{"id":3013,"date":"2018-09-07T14:48:06","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=3013"},"modified":"2018-10-23T19:18:07","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T19:18:07","slug":"webcast-archive-the-accessible-canada-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/09\/webcast-archive-the-accessible-canada-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: The Accessible Canada Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x1z7Jh_Eo6g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray, and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Accessible Canada Act<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that this text is only a script and that our webcast contains additional commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>THE ACCESSIBLE CANADA ACT<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As we\u2019ve already mentioned,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.parl.ca\/DocumentViewer\/en\/42-1\/bill\/C-81\/first-reading#enH970\">Bill C-81<\/a>, the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/employment-social-development\/programs\/accessible-people-disabilities\/act-plain-language-summary.html\">Accessible Canada Act<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(ACA) was tabled on June 20, 2018, just before Parliament broke for the summer.\u00a0<a href=\"\/tvndy?p=2829\">Taylor and Amy wrote a blog<\/a>\u00a0outlining the bill and some of its flaws.\u00a0 Also, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act alliance has written a detailed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/aoda.ca\/by-august-24-2018-please-send-us-your-feedback-on-our-draft-brief-to-the-federal-government-and-parliament-on-bill-c-81-the-proposed-accessible-canada-act\/\">brief<\/a>\u00a0about the ACA, and we recommend that you check out these sources.<\/li>\n<li>The ACA is not a civil rights bill.\u00a0 In the preamble, the ACA refers to 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.\u00a0 But these are the\u00a0<strong><em>only<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0references to \u201cdiscrimination\u201d in the whole bill; the word never appears in the text of the bill itself.\u00a0 While the law provides for \u201cequal participation,\u201d it is silent on \u201cequality.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The bill calls for \u201cthe progressive realization \u2026 of a Canada without barriers.\u201d\u00a0 Those three dots mean, \u201conly as far as federal law allows.\u201d\u00a0 The ACA would only apply to organizations and services under federal control, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Broadcasting and telecommunications;<\/li>\n<li>Banks and financial services;<\/li>\n<li>Transportation (international and between provinces);<\/li>\n<li>Parliament;<\/li>\n<li>The military and RCMP; and<\/li>\n<li>Public lands, postal service and the census.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Contrast this with activities under provincial jurisdiction, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Hospitals &amp; Health care;<\/li>\n<li>Social services;<\/li>\n<li>Cities and towns;<\/li>\n<li>Property, civil registration (births and deaths) and family matters;<\/li>\n<li>Transportation (within the province);<\/li>\n<li>Education; and<\/li>\n<li>Housing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The ACA cannot overcome the limited reach of federal laws laid out in the constitution. \u00a0The bill suggests cooperation and communication between the different levels of government to ensure civil rights protection.\u00a0 Section 16 states \u201cThe Minister\u00a0<strong><em>may<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0work with provincial or territorial authorities\u00a0<strong><em>with a view to<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0coordinating efforts in relation to matters relating to accessibility.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The ACA is not even an\u00a0<strong><em>architectural access<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0bill; it lacks specific requirements and deadlines to achieve its goals.\u00a0 It does not require that existing facilities be modified to become accessible, nor that renovated buildings be accessible.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t even reiterate the requirement that new construction meet access standards.<\/li>\n<li>Organizations governed by the act must publish an \u201caccessibility plan\u201d describing \u201cpolicies, programs, practices and services in relation to the identification and removal of barriers, and the prevention of new barriers.\u201d\n<ul>\n<li>The agency or corporation is not required to appoint anyone to be responsible for preventing discrimination, implementing the plan or removing barriers.<\/li>\n<li>Nor does the bill mandate that funding be allocated, or deadlines be imposed for barrier removal.<\/li>\n<li>People with disabilities must be consulted both on the development of the accessibility plans and on periodic reports which show the agency\u2019s progress toward implementing the plan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>So basically, the ACA is a bill about\u00a0<strong><em>making<\/em>\u00a0<em>plans<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to remove architectural barriers at an\u00a0<strong><em>unstated time<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0in the future \u2026 if the covered entity wants to.\u00a0 The federal agencies covered by the ACA are allowed to exempt themselves from the mandate to make, publish and (presumably) comply with accessibility plans.