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
Last Blast of Media Coverage Around the February 27, 2025 Ontario Election
March 11, 2025
SUMMARY
The Ontario election is over, but a federal election is now looming. There’s no rest for the disability advocates!
We’re gearing up for the next round in our efforts after a very brief rest. We can and should be collectively proud that we did all we could to raise disability issues during the snap Ontario election last month. We’ll have more to say about next steps in the near future.
For now, we will try to learn from our experiences in the last Ontario election. Yet again, the mainstream media largely failed to cover the parties’ commitments or lack of commitments to people with disabilities in this election. Voters were left unaware of this important information at the very time when it mattered the most. We have seen this happen in election after election.
Meanwhile, disability issues were able to get some last-minute media attention regarding the fact that the Ford Government’s holding a snap election during a snowy February created significant voting barriers for voters with disabilities. Below we set out several articles on this and related issues. We also set out an excellent column in The Varsity, a University of Toronto student newspaper, by student Catherine Dumé. We congratulate her on identifying failed implementation of the AODA as causing major harm to students with disabilities in Ontario. Take a look at disability issues in the following sources:
- CBC News on February 25, 2025.
- The Toronto Star on February 26, 2025.
- City News on February 27, 2025.
- CBC News on February 28, 2025, and
- The Varsity on March 4, 2025.
How You Can Help
- Send us your ideas on how we can all reach more members of the public with our issues. Send your ideas to aodafeedback@gmail.com
- Encourage others you know to get AODA Alliance Updates by signing up on the AODA Alliance website’s home page.
MORE DETAILS
CBC News February 25, 2025
Originally posted at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/accessibility-ontario-election-snow-people-with-disabilities-1.7467541
Make sure polling stations are accessible despite the snow, advocates tell city ahead of election Toronto
‘We deserve the right to be able to go out and vote just as able-bodied people do,’ says resident
Accessibility at voting centres needs to be prioritized, disability advocates say
More than a week after the city got hit with multiple snowfalls, some streets and sidewalks still pose problems for those with mobility issues. With the Ontario election on Thursday, disability advocates say ensuring accessibility to voting centres needs to be a top priority. CBC’s Tyler Cheese has more.
Access to polling stations must be a top priority for the city and the province with the Ontario election just two days away, advocates for people with disabilities say.
After two major winter storms that swept the city, some Toronto sidewalks remain only partially cleared, with melting snow still left on many sidewalks and snowbanks on the sides of roads — making getting around difficult for people with disabilities, advocates say.
Jennifer Jewell, a Toronto resident who uses a motorized wheelchair, said it was a “nightmare” to cast her ballot during advance voting on Friday. It took her about 40 minutes to get from Carlton and Jarvis streets to the Wellesley Community Centre on Sherbourne Street. The journey drained the battery of her electric wheelchair.
“I had a full battery and it burned the whole thing. So I couldn’t come home. I had to have a friend transfer me money so I could get an Uber,” Jewell said.
“We’re supposed to have a say in the government that makes choices about our lives. Voting is one of the few things that we can do. It’s supposed to be an equalizer, but there’s so many barriers to getting to vote in the first place,” Jewell said.
Jewell said she had to backtrack several blocks at a time because she was blocked by improperly cleared sections and deal with piles of snow on street corners that were not cleared at all. She also had to try to wheel over uneven snow.
She said the experience made her angry and depressed, adding it’s unacceptable that the city did not clear the way to polling stations during advance polling.
Signage from Elections Ontario, the non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario responsible for administering provincial elections, is seen at a polling station in Toronto, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini
“They need to do better,” Jewell said.
In an email, Jewell added: “We deserve the right to be able to go out and vote just as able-bodied people do. Having that ability taken away from us because of other people’s choices is not quality of life.”
‘Having access to a voting centre is your civic right’
In a statement to CBC Toronto, David Lepofsky, the chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, questioned why an election was called at this time of year, saying: “The decision to call a snap Ontario election in snowy February has created new serious accessibility barriers for voters with disabilities.”
Anthony Frisina, volunteer director of media relations for the Ontario Disability Coalition, said it’s a frustrating situation because of the abundance of snow but the city needs to be proactive.
Frisina is calling on the city and Elections Ontario to make sure everyone can access the polls on Thursday. That means providing accessible transit to and from polling stations and having the ability to accommodate people with individual needs, he said.
“Having access to a voting centre is your civic right,” Frisina said. “You have a civic duty to vote whether you choose to exercise that or not.”
Frisina said poll workers need to be reminded that disabilities come in many forms and that everyone needs to be accommodated.
