{"id":2829,"date":"2018-06-29T15:44:10","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T15:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=2829"},"modified":"2018-10-23T21:05:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T21:05:41","slug":"accessible-canada-act-not-all-we-hoped-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/06\/accessible-canada-act-not-all-we-hoped-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessible Canada Act not all we hoped for"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Accessible Canada Act not all we hoped for \u2013 June 29, 2018<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Taylor Hyatt \u2013 Policy Analyst &amp; Outreach Coordinator,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Toujours Vivant-Not Dead Yet<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>On June 20, 2018, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities Kirsty Duncan, introduced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/accessibility-act-duncan-1.4715491\">Canada\u2019s federal accessibility legislation<\/a> after a two-year consultation process. Disability advocates hope that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.parl.ca\/DocumentViewer\/en\/42-1\/bill\/C-81\/first-reading#enH5591\">Bill C-81<\/a> \u2013 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/employment-social-development\/programs\/accessible-people-disabilities\/act-plain-language-summary.html\">Accessible Canada Act<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 will create consistent and strict accessibility requirements for businesses and services under federal jurisdiction, but the draft bill contains many potential problems.<\/p>\n<p>The new bill gets off to a promising start, citing existing laws prohibiting disability discrimination, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Human Rights Act and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. \u00a0The definition of \u201cdisability\u201d is broad, and includes a \u201cphysical, mental, intellectual, learning, communication or sensory impairment \u2026 that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person\u2019s full and equal participation in society.\u201d These conditions can be \u201cpermanent, temporary or episodic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The law\u2019s goal is \u201cthe progressive realization of a Canada without barriers,\u201d to \u201c<em>benefit<\/em> all persons, especially persons with disabilities\u201d through barrier removal and development of accessible design standards.\u00a0 The bill is silent on ending discrimination or conferring equal rights, substituting terms like \u201cequal participation,\u201d and\u00a0 \u201copportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bill C-81 would be a small complement to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.disabilitypolicyalliance.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/A-Review-of-Disability-Policy-in-Canada-3rd-edition-Final-1-1.pdf\">provincial disability rights laws<\/a> in place right now.\u00a0 The Act promises to remove barriers in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>employment;<\/li>\n<li>the built environment;<\/li>\n<li>information and communication technologies;<\/li>\n<li>the procurement of goods and services;<\/li>\n<li>the delivery of programs and services; and<\/li>\n<li>transportation;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However it will only apply to organizations, services and businesses under federal control, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Federal agencies<\/li>\n<li>Broadcasting and telecommunications<\/li>\n<li>Banks and financial services<\/li>\n<li>Transportation (international and between provinces)<\/li>\n<li>Parliament and its activities<\/li>\n<li>Military and RCMP<\/li>\n<li>Public lands<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Contrast this with activities under provincial jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hospitals &amp; health care<\/li>\n<li>Social services<\/li>\n<li>Cities and towns<\/li>\n<li>Property and civil rights<\/li>\n<li>Civil and criminal justice<\/li>\n<li>Transportation (within the province)<\/li>\n<li>Education<\/li>\n<li>Housing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cooperation and communication between the various levels of government to guarantee seamless civil rights protection is hardly assured.\u00a0 Section 16 states \u201cThe Minister <em>may<\/em> work with provincial or territorial authorities <em>with a view to<\/em> coordinating efforts in relation to matters relating to accessibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We may often have reason to criticize American policies, but one thing they got right was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ada.gov\/filing_complaint.htm\">coverage of private businesses<\/a> \u2013 restaurants and doctors\u2019 offices, for example \u2013 under the Americans with Disabilities Act.<\/p>\n<p>Three new authorities will be created under the Accessible Canada Act.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization<\/strong> will draw up new accessibility standards, conduct research, and provide information about how to identify, remove, and prevent barriers. These standards do not appear to have the force of law. The Organization will have 11 directors, (the majority of whom will be people with disabilities) and a Chief Executive Officer appointed for a term of five years (renewable).<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Chief Accessibility Officer<\/strong> is appointed by the Governor in Council to advise the Minister on accessibility issues.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Accessibility Commissioner<\/strong> is a member of the Human Rights Commission, which has primary responsibility for enforcing the statute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So what do organizations governed by the act actually need to do? They must publish an \u201caccessibility plan\u201d describing \u201cpolicies, programs, practices and services <em>in relation to the identification and removal of barriers<\/em>, and the prevention of new barriers.\u201d the agency or corporation is not required to appoint anyone to be responsible for preventing discrimination, implementing the plan or removing barriers.\u00a0 Nor does the bill mandate that funding be allocated, or deadlines be imposed for barrier removal. The Accessibility Plan must be updated no later than three years after its first publication, and made available to those who request it. People with disabilities must be consulted both on the development of the plans and on periodic reports which show the agency\u2019s progress toward implementing the accessibility plan.<\/p>\n<p>If someone has suffered \u201cphysical or psychological harm, property damage, economic loss\u201d or other negative effects when the Accessible Canada Act is violated, they may file a complaint directly with the Accessibility Commissioner. The Commissioner receives and acts on complaints, conducts compliance inspections, issues notices of violation and compliance orders, enters into compliance agreements, orders payment of penalties, and produces reports on the progress of the Accessible Canada law.<\/p>\n<p>The Accessible Canada Act leaves a lot to be desired. Essentially, it amounts to government regulating government, enforced by the government. The efficacy of the Act can be summed up by section 133, which designates \u201cNational AccessAbility Week\u201d starting the last Sunday of May of each year.\u00a0 It\u2019s a nice gesture but won\u2019t create the practical changes we need. Adding \u201cAccessibility Week\u201d is the equivalent of putting icing on a cake that hasn\u2019t finished baking. After waiting so long for a law that would streamline efforts to improve accessibility, disabled Canadians deserve better.<\/p>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nA review of the new Accessible Canada Act.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/06\/accessible-canada-act-not-all-we-hoped-for\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Accessible Canada Act not all we hoped for&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/06\/accessible-canada-act-not-all-we-hoped-for\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Accessible Canada Act not all we hoped for&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[123,122],"class_list":["post-2829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-accessible-canada-act","tag-blog","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2829"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}