<\/li>\n<li>The ACA defines \u201cbarrier\u201d as \u201canything \u2026 that hinders \u2026 full and equal participation\u2026\u201d of people with disabilities.\u00a0 This definition is so loose that a court may well strike it down as overly broad and vague.<\/li>\n<li>The idea that \u201cbarrier removal\u201d can end discrimination is an over-simplification, and doesn\u2019t signal the positive steps needed to ensure equality of disabled people, such as requiring businesses to make reasonable accommodations, or mandating a minimum level of accessible transportation service.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cBarrier removal\u201d also doesn\u2019t deal with many forms of discrimination, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>segregation (separating disabled- from non-disabled people),<\/li>\n<li>having eligibility criteria that tend to exclude disabled people (like requiring a driver\u2019s license as identification),<\/li>\n<li>charging extra for accessibility accommodations (like descriptive video or an accessible hotel room).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Nor does \u201cbarrier removal\u201d address the public policy that favours institutionalization or agency-run personal care over giving people funds to hire their own attendants.\u00a0 Such policies drive the demand for assisted suicide and euthanasia.<\/li>\n<li>Another item related to AS\/E; the bill is silent on the connection between \u201cbarrier removal\u201d in broadcast, radio and television and avoiding stereotypical portrayals of disability, especially the belief that life with a disability is a fate worse than death.<\/li>\n<li>The bill defines disability broadly, as a \u201cphysical, mental, intellectual, learning, communication or sensory impairment\u201d that \u2026 in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person\u2019s full and equal participation in society.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>This definition of disability has two major problems:\n<ul>\n<li>First, It does not cover people who are discriminated against because they:\n<ul>\n<li>are believed to have a disability,<\/li>\n<li>have a record or history of having a disability, or<\/li>\n<li>are associated with a person with a disability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Second, it includes \u201ctemporary or sporadic\u201d conditions (like, maybe, a broken leg).\u00a0 This risks making the definition so broad as to be unworkable and politically unacceptable.\u00a0 While it\u2019s essential to include disabilities that are episodic (like multiple sclerosis or lupus), the terms used in the bill may well reduce its chances of being taken seriously.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Accessible Canada Act calls for the creation of three new authorities.\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>Accessibility Commissioner<\/strong>\u00a0is a member of the Human Rights Commission, which has primary responsibility for enforcing the statute.\u00a0 This person would:\n<ul>\n<li>provide technical assistance to the Minister on accessibility issues;<\/li>\n<li>produce an annual report;<\/li>\n<li>be in charge of receiving and investigating complaints; and<\/li>\n<li>issue compliance orders under the Act.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>Chief Accessibility Officer<\/strong>\u00a0would advise the Minister on accessibility issues.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization<\/strong>\u00a0would\u00a0<strong><em>allow the development of<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0new accessibility standards, conduct research, and provide information about how to identify, remove, and prevent barriers. These standards are not mandatory, won\u2019t have the force of law, and there\u2019s no deadline for producing them.\u00a0 The Organization will have 11 directors, (the majority of whom will be people with disabilities) and a Chief Executive Officer appointed for a (renewable) term of five years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The ACA imposes no deadlines for issuing regulations.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, section 133 of the ACA designates \u201cNational AccessAbility Week\u201d starting the last Sunday of May of each year.\u00a0 Like the bill itself, It\u2019s a nice gesture but it won\u2019t create the practical changes we need to achieve true equality. \u201cAccessibility Week\u201d is the equivalent of putting icing on a cake that, like the bill, is only half-baked.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week, we discuss the problems and accomplishments of Canada&#8217;s new accessibility legislation.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/09\/webcast-archive-the-accessible-canada-act\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: The Accessible Canada Act&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/09\/webcast-archive-the-accessible-canada-act\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: The Accessible Canada Act&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":[92],"tags":[191,123,121,192,193,118],"class_list":["post-3013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-accessibility","tag-accessible-canada-act","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-legislation","tag-parliament","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013","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=3013"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3369,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions\/3369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}