We thought it would be helpful to provide a summary of the core ingredients which the ODA Committee has proposed to be included in the ODA. This summarizes what the ODA Committee proposed to the Ontario Legislature in its detailed brief entitled "Making Ontario Open for People with Disabilities - a Blueprint for a Strong and Effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act."   The ODA Committee delivered that brief to the Ontario Legislature on April 22, 1998. It incorporates input gathered over two years across Ontario through public meetings, surveys and other formal and informal avenues.

The ODA Committee hopes this summary will be helpful to people who are thinking of what they want to recommend to MPP Steve Peters during his open ODA public consultations. If you agree with these items, please let him know. If you have additional, also be sure to let him know. If you disagree with any of the following items, or if you have suggestions on how they can be improved or expanded upon, we also urge you to let Mr. Peters know.

The ODA Committee is also eager to hear about any additional ideas, improvements or suggestions you have. We want a strong and effective ODA to incorporate creative, new ideas gathered from as many people as possible. You can get a copy of the full brief by contacting the ODA Committee at (416) 480-7012 or by following this link.

1. ODA'S OBJECTIVE

The ODA's objective is to achieve a barrier free society in Ontario for people with disabilities, a society whose workplaces, goods, services, and facilities will be designed and operated for all its citizens, including those with disabilities. It will achieve a society in which people with disabilities can participate fully - a society where existing barriers have been identified and removed, and where new barriers are prevented before they arise.

2. HOW THE ODA WOULD ADDRESS BARRIERS

• The ODA must apply to all provincial and municipal governments, as well as private and public sector organizations subject to the laws of Ontario. The ODA should apply to the Ontario Legislature and Government, the Ontario Public Service, all municipal, regional and local governments including all their committees and commissions, the broader public sector such as schools, school boards and hospitals, as well as all businesses and other organizations operating in Ontario.

• Governments have special obligations to ensure all citizens have a full and equal chance to participate in society. The government cannot avoid its obligations under the ODA by downloading its responsibilities to other levels of government, or to the private sector by privatization. Even though the Government may decide not to deliver a program itself, where the government is providing the funding and setting the standards, it is obliged to ensure that barriers are removed and no new barriers are created.

• The ODA must cover the full range of activities, products, facilities, services and other opportunities used or enjoyed by the citizens of Ontario, including for example, employment, public transportation, education and training at all levels (e.g. public schools, high schools, post-secondary institutions and job training programs), health and social services including health promotion, communications and telecommunications, recreational programs and facilities, information provided to the public, housing, consumer products, police and law enforcement, tourism and entertainment.

• The ODA should cover all types of barriers keeping people with disabilities from participating fully in society. For example, it should include: physical barriers, such as high curbs without curb cuts; communication barriers, like those faced by people who are Deaf and require sign language interpretation to communicate effectively; barriers faced by people who cannot read printed material and who require Braille, large print, tape or other alternative formats. Other barriers include discrimination in employment faced by many people with disabilities, including mental illness, developmental disabilities and learning disabilities.

• The ODA should benefit all people with disabilities of all ages. The definition of disability in the ODA should include a broad range of disabilities including: communication disorders and speech impairments, learning disabilities, mobility disabilities, AIDS, kidney disease and other invisible disabilities, multiple sclerosis, Deafness and hearing loss, blindness and visual impairment, neurological disorders, traumatic brain injury, psychiatric and mental illness and diabetes. The definition of disability must be clear that the list of disabilities is not exhaustive, and that it can be expanded by regulation or by the courts in accordance with the principles set out in the ODA. No disability may be explicitly excluded from the ODA's definition of disability.

• The ODA must clearly guarantee persons with disabilities the right to participate fully in a barrier free society. This includes a right to have existing barriers identified and removed. It also includes a right to have new barriers prevented. It must state that no statute or regulation of Ontario, nor any municipal bylaw, can be passed or implemented if it conflicts with the requirements of the ODA. The ODA will apply fully and equally in all areas of the province, including cities, towns and rural areas.

• Organizations, including businesses, that must comply with the ODA should be required to:

  1. identify barriers now existing within their organizations, keeping persons with disabilities from participating fully in their workplace and from participating fully in and benefiting from the goods, services and facilities which they provide;

  2. develop a plan for removing the barriers. The plan should set out stages in which barriers will be removed, and set a final date when they will be completely eliminated. It should also include steps to ensure new barriers are not created in future;

  3. carry out their barrier free plans.

