AODA Alliance
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update
United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities
Website: www.aodaalliance.org
Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aodaalliance
Twitter: @aodaalliance
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance
TikTok @AODAAlliance
Education Minister Calandra Agrees to Meet with AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky – The First Chance in Five Years to Meet with an Education Minister
May 15, 2026
SUMMARY
On April 27, 2026, Education Minister Paul Calandra agreed to hold a meeting with AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. David Lepofsky approached him at the Legislature during the hearings on Bill 101 at the Standing Committee on Social Policy. He introduced himself to Mr. Calandra and asked if they could arrange a meeting. Mr. Calandra agreed.
Today, AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky wrote Mr. Calandra, asking him to schedule the meeting. We set this letter out below.
The last time an Ontario Education Minister met with him was back in the spring/early summer of 2021. Because it was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had to be a phone call. Now, an in-person meeting can occur, which is far better.
There has been a lot of news in our accessibility campaign over the last two or three weeks since our last AODA Alliance Update. Over the next days, we will get you all caught up!
How You Can Help
Spread the word to others that Education Minister Paul Calandra has agreed to meet with AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky.
In this letter, we urge the Education Minister to watch the online video of the Toronto District School Board Special Education Advisory Committee’s April 13, 2026 public forum, where parents of students with disabilities/special education needs described barriers their children face at school. They gave recommendations on how to fix these barriers. You should watch it too! Over 1,000 people have already done so. Also, get others to watch it.
Watch AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s April 27, 2026 15-minute evidence on Bill 101 at the hearings conducted by the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Social Policy. During his presentation, he made public the Education Minister’s agreement to arrange a meeting with him.
MORE DETAILS
May 15, 2026 Letter from AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky to Ontario’s Minister of Education Paul Calandra
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance
United for a Barrier-Free Society for All People with Disabilities
Web: www.aodaalliance.org Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com Twitter: @aodaalliance
May 15, 2026
To: The hon. Paul Calandra, Minister of Education minister.edu@ontario.ca
Ministry of Education
14th Floor, 315 Front Street West
Toronto, ON M7A 0B8
Canada
Dear Minister,
Re: Scheduling a meeting to discuss education for students with disabilities in Ontario schools
Thank you for agreeing to my request for a meeting with you when I spoke with you at the Legislature during the April 27, 2026 Standing Committee on Social Policy’s hearings on Bill 101. I look forward to meeting as soon as possible to discuss possible reforms to Ontario’s delivery of education in Ontario schools for over one third of a million students with disabilities.
When you addressed the Standing Committee during those hearings, you said this:
“The level of special education across the province is different from school board to school board. I’m frankly unhappy with that. I’m unhappy with the disconnect between the three ministries that are responsible. I certainly think we can do a better job. I will be spending a significant amount of time over the next number of months seeing how we can better perform when it comes to special education.”
To address this, it is essential for you to speak extensively and directly with parents of students with disabilities/special education needs and organizations that speak for them, as well as those students themselves, about the many recurring disability barriers in our school system and what needs to be done to remove and prevent those barriers. We wish to be very involved in those discussions and would welcome the chance to help you reach out to these parents and students.
While I write you today in my capacity as Chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, I also happen to serve as the Chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee of the Toronto District School Board, Canada’s largest school board. From that experience as well, I emphasize that it is important for you to hear directly in person, not through intermediaries, from the Special Education Advisory Committees at school boards around the province. They too can help you get an accurate and unfiltered picture of the reality facing these students.
We strongly encourage you to hold public forums for parents of students with disabilities/special education needs and students to speak directly to you. These can and should be hybrid. That would enable people to attend in person to meet you where it is feasible for them and/or take part over Zoom if it is not practicable for them to take time away from fulfilling their many parenting responsibilities.
On April 13, 2026 the TDSB Special Education Advisory Committee held just such a hybrid public forum. It was organized using volunteer efforts. The feedback received speaks directly to your concerns as expressed to the Standing Committee on Social Policy. You can watch it at https://youtu.be/u0nEICBudoY as have over 1,000 people so far. It is profoundly regrettable that the provincially appointed TDSB Supervisor did not attend this event, though he was invited.
To address the concerns you expressed to the Standing Committee on Social Policy (quoted above), you have the huge benefit of having in hand a comprehensive review of the publicly funded school system in Ontario from the perspective of students with disabilities. It was conducted by a panel of experts appointed by the Government itself and drawn equally from the disability community and from educators.
The comprehensive final report of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee was delivered to your Government on January 28, 2022. It opened the door to your Government being empowered to enact an Education Accessibility Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act to provide consistent supports to students with disabilities. I was honoured that the Government appointed me to serve as one of the members of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee. You can find that report at https://www.aodaalliance.org/whats-new/download-in-an-accessible-ms-word-format-the-final-report-of-the-k-12-education-standards-development-committee-on-what-the-promised-education-accessibility-standardshould-include/
You have the added advantage that your current deputy minister was the deputy minister of the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility when that report was being finalized. Thus, she brings to her current job familiarity with it.
Please have your office contact me to arrange a time to meet. We are eager to do whatever we can to assist you in bringing much-needed reforms – reforms for which the recent report of the Auditor General’s findings show are exceedingly pressing.
Sincerely,
David Lepofsky CM, O. Ont
Chair Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance
Twitter: @davidlepofsky
CC: Denise Cole Deputy Minister of Education Denise.A.Cole@ontario.ca