House of Commons Told that Progress on Accessibility for 8 Million People with Disabilities Has Been “Glacial” under the Accessible Canada Act

 ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

House of Commons Told that Progress on Accessibility for 8 Million People with Disabilities Has Been “Glacial” under the Accessible Canada Act

 

October 8, 2024 Toronto: Last Tuesday, the non-partisan grassroots AODA Alliance told a House of Commons Standing Committee that progress towards making Canada accessible to 8 million people with disabilities in Canada has been “glacial” under the Accessible Canada Act enacted by Parliament in 2019. On October 1, 2024, AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky told the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities that the Accessible Canada Act requires Canada to become accessible by 2040, but Canada has not made anywhere near 25% progress towards that goal with 25% of the time already behind us. His October 1, 2024 testimony, including answers to MPs’ questions from across the political spectrum, can be watched any time online.

 

“We’re calling on this all-party Standing Committee to recommend that Parliament amend the weak Accessible Canada Act to give it teeth. It doesn’t require a single disability barrier to ever be removed. It creates a confusing, labyrinthian and effective process for enforcing the Act,” said Lepofsky. “Five years of progress at the lightning speed of a turtle proves that Parliament must now pass amendments to this Act that we sought in 2018 and the Trudeau Government then rejected.”

 

Other disability community representatives testifying at the Standing Committee hearings agreed that progress under the Accessible Canada Act has been far too slow. Several compared the failure of the Accessible Canada Act to the demoralizing Canada Disability Benefit Act. Both laws promised much but have done far too little for people with disabilities. The Canada Disability Benefit Act was promised to lift hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities out of poverty. Yet all that is to be delivered is a paltry maximum of $200 per month, far less than needed by most people with disabilities who are languishing in poverty.

 

The AODA Alliance submitted a detailed brief to the Standing Committee. It makes 10 constructive recommendations to strengthen the Accessible Canada Act by:

 

  • Setting a deadline for the Federal Government to enact mandatory and enforceable accessibility standards under the Act that will specify what federally regulated organizations must do and by when to tear down accessibility barriers. Over the 5 years since the Act was passed, the Federal Government has enacted none.
  • Requiring the Federal Government to ensure that public money that it distributes is never used to create or perpetuate disability barriers.
  • Substantially simplifying and strengthening the complicated, ineffective and labyrinthian bureaucratic maze for enforcing the Accessible Canada Act, now splintered among three federal agencies: the Accessibility Commissioner, the CRTC and the Canada Transportation Agency.
  • Ensuring that nothing done under the Accessible Canada Act can reduce the rights of people with disabilities, and
  • Requiring the Federal Government to apply the promised disability lens in all its policies, decisions and practices.

 

With an impending federal election, Lepofsky reminded MPs that it is not good enough to criticize the Government. Voters with disabilities are watching closely to see what each party promises to do to strengthen and simplify the Accessible Canada Act.

 

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

Twitter: @aodaalliance

 

For More Background

 

Check out:

AODA Alliance’s brief to the Senate on proposed amendments to Bill C-81 (March 29, 2019)