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
Twitter: @aodaalliance
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance
AODA Alliance Chair’s Monthly Column in the Toronto Star’s Metroland Publications Explores Federal Election’s Disability Issues that the Mainstream Media Hasn’t Covered
April 2, 2025
SUMMARY
This month’s disability rights column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications around Ontario focuses on the disability issues that are at stake in the current federal election. You can read that column below.
So far, well into this election campaign, no mainstream media appear to have covered this election’s disability issues. This is a huge disservice to over 8 million people with disabilities in Canada. While the US trade war is of course important to us all, it is not the only issue in this election. The media has enough room over the weeks of this election to cover our issues.
On March 21, 2025, the AODA Alliance wrote the major federal party leaders, asking them to each make the Accessible Canada Pledge in this election. So far, none of them have made the pledge.
As we announced earlier, a Candidates Debate on Disability Issues has been organized for April 8, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in Toronto. So far, the Liberals, NDP and Green Party have agreed to send a speaker. The organizers have heard nothing so far from the Conservative Party.
How You Can Help
- Please share this Metroland column with as many people as you can. Use email, social media and any website on which you can post it. Urge voters to consider these issues during this federal election.
- Use the action tips for this election which are shared in the March 22, 2025 AODA Alliance Update.
- Register now to attend the April 8, 2025 Candidates Debate on Disability Issues in the Federal Election. Get others to do the same. You can attend in person at CNIB Toronto or online. The AODA Alliance is one of the disability organizations that are organizing this debate.
- Let us know what steps you take to help in our federal election blitz. Write us at aodafeedback@gmail.com
For background, check out:
- The Accessible Canada Pledge that we have asked all federal party leaders to make.
- The AODA Alliance website’s Canada page to see our advocacy to strengthen the Accessible Canada Act.
- The AODA Alliance website’s Bill C-22 page to learn about the AODA Alliance’s efforts to strengthen the grossly inadequate new Canada Disability Benefit.
MORE DETAILS
Inside Halton April 2, 2025
Originally posted at https://www.insidehalton.com/opinion/columnists/what-do-federal-election-candidates-pledge-for-millions-living-with-disabilities-in-canada/article_a1839cf7-5ca9-56b8-8985-f8fbd19797a7.html
Columnists
Opinion
What do federal election candidates pledge for millions living with disabilities in Canada?
Advocate asked parties to make the Accessible Canada pledge, with debate on disability issues in the federal election on April 8.
By David Lepofsky
David Lepofsky is chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance.
Metroland file photo
There are urgent issues in this federal election for more than eight million people with disabilities in Canada — but don’t expect major networks and newspapers to tell voters about them, if the past is any guide.
People with disabilities in Canada at long last deserve equal access to air travel and the many other services that the federal government regulates.
Last year, House of Commons Standing Committee hearings explored the recurring horrific mistreatment some air passengers with disabilities have suffered at the hands of Canada’s airlines.
Federal legislation requires Canada to become accessible to people with disabilities by 2040 — but after six years on the books, progress is barely detectable.
Parliamentary hearings last fall saw disability advocates testify that the legislation is absurdly complex, with its implementation and enforcement sluggish and terribly bureaucratic.
People with disabilities languishing in poverty deserve more than the paltry $200 per month maximum available under the new Canada Disabilities Benefit Act. That act was promised to lift hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities out of poverty. Senate hearings two years ago predicted that the new weak legislation risked that it would not live up to all the hype about it.
At all those hearings, I gave evidence on behalf of the non-partisan disability coalition (the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance) I have the honour of leading. It is striking that the federal parties agree with our disability community’s goals.
They all supported legislation aimed at making Canada an accessible country and lifting impoverished people with disabilities out of poverty. No one can or did dispute that action just hasn’t measured up.
So, what do we do?
Just before this election was called, the alliance which I chair wrote all federal party leaders, asking them all to make the Accessible Canada Pledge. It would ensure the implementation and enforcement of the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) is swift, strong and effective, that air passengers with disabilities stop suffering horrific mistreatment by Canadian airlines, and that the Canada Disability Benefit Act fulfils its purpose of lifting people with disabilities out of poverty.
So far, no party has answered.
A consortium of disability organizations, including the one I chair, is holding a candidates’ debate on disability issues in the federal election on April 8 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sign up on Eventbrite to attend in-person or online.
In this election campaign, people with disabilities and anyone concerned about their rights will be raising disability issues across Canada. This can happen at the doorstep as canvassers and candidates knock on doors, wanting us to vote for them.
I encourage everyone of all political stripes to ask those candidates and canvassers what they’ll do, if elected, to lift impoverished people with disabilities out of poverty, to make Canada disability-accessible by 2040 and to end the recurring mistreatment of air passengers with disabilities in Canada.
As a voter, you’ll never know what you’ll hear at the door.
In the recent Ontario election, I answered my door to a man saying he’s canvassing for Doug Ford.
I followed my own advice and asked this pleasant person what his party will do for students with disabilities. He said they’ve made record investments.
I said the Ontario government just announced over $1 billion for new schools without ensuring they’re accessible. I told him to check out aodaalliance.org.
After he heard me mention that website, he said “Oh, I’m friends with David Lepofsky!”
Taken aback, I responded: “I’m David Lepofsky. Who are you?”
He swiftly walked away, saying “Have a nice day.”
Like I said, you just never know what will happen when you speak up in support of fairness for people with disabilities. Give it a try.
David Lepofsky is a retired lawyer who chairs the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance and is a visiting professor of disability rights at the law schools at Western and the University of Ottawa.