Just three days before the Senate’s Standing Committee on Social Affairs will meet on May 2, 2019 to decide what amendments to make to Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act, the Toronto Star online ran a guest column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky, set out below. It shows why five million people with disabilities in Canada need the Senate to strengthen Bill C-81 before the Senate passes it.
Monthly Archives: April 2019
Small Businesses Excused From Writing Down Accessibility Findings, Manitoba Government Decides
The Manitoba government is exempting more business owners from documenting the steps they take to make their workplaces accessible.
The province is loosening the requirement on small business owners at the same time as it introduces new guidelines to remove employment barriers for people with disabilities.
Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2019-67
Call for comments on an amendment proposed by Bell Media Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Media Inc. to their condition of licence that requires prime time programming to be broadcast with described video.
Read more at
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2019/2019-67.htm
‘I Had to Crawl’: Amputee Seeks Damages After United Airlines and Airport Security Seize Scooter Batteries
Stearn Hodge says he’s ‘had enough’ of airport security agents and airlines trying to take away the batteries for his portable scooter a disability violation. He’s fighting to take United Airlines, WestJet and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Taking the Message of Accessibility to the Streets
North Bay’s Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee (MAAC) has challenged the mayor to use city transit while blindfolded to experience what it is like for a blind person to use city transit
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/taking-the-message-of-accessibility-to-the-streets/
Accessibility News April 27,2019 Update
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The AODA Clock is Ticking
There are 5 years, 35 weeks, 5 days until a fully Accessible Ontario! Will you be compliant?
In this Issue
Federal Budget 2019 Contains Good News for Post-Secondary Students With Disabilities
The Federal Budget delivered in March included a number of very important measures for college and university students with disabilities that enhance the Canada Student Loans and Grants programs and will be available for disabled students starting in the upcoming fall school year.
No More Excuses for Ignorance: N.W.T. Needs Accessibility Legislation
The Accessible Canada Act, introduced in Parliament last year, aims to create more consistent accessibility in organizations under the federal government’s responsibility, like the RCMP, the Senate and Crown corporations. But it’s becoming more about rhetoric for change than an actual agent for change, so it is up to the individual provinces and territories to make Canada barrier-free.
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/no-more-excuses-for-ignorance-n-w-t-needs-accessibility-legislation/
AODA Alliance’s Short Supplementary Brief to the Senate Focuses on the High Priority of Surgically Removing from Bill C-81 A Troubling Provision that Lets the Canadian Transportation Agency Pass Regulations that Cut Back on the Human Rights of Passengers with Disabilities
On April 23, 2019, the AODA Alliance sent the Senate of Canada a short 2-page supplementary brief. It emphasizes as a priority the pressing need for the Senate to remove a harmful and outdated provision that is perpetuated in Bill C-81, the proposed Accessible Canada Act. That provision, section 172, lets the Canadian Transportation Agency pass regulations on accessibility in transportation that can cut back on the human rights of passengers with disabilities.
