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
In the Legislature, the Ford Government Again Dodges Important Questions About its Failed Implementation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
February 21, 2024
SUMMARY
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act came up in the Ontario Legislature yesterday. Question Period is the time for opposition parties to try to get answers from the Government on important issues. Below you can read what happened, word for word.
Yesterday, the Ontario New Democratic Party pressed Premier Doug Ford in Question Period to agree to meet with the AODA Alliance. Accessibility Minister Raymond Cho ducked the question.
The Premier was then asked to direct the Minister of Education to meet with parents of students with vision loss to at long last address the shortage of and substandard training in Ontario for teachers of the visually impaired. You can learn more about this issue by reviewing the February 12, 2024 AODA Alliance Update. Again, Accessibility Minister Cho answered. Again, he dodged the question.
From this exchange we learned nothing new. The Minister did not even attempt to respond to the specifics of the questions he was supposed to answer. Instead, it looked like Premier Ford’s Accessibility Minister was simply reading from the stock notes that his office uses whenever the media has asked them anything about the AODA in recent weeks.
We thank NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois for trying to get answers from the Government.
How You can Help
Send an email to Education Minister Stephen Lecce. Write him at minister.edu@ontario.ca minister.edu@ontario.ca
Ask him why Ontario shas still not passed the promised Education Accessibility Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, over two years after his Government received the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee’s final report?
For More Background
Check out:
- The AODA Alliance’s January 29, 2024 news release marking two years since the Ford Government received the final report of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee.
- AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s captioned video describing the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee final report.
- David Lepofsky’s captioned video presentation providing tips for parents of students with disabilities on how to advocate for their child’s needs at school.
- The AODA Alliance website’s education page.
MORE DETAILS
Ontario Hansard February 20, 2024
Question Period
ACCESSIBILITY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
MPP Lise Vaugeois: According to the final report on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, your government is failing on every measure to make Ontario barrier-free by 2025. Perhaps it’s not surprising then that your government hid this report for six months.
Frankly, it’s unacceptable that you aren’t going to reach this target, and it’s unacceptable that you have been hiding the truth. You owe people with disabilities an apology and you owe them action.
Will the government finally agree to work with the AODA Alliance and make Ontario barrier-free for the nearly three million Ontarians with disabilities?
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister for Seniors and Accessibility.
Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: The AODA is driving change in Ontario every day. The feedback provided by the fourth legislative review is great example of how Ontario is continuously working to identify barriers, to listen to feedback and make Ontario accessible.
Mr. Speaker, I’m happy to report that we are doing what was asked. Thanks to the feedback from the fourth legislative review, government is taking action on new initiatives that will provide direct experience on AODA issues from people with those disabilities. This is exactly what the AODA meant for us to do.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.
MPP Lise Vaugeois: Thank you.
Your government pledges equity and education, but the ministry doesn’t set or track standards. Support for every single special-needs student is undermined every time this government cuts funding to education, and it has cut funding again.
Six months ago, your Minister of Education was again asked by Ontario parents of visually impaired children to address the serious shortage of positions for teachers of blind students in our schools and substandard training for them. They have not yet seen any action or received a response.
Premier, will you direct your Minister of Education to meet with this parent group and solve this problem that has festered for over half a decade?
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister for Seniors and Accessibility.
Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: Mr. Speaker, we are doing what the AODA meant for us to do.
Our government is taking action on new initiatives that will provide direct experience on AODA issues from people with disabilities. We are building evacuation plans for all government buildings to ensure safe evacuation of people with disabilities. We’ll ensure all government procurement complies with the AODA. We are using recommendations from the fourth legislative review to achieve and exceed the goals of the AODA. We are getting it done.