2007 Accessibility Plan Presentation
The following presentation by Mary Margaret Dauphinee's (MAAC Vice-Chair) was delivered to City Council on September 19, 2006.
INTRODUCTION
Thank you Mayor Rosen and Members of Council for the opportunity to present the 2007 Accessibility Plan. My name is Mary Margaret Dauphinee. I am the Vice-Chair of the Accessibility Advisory Committee and am standing in for Tim Eichholz, the Chair of the Committee who regrets he could not be here.
Tonight I will update you on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 known as the AODA, give you some highlights of progress made this year and summarize our recommendations.
As you are aware the AODA legally requires municipalities to prepare annual accessibility plans and to make these plans available to the public. Building on the strong foundation of the Ontario Human rights Code, the province has legislated that Ontario will be fully accessible by 2025.
But 2025 is an end point, not a starting point and the City of Kingston has shown over the last three years that barriers can be removed and prevented right away. We are and will continue to achieve real results in stages by setting milestones every year. And since the AODA has increased the Audit role of the Accessibility Advisory Committee, we will be working closely with Departments as they develop their accessibility plans.
The Province has set up committees to develop standards that address barriers that are common to all sectors. The standards will address goods, services, accommodation, facilities, buildings and employment. The standards from the Transportation and Client Services Committees are to be announced shortly.
The implementation of the Transportation Standards in the City of Kingston will, at the very least, impact Kingston Transit, Kingston Access Services, and privately operated taxis in the City
The Client Services Standards will impact all City Departments but especially Human Resources, Client Services and Asset Management. At a recent strategic planning session, the members of the Accessibility Advisory Committee discussed how we would provide expertise and support to City Departments while they are implementing the standards.
On June 13, the Province announced the set up of the next three accessibility standards committees targeting barriers in Information and Communication, the Built Environment and Employment for People with Disabilities.
We are also waiting for the revised Ontario Building Code to be activated on January 1, 2007. Although the details are not available yet, we do know that new tactile signs will be required to make it easier for the visually impaired to navigate through buildings; public corridors will have to be built to accommodate modern wheelchairs; and 10 per cent of the units in new apartment buildings or hotels will have to include accessible features.
There has been no communication from the Ministry about who will enforce the standards, or how they will be enforced but there is no doubt that there will be an increased workload for the Accessibility Advisory Committee, our Accessibility Coordinator Barry Kaplan and possibly the Building and Licensing departments. The penalty for non-compliance with the standards is now up to $100,000.
I am sure you will all agree that the work ahead of us could be daunting but I believe that if the Accessibility Advisory Committee can continue to work with the City departments as we have with Transit and Communications over the last six months we can meet the challenge. This will be especially critical as we work on removing the barriers identified in city buildings.
ACCESSIBILITY IMPLEMENTATION
You can read about the progress made in the past year in your report but I would like to highlight a few accomplishments. For example;
- As of April 3, all buses on Kingston Transit's Route 1 were able to accommodate people who use walkers and you have been getting good press coverage on the expansion of the program to accommodate wheelchairs by October. The drivers on route one will be trained in using securement procedures and related issues this month. A bus hailing kit for people with vision impairments has also been introduced.
- The Accessibility Advisory Committee's Site Plan Review Working Group and the City's Accessibility Coordinator continue to review site plans for accessibility. Since 2005, 89 applications have been reviewed including the new Police Headquarters, the Multiplex Sports Complex, and The Kingston Regional Sports and Entertainment Centre.
- The City Clerk's Department will be using electronic touch screens on advance voting days in the coming municipal election.
- The Culture and Recreation staff has requested accessibility audits of the two municipal museums and Artillery Park.
- The Strategy, Environment and Communications Department has assigned a communications officer to assist the Accessibility Advisory Committee and is in the process of undertaking a "best practices" review of the City's external web site including accessibility as a review component.
We take this opportunity to thank all the departments we partnered with in 2006 and we are looking forward to working with them and other departments during 2007 on many projects including:
- The safety plan with specialized features for people with disabilities, for all City owned buildings.
- Physical accessibility improvements at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, 211 John Counter, the British Whig Building, the Pump House Steam Museum, and the MacLachlan Woodworking Museum.
- The expansion of accessibility to other Kingston Transit routes; improvements of key bus stops; aural and visual rider communications on Kingston Transit buses and in bus terminals, and
- A policy for special events
GOALS
When the Province introduced the AODA the number and complexity of accessibility obligations for municipalities increased. Community expectations have also increased. Feedback from the Community is that the City and the Accessibility Advisory Committee are taking too long to reduce the identified barriers. To meet the increased workload, the Accessibility Advisory Committee continues to ask Council to allocate more resources for accessibility.
Council already passed a resolution on May 16 this year requiring Departments to include accessibility issues in their ten- year capital projections and to budget for accessibility goods and services annually, beginning with the 2007 budget. Our first budget recommendation this year is:
- That each department add a distinct line to its operating budget template, identifying anticipated accessibility expenses
The responsibility for coordinating accessibility initiatives and supporting the Accessibility Advisory Committee's activities has been assigned to the Accessibility Co-coordinator, an annual contract position since 2003.
This position is also responsible for the Site Plan Review Program, a requirement of the AODA, community development and internal and external communications. Due to the ever-increasing level of work required in this portfolio, the Accessibility Advisory Committee's second budget recommendation is:
- That the City demonstrate its commitment to municipal accessibility by assigning at least one full time, permanent employee to support municipal accessibility activities.
We have also recognized that there is a continuing need for staff and public education as the AODA standards are announced and the Committee has made accessibility education a priority for 2007.
We are therefore recommending that City Council endorse the development, under the guidance of the Accessibility Advisory Committee, of the following projects:
- The mapping of accessible features across the City of Kingston infrastructure, and
- An awards program celebrating progressive local accessibility practices
IN CONCLUSION
The Accessibility Advisory Committee realizes that an election can sometimes cause a lull in the implementation of City business. We ask this Council to ensure that our recommendations and initiatives are supported through this period of change.
Thank you to the Accessibility Advisory Committee members who are here tonight and thank you to everyone who provided input into the City of Kingston's 2007 Accessibility Plan
The Accessibility Advisory Committee extends a special thank you to the members of council who are leaving council. Your support has been appreciated.
To those of you running for office again please make accessibility a part of your campaign. It is estimated that 13.5 % of the population of Ontario has a disability and WE VOTE.
