Green Party is First Ontario Political Party to Make the Accessible Ontario Pledge

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Green Party is First Ontario Political Party to Make the Accessible Ontario Pledge

January 13, 2025, Toronto: Ontario’s Green Party has made the Accessible Ontario Pledge requested by the grassroots non-partisan AODA Alliance! It is the first and only Ontario political party to do so. (See email from the Green Party to the AODA Alliance below)

 

Two decades ago, the Ontario Legislature unanimously promised that by January 1, 2025, the Ontario Government would lead this province to become accessible to people with all kinds of disabilities. It did this by unanimously passing the historic Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, Canada’s first comprehensive disability accessibility law.

 

Successive Ontario Governments have broken that promise. Progress on accessibility has been “glacial” in the words of former Lieutenant Governor David Onley. Ontarians awoke on New Year’s Day 2025 to a province still full of many soul-crushing disability barriers when people with disabilities try to get a job, ride public transit, go to the doctor, go to school or university, or stroll on public sidewalks. This includes barriers that the Ontario Government created using public money, such as Toronto’s new Armoury Street courthouse.

 

On January 6, 2025, the AODA Alliance wrote the leaders of Ontario’s four political parties, asking them each to make the 10-point Accessible Ontario Pledge. It unveiled that Pledge to the public at a January 6, 2025, Queen’s Park news conference, now archived online.

 

“We’re delighted that the Green Party made the Accessible Ontario Pledge,” said David Lepofsky, Chair of the AODA Alliance that leads Ontario’s campaign to tear down barriers impeding people with all kinds of disabilities. “Now we need the leaders of Ontario’s Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP to do the same!”

 

The Accessible Ontario Pledge is a practical roadmap for the Government to lead this province to become accessible as soon as possible after the legislated 2025 deadline. It includes such measures as:

  • Putting in place all the accessibility standards needed to achieve an accessible province.
  • Effectively enforcing the Disabilities Act.
  • Providing obligated organizations with free technical assistance on achieving accessibility.
  • Effectively deploying other levers of government power to prevent the creation of disability barriers, and
  • Making sure there is no backsliding on accessibility.

 

So far, the only other party to make any sort of public statement is the Ontario NDP. It commits to ensuring an accessible Ontario as soon as possible but does not yet commit to the 10-tpoint roadmap in the Accessible Ontario Pledge. (See the NDP statement below) The AODA Alliance is eager to work with any political party to help it work through the details of the Accessible Ontario Pledge.

 

“If Premier Ford calls a spring Ontario election, we are pressing the Tories, Liberals, and NDP to also make the Accessible Ontario Pledge as part of their campaigns,” said Lepofsky. “In our spirit of non-partisanship, we welcome the chance to work with any political party.”

 

If no spring Ontario election is called, the AODA Alliance urges the Ford Government to now implement the Accessible Ontario Pledge. We want the opposition parties to make this pledge now and to press the Government to implement it.

 

Contact: AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky, aodafeedback@gmail.com

Twitter: @aodaalliance

 

For more background

The text of the Accessible Ontario Pledge

The AODA Alliance’s January 6, 2025, Queen’s Park news conference, unveiling the Accessible Ontario Pledge

  • A timeline of major events over the past 30 years in the grassroots campaign for accessibility in Ontario.
  • The Legislature’s historic May 10, 2005, vote to pass the AODA and the Queen’s Park news conference right after that vote.
  • The AODA Alliance’s captioned online video series of the major news conferences and other key events in the 30-year campaign for accessibility for people with disabilities.
  • For the AODA Alliance’s work from 2005 to the present, visit aodaalliance.org

 

January 6, 2025, Email to the AODA Alliance from the Ontario Green Party

 

Subject: Re: Asking Ontario Party Leaders to Make the Accessible Ontario Pledge

 

Mike Schreiner and the Ontario Green Party are pleased to support this pledge to make an #Accessible Ontario for everyone.

 

Thank you for your steadfast work in holding elected officials and political parties accountable to the legislation they all supported.

 

Candice

 

Candice Lepage

Leader’s Assistant | Mike Schreiner

Green Party of Ontario

Pronouns: She/Her

 

^January 6, 2025, Statement by NDP MPP Lise VaugeoisShared with the Media

 

“I would like to start by thanking David Lepofsky from the AODA Alliance, for his remarks today regarding what the government should be doing in Ontario to uphold accessibility standards in the province. The AODA Alliance has been tireless in their advocacy to ensure that accessibility for all is finally a reality in Ontario and we continue to be very supportive of their work.

We have repeatedly raised raise AODA compliance issues and sponsored the Alliance for their watershed public consultations at the legislature. We have called on the Ford government many times for the implementation of AODA standards in Ontario in many sectors such as education, health and many more. The previous Liberal government did not take up their responsibilities to implement the AODA and, despite many calls from advocates, Ford’s Conservatives have failed to make accessibility a priority, missing the AODA commitment of January 1, 2025, by a long shot.

 

We continue to engage with the AODA Alliance about policy development and how to have strong accessibility components brought forward in our legislature. The Ontario NDP has championed AODA issues for a long time and will continue to advocate for the province to meet its accessibility promises. Fulfilling the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities is long overdue and the ONDP is committed to working with the AODA Alliance to make Ontario fully accessible as soon as possible.”

–           MPP Lise Vaugeois