, on behalf of our province-wide membership, I would like to propose as a first step that a meeting be arranged as soon as your schedule permits with you to initiate such discussions. Thereafter, we would welcome an opportunity to meet with AMO's Executive Committee and/or its Board of Directors. To assist your members to prepare for such a meeting, our policy positions and full information about our province-wide activities (including resolutions passed by the Ontario Legislature and municipal and regional councils) are available on our website www.odacommittee.net. We will do our utmost to accommodate your schedule. We look forward to hearing from you and to working together with AMO so that the Ontarians with Disabilities Act can benefit all who will be affected by this important legislation. Sincerely, David Lepofsky, CM, Chair ODA Committee CC: Pat Vanini, Director of Policy and Government Relations ***** ODA Resolution Unanimously Passed by the Ontario Legislature OCTOBER 29, 1998 In the opinion of this House, since persons with disabilities in Ontario face systemic barriers in access to employment, services, goods, facilities and accommodation; and since, all Ontarians will benefit from the removal of these barriers, thereby enabling these persons to enjoy equal opportunity and full participation in the life of the province; and since Premier Harris promised in writing during the last election in the letter from Michael D. Harris to the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee dated May 24, 1995 to: a) enact an Ontarians with Disabilities Act within its current term of office; and b) work together with members of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee, amongst others, in the development of such legislation. and since this House unanimously passed a resolution on May 16, 1996 calling on the Ontario Government to keep this promise, Therefore this House resolves that the Ontarians with Disabilities Act should embody the following principles: 1. The purpose of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act should be to effectively ensure to persons with disabilities in Ontario the equal opportunity to fully and meaningfully participate in all aspects of life in Ontario based on their individual merit, by removing existing barriers confronting them and by preventing the creation of new barriers. It should seek to achieve a barrier- free Ontario for persons with disabilities within as short a time as is reasonably possible, with implementation to begin immediately upon proclamation. 2. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act's requirements should supersede all other legislation, regulations or policies which either conflict with it, or which provide lesser protections and entitlements to persons with disabilities; 3. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act should require government entities, public premises, companies and organizations to be made fully accessible to all persons with disabilities through the removal of existing barriers and the prevention of the creation of new barriers, within strict time frames to be prescribed in the legislation or regulations; 4. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act should require the providers of goods, services and facilities to the public to ensure that their goods, services and facilities are fully usable by persons with disabilities, and that they are designed to reasonably accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities. Included among services, goods and facilities, among other things, are all aspects of education including primary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as providers of transportation and communication facilities (to the extent that Ontario can regulate these) and public sector providers of information to the public e.g. governments. Providers of these goods, services and facilities should be required to devise and implement detailed plans to remove existing barriers within legislated timetables; 5. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act should require public and private sector employers to take proactive steps to achieve barrier-free workplaces within prescribed time limits. Among other things, employers should be required to identify existing barriers which impede persons with disabilities, and then to devise and implement plans for the removal of these barriers, and for the prevention of new barriers in the workplace; 6. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act should provide for a prompt and effective process for enforcement. It should not simply incorporate the existing procedures for filing discrimination complaints with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, as these are too slow and cumbersome, and yield inadequate remedies; 7. As part of its enforcement process, the Ontarians with Disabilities Act should provide for a process of regulation- making to define with clarity the steps required for compliance with the Ontarians with Disabilities Act. It should be open for such regulations to be made on an industry-by-industry basis, or sector-by-sector basis. This should include a requirement that input be obtained from affected groups such as persons with disabilities before such regulations are enacted. It should also provide persons with disabilities with the opportunity to apply to have regulations made in specific sectors of the economy; 8. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act should also mandate the Government of Ontario to provide education and other information resources to companies, individuals and groups who seek to comply with the requirements of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act; 9. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act should also require the Government of Ontario to take affirmative steps to promote the development and distribution in Ontario of new adaptive technologies and services for persons with disabilities; 10. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act should require the provincial and municipal governments to make it a strict condition of funding any program, or of purchasing any services, goods or facilities, that they be designed to be fully accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. Any grant or contract which does not so provide is void and unenforceable by the grant- recipient or contractor with the government in question; The Ontarians with Disabilities Act must be more than mere window dressing. It should contribute meaningfully to the improvement of the position of persons with disabilities in Ontario. It must have real force and effect.

 

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Last updated June 21, 2001