News & Events
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance
A new organization is being established to coincide with the winding up of
the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee. Upon learning of David Lepofsky’s
intention to announce that the ODA Committee would formally cease to exist on
August 31, 2005, and that he personally would bow out of his leadership role at
that time, a transitional working group has been meeting over the summer to
develop plans for a successor organization. The group decided that it would be
called the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, or AODA
Alliance for short.
The role of the AODA Alliance will be quite different from that of the ODA
Committee. The ODA Committee was focussed on getting strong and effective
legislation. The AODA Alliance will concentrate its efforts on ensuring that the
statute that has now been passed into law will be clearly understood by the
disability community, and that citizens who care about the removal of barriers
are encouraged to participate in the standards development process.
It will, of course, also have a role in communicating with the government, both
at the political and the staff level, to make sure the legislation is
implemented in ways that will bring about the changes that it was intended for.
Progress Report and Invitation to Join the AODA Alliance
We are now writing to you to report on the progress we have made, both before
and since David Lepofsky sent out his August 31st announcement, and to invite
you to let us know if you as an individual, or the organization you are
identified with, wish to become members of the AODA Alliance. To establish
yourselves as members, all you have to do is tell us that wish to belong, and
that you endorse the Mission Statement of the new Alliance, which is: “To
achieve a barrier-free Ontario for all persons with disabilities by promoting
and supporting the timely, effective and comprehensive implementation of the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act”. Information about how to
become a member and how to apply for a leadership position are contained at the
end of this document.
First, let us fill you in on some preliminary decisions we have made over the
summer and early fall under the headings that follow. Please remember that we
are a transition team – not the Alliance itself, so these decisions may be
subject to change once the transition stage is completed. As you will have found
out, the implementation of the AODA is forging ahead, so we cannot allow
ourselves to fall behind the government’s schedule. (If you did not see the
October 17th announcement by Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Community and Social
Services, that recruitment of the first two Standards Development Committees,
dealing with customer service and transportation, will begin immediately, let us
know and we will forward that information to you).
Here are the transition team’s decisions on membership, structure and leadership
of the AODA Alliance:
General Membership
1) All members of the former ODA Committee are invited to join the Alliance.
Membership will not automatically transfer over, though, so we do require that
you respond if you wish to become an AODA Alliance member. In addition, we
encourage you to forward this invitation to others who may not have been ODA
Committee members as they are welcome to join.
2) There will be two classes of membership: individual and organizational.
3) All members of the new AODA Alliance will be expected to endorse the Mission
Statement of the Alliance.
Structure and Leadership
1) There will be a governing group called the “AODA Alliance Board”, consisting
of between ten and twenty persons, who will serve for a two-year term (except
that half of the first Board members, to be determined by lottery, will serve
for one year only, to ensure continuity). The majority of Board members are to
be persons with disabilities. The members of the transition team will serve in
the place of the Alliance Board until the nominations and selection process
outlined below can produce a new set of Officers and Board members. Some
transition team members may wish to apply to be members of the AODA Alliance
Board.
2) The Officers will be a Chair and a Vice-Chair, at least one of whom will be a
person with a disability, who will serve a term of two years.
3) The terms of the Officers and Board members will be renewable for one
additional two year period.
4) A subcommittee of the transition team (comprised of transition team members
who do not intend to continue in Board positions) will serve as a nominations
committee and review all resumes. They will strive to ensure an appropriate mix
of skills, disabilities, organizations and geographic diversity in developing a
slate of proposed Board members. That slate will then be put to the AODA
Alliance members (those who have indicated that they wish to join) for a vote.
5) There will be three subcommittees within the AODA Alliance Board:
i. Issues and Strategies. This group will include the Chair and Vice-Chair, and
will monitor the implementation of the AODA, promote effective liaison with key
players within government, and develop strategies and action plans. This
subcommittee will also maintain a working relationship with the leadership of
organizational members of the Alliance in order (among other things) to secure
their support through financial and in-kind contributions as needed.
ii. Public Information and Media Relations. This group will ensure that useful,
up-to-date and reliable information about the AODA implementation process is
disseminated to the Alliance membership, the general public, and especially to
persons with disabilities and disability-related groups. This will be done by
means of the Alliance website, a periodic online newsletter, and contacts with
the media.
iii. Nominations. This group will solicit applications for membership on the
Alliance Board and for Chair and Vice-Chair. It will review resumés and submit a
list of nominees to the Alliance Board for final selection and endorsement.
An Invitation – General Membership
If you wish to become a member of the AODA Alliance please respond to Mary
Lumgair at mlumgair@chs.ca or c/o The Canadian Hearing Society, 271 Spadina
Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2V3 or to fax number 416-928-2517.
In your response, please provide the following information:
· Your name
· Contact information (including address, phone/TTY number, fax number, email
address)
· Whether your membership is individual or organizational
· If it is organizational, please provide the name of the organization, contact
information, and one contact person.
While people can join as members at any time, we would encourage you to respond
as soon as possible so that you can vote on the slate, expected to be proposed
to the membership in early December.
An Invitation – Board Positions
If you wish to apply for the Board of the AODA Alliance please respond to Mary
Lumgair at mlumgair@chs.ca or c/o The Canadian Hearing Society, 271 Spadina
Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2V3 or to fax number 416-928-2517.
In your response, please provide the following information:
· A brief resumé
· Some brief commentary (a paragraph or a few bullet points is sufficient)
regarding your skills, disability, gender, and geography so that the nominations
committee can develop a slate that is reflective of the diversity we are
striving for.
Nominations will close on Friday, November 16 so we ask that interested parties
respond before then.
We look forward to hearing from you very soon.
Sincerely,
Kelly Duffin
Orville Endicott
Co-Chairs, Transition Team from the ODA Committee to the AODA Alliance
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