  Governments should have additional responsibilities such as:

  1. within a specified period of time, developing and carrying out a barrier free plan for each provincial ministry or department, applying to services that they deliver or have responsibility for delivering, and for the sector of society for which they are responsible.

  2. taking steps to ensure that wherever possible government would purchase or rent only barrier free products, facilities and services.

  3. reviewing existing legislation, regulations and policies, and new ones to be proposed in future, to ensure they are barrier free and, if necessary, making changes to eliminate barriers;

  4. making sure when a government program is delivered, whether by government, an agency or any other organization chosen by government, it is done in a barrier free way;

  5. working with people with disabilities to develop expertise in designing barrier free programs, goods and services, and using this expertise to help the private sector comply with the ODA.

  The ODA must also give the provincial government authority and duty to develop, implement and enforce barrier free standards to apply across the entire province. These new province-wide standards would apply to areas like transportation, zoning, or parking rules for people with disabilities.

  The ODA must do nothing to diminish rights that people with disabilities now have under the Human Rights Code and the Building Code.

3. ENFORCEMENT OF THE ODA

• The ODA should provide prompt and effective ways to enforce the rights it guarantees. Although people should still be able to file individual complaints when they run into a barrier, there should be other ways of enforcing the ODA that do not depend on individuals filing complaints each time they face a barrier.

• Self-enforcement by governments, businesses and other organizations covered by the ODA will be an important part of the enforcement process, by developing and implementing barrier free plans described above.

• Funding must also be made available to organizations of people with disabilities that are involved in promoting a barrier free society and providing education, information and support for people with disabilities as well as business.

• The ODA should establish an accountable and effective public agency responsible for enforcement of this law. Adequate funding must be available for this. The enforcement agency should:

• report annually to the legislature on the progress made towards the goal of achieving a barrier free society. It should also identify areas where additional work is still needed;

• have expertise in the area of disability;

• receive complaints from both individuals and groups, and have power to bring a claim to enforce the ODA;

• have authority to look at systemic problems and come up with systemic remedies;

• have the power and obligation to make regulations to help enforce the ODA, including regulations setting standards in specific areas. The ODA should require that regulations be passed by a specific date in specific areas of activity to set out standards and reasonable time lines;

• be required to consult with people with disabilities, business and other stakeholders before regulations are finalized;

• be required to consider requests from persons with disabilities that specific regulations be developed to cover an area or sector. The agency would also be required to consult with all stakeholders (people with disabilities, businesses, etc.) before deciding whether to enact proposed regulations;

• receive barrier free plans governments and other organizations will prepare and file with the agency (which should be available to the public), and take steps to enforce the ODA's requirements regarding these plans.

• A Minister of the Ontario Government should be designated who will be responsible for achieving a barrier free society for persons with disabilities. The Minister should be responsible for monitoring Ontario Government programs and laws to ensure that they are designed and operated in a barrier free manner, and reviewing proposals brought to cabinet to ensure that they are barrier free and that they take into account the needs of persons with disabilities.

• Municipal councils, school boards, government committees and commissions and other public agencies should adopt similar procedures for their activities.

• All Ontario regulatory agencies, boards and tribunals must be required to consider the impact of any decision they make on barrier removal or prevention, and the achievement of a barrier free society for persons with disabilities.

• Remedies for violations of the ODA should be meaningful and effective. They must ensure that existing barriers are removed and new ones prevented. Remedies should include such things as systemic remedies, injunctions and damages.

• Class actions which could be brought by groups of people with disabilities should be available.

• The enforcement agency must have the power to enforce the ODA without waiting for a complaint from an individual.

• The ODA should require the Government of Ontario to provide education and other information resources to companies, individuals and groups to assist them in complying with the requirements of the ODA.

• Where feasible, the ODA should provide financial resources to assist organizations, including businesses, to achieve a barrier free society. These could include subsidy programs and/or accelerated tax credits or deductions for expenditures specifically tied to compliance with the ODA.

• People with disabilities and their organizations should be provided the necessary technical expertise and funding so they can participate effectively in the processes created by the ODA, such as the regulation-making process. This includes funding for travel and communications so that people living in all areas of the province have a full opportunity to participate.

• The ODA must strengthen and complement the protections that now exist for people with disabilities under the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Ontario Building Code. Nothing in the ODA should reduce the protections for persons with disabilities in those laws. As well, the fact that an organization complies with another law does not mean that they do not have to follow the ODA.