Suggested Wording for a Resolution in Support of a Strong and
Effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act, for Consideration by
Municipal and Regional Councils, School Boards, and Any Other
Local Government Councils

Whereas Ontarians with disabilities face many barriers when they
seek to participate in all aspects of Ontario life;

And whereas there is an urgent and pressing need for a new,
strong and effective law to achieve a barrier free Ontario for
people with disabilities;

And whereas Premier Harris promised in writing during the 1995
election to work together with the Ontarians with Disabilities
Act Committee to develop this new law, to be called the Ontarians
with Disabilities Act, and to pass it in his first term,

And whereas the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed a
resolution on October 29, 1998, calling on the Government to make
sure that this law is strong and effective, and embodies the 11
principles set out in the resolution, (attached below to make
sure that the law is strong and effective, not weak and window
dressing,

And whereas the Ontario Legislature also unanimously passed a
resolution on November 23, 1999 which requires that a strong and
effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act be enacted no later than
two years from that date,

Therefore, the City of __________resolves that:

1. We support the goal of enacting new legislation and
regulations with the aim of achieving the full and equal
participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of
Ontario life by creating a barrier free society through the removal
of all existing barriers and the prevention of new ones.

2. We will call on the Ontario Goverment to enact a strong and
effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act in this term, no later
than November 23, 2001. The legislation shall fully comply with
the unanimous resolution of the Ontario Legislature passed on
October 29, 1998

3. The Legislation introduced by the Ontario Government in the fall
of 1998, Bill 83, called the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, is
not acceptable since it does not meet the requirements of the
Ontario Legislature's October 29, 1998 resolution and, in fact,
does not require a single barrier to be removed, ever.

 

ONTARIO LEGISLATURE
OCTOBER 29, 1998
UNANIMOUS RESOLUTION ON THE ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

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;

11. 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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