By Linda Bartram
I just listened to the latest Triple Vision podcast “Change at the Local Level: How Effective is Your Municipal Advisory Committee?” and was surprised to hear that accessibility advisory committees in Ontario (Hamilton in particular) are not working better than they are, given that Ontario has had accessibility legislation for 25 years.
I have been involved with such a committee in Victoria, BC since 2015, first as chair of the Accessibility Working Group (AWG) and since passing of the Accessible British Columbia Act (ABCA), as a member at large of the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC).
When AWG was first struck in 2015, the City Councillor who was instrumental in its formation, thought the work of the committee would be completed in a year or two. Once the work began however, he admitted that he had been very naive. During the following six years, all Council members except one served a term as the AWG liaison to Council which resulted in a greater awareness of accessibility issues at the Council level. However, we still had several struggles with city staff. With Council’s support, Victoria did develop and ratify an accessibility framework, the concept first being introduced by AWG. In addition, all reports to Council are to have an accessibility impact statement. At the same time, Victoria established an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) office which was also to address accessibility issues. In 2020, AWG was successful in convincing Council that accessibility required a stand-alone advisory committee, which went against staff who were recommending that accessibility be absorbed into a more equity diverse committee.
During the six years of AWG, I believe we laid the groundwork, sowing the seeds of change, while scoring a few victories along the way. Some of these included: increase in, and improvement of, on-street and city-owned parkade accessible parking; a plan for the installation of accessible pedestrian signals and tactile walking surface indicators with all intersection improvements; guidelines for accessible meetings and public engagement; accessible parks’ facilities; and accessible voting.
The ABCA, passed in 2021, required that municipalities have an accessibility plan, and the Victoria accessibility framework was updated to meet this requirement. The Act also requires there be an accessibility committee, the majority of members being persons with disabilities. In Victoria, the committee is comprised of solely persons with disabilities (with the exception of one member) but unfortunately, due to the wording of the regulations, this is apparently not the case in many other BC municipalities. I do not believe committees who are mandated to address other equity issues, and whose members do not have lived experience of disability, can be as effective.
The third requirement of the ABCA is that there be a feedback mechanism for the public to report accessibility concerns. On the Victoria accessibility webpage, there is a simple form as well as an email address. The feedback is monitored by the EDI office staff and taken directly to the appropriate city department or brought to the AAC for discussion. City Councillors no longer attend AAC meetings but we now have a much improved working relationship with city staff, thanks, in most part, to the EDI office staff.
The AAC is also approached, through the EDI office, by staff seeking our input regarding upcoming projects and bylaw changes. Some such projects have been: adaptable housing requirements; accessible public washrooms; accessible website and city documents; and protected bike lanes and transit.
So although the road has been long and challenging at times, I do believe the AAC in Victoria has and will continue to be effective. Such success is however, dependent on persons who are blind, deafblind and partially sighted getting involved.
Find out about the Accessibility Advisory Committee in your community, submit feedback and apply to sit on the advisory committee when vacancies come up.