In its draft response to the province the City of Ottawa is planning to ask for more time to implement requirements set-out in the province’s proposed Integrated Accessibility Regulations.
The proposed regulations would be introduced under section 39 of the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and would apply to any person or organization that provides goods or services to the public.
The Integrated Accessibility Regulations would set out standards for three areas of accessibility: employment, transportation and information and communications. In 2008, a separate Accessible Customer Service Standard become law under the AODA.
The deadline for cities to meet the proposed requirements is currently set for Jan. 1, 2012, while the deadline for large and small public sector organizations is Jan. 1, 2013 and 2014, respectively.
However, the city isn’t asking for the deadline so much for themselves, as for other, smaller municipalities.
According to Lucille Berlinguette-Saumure, a corporate accessibility specialist working with the city, Ottawa is prepared to meet the standards by deadline.
But the concern is for other cities that don’t have the same funds as Ottawa to implement them.
“Ottawa has been a leader in the area of accessibility and started putting things in place a lot sooner than other municipalities,” says Helen Lenthall, a member of the accessibility advisory committee. “They’re trying to make sure that everybody has the proper time to do what they need to do, and that’s very important.”
Catherine Gardner, chair of the accessibility advisory committee, says she has no problem with the city’s draft response and supports their reasoning.
She says the current standards need fewer loopholes and moredefinition, a factor she says may be part of the city’s request.
Susan Brunet, a member of the accessibility advisory committee and chair of the information and communications subcommittee, says she disagrees with the city’s plan to ask for more time.
“The city is either acting as the city or they’re acting as a group of municipalities,” says Brunet.
Brunet says she hopes instead that larger cities, such as Ottawa, that can afford to implement the standards on time will create systems that can later be filtered down to smaller municipalities.
“Everyone agreed . . . that this was the direction we would go into but we are right now in the middle of a delay of fear over the cost and fear over the ability to implement these standards, but in the case of Ottawa, we’re just about there,” says Brunet.
Whatever the future holds for the regulations, Lenthall says new mayor Jim Watson's approach to accessibility varies from that of former mayor Larry O’Brien.
“(There is a) totally different feeling at city hall, a totally different focus on the things that are needed for the people,” says Lenthall, pointing to Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney’s attendance at the last accessibility advisory committee meeting as proof of the city’s commitment.
In the city’s 2011 budget, $2 million has been set aside for built environment accessibility needs, which include things such as ramps and automatic doors.
Gardner says making Ottawa an accessible city isn’t just beneficial to the disabled community.
“Push-buttons at doors; how many people push those buttons who are not people with disabilities?" says Gardner. "It has a ripple effect and it benefits the whole community.”
The Integrated Accessibility Regulations were up for public comment for 45 days until March 18. The province will now conduct a final review of the proposed regulations before they are passed.
The city’s draft response is still awaiting council approval.