“Show up with empathy, show up with respect, show up with the intention for that individual to allow them to speak, act, and cast their vote as anybody else would.”
A man with glasses looks at a screen.
Anthony Frisina, volunteer director of media relations for the Ontario Disability Coalition, the abundance of snow is frustrating and the city needs to be proactive. (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC)
Ensuring access to polling station is a priority, city says
In a statement on Monday, the city said ensuring access to voting places for the provincial election on Thursday is a priority. The city added that it has directed its staff to ensure that voters can access polling stations across Toronto to cast their ballots.
“Staff are now inspecting the areas around election day voting places and prioritizing them for clean-up,” the city said in a statement on Monday.
The city said it is using all crews available, including its own road maintenance crews, plus winter maintenance contractors and park and recreation staff, to ensure the work is done as quickly as possible.
It added that access is needed on Thursday for the provincial election as well as on March 3 for the Toronto District School Board Ward 11 by-election for Trustee in Don Valley West.
Elections Ontario, in a statement on Monday, said it is a priority for its office to make sure every eligible voter knows when, where and how to vote.
It said “assistive voting technology” was available at advance polls and is available every day through Wednesday at local election offices. It said it is also available by appointment on election day at local election offices.
If people cannot make it to a polling station, Elections Ontario offers home visits for eligible people, it added.
“We know that snow removal has been a challenge across the Greater Toronto Area due to the exceptional snow accumulation in the last week. Anyone who has difficulty due to snow accumulation is urged to let us know so that we can address it,” Elections Ontario said.
With files from Tyler Cheese
Toronto Star February 26,m 2025
Snow plows leave woman, 90, housebound
Reagan McSwain Toronto Star
For nearly two weeks now, 90-year-old Sheila Morris has been trapped inside her Toronto home by a wall of snow that has been plowed from her street and dumped at the base of her driveway.
She’d been unable to get to the optometrist for a new and needed pair of glasses. She hadn’t been able to get out to replace the hearing aid she needs.
Even more pressing, says her son, was his mother’s wish to go and vote in Thursday’s provincial election, after she was snowed in during the advance polls.
Michael Morris, 58, said his mother’s Etobicoke driveway has had snow dumped at the base of it for the past five winters, although never as much as this year.
“It’s not the first time, but it’s the worst time,” he said of the mound that reaches about six feet at its highest point.
His mother uses various mobility devices, including a cane, walkers and a manual wheelchair – none of which could be used safely due to a lack of space and access around the snow mound, said Michael, who spoke to the Star on behalf of his mother.
Each day since Feb. 14 – the first day her driveway was blocked with snow – Michael submitted an official service request for snow removal through the city’s online 311 public assistance system. And, each day, he drove to his mother’s home, found a space to park on the street and snapped photos of the wall of snow to include in his service requests.
“I send them new pictures daily, because they issue a ticket number each time, and I’ve been checking the ticket numbers,” said Morris. “One of the tickets was closed because they investigated it and say the problem’s been fixed,” he said, noting nothing had changed and no snow removal work had been done.
As well as his 311 service requests, Michael said he had spoken on two separate occasions to the company tasked with sidewalk clearing in front of his mother’s home, catching them for quick conversation as they pass. Both times, he was told they could not help but were sympathetic, Michael said, adding the company called their own supervisor, who came to speak to him and who took his own photos to see if he could help with submitting a request.
Michael also contacted Mayor Olivia Chow’s office. Chow’s spokesperson, Zeus Eden, said, “We used an existing complaint to hopefully expedite work.”
In a statement emailed to the Star on Thursday evening, a spokesperson said the city had “deployed crews and equipment to clear access to this property,” adding work was continuing to address a high volume of service requests.
“We empathize with seniors – we know there is a gap, and the mayor has sent suggestions to the auditor general to get this cleared up,” said Eden.
“If you use a wheelchair, you have a path you need to take that you depend on to be accessible,” to get yourself food, medicine or otherwise out and about, said David Lepofsky, chair of accessibility for the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance.
“When snow falls, it’s a headache for everyone, a pain to get around in; but for people with disabilities, it is a complete impediment,” he said. Lepofsky, who is legally blind, said people with disabilities who are shut in due to snow, “are left living like we all were at the beginning of the pandemic – afraid to go outside.”
Lepofsky said seniors with limited energy or who have balance issues are also shut in when city sidewalks aren’t passable, due to “real fears of falling and breaking bones or a hip, that, for seniors, can actually be life-threatening.”
Michael said his parents grew up in a country without the right to vote, so it is incredibly important to his mother that she does.
“My parents never missed an election. (My mother) only missed the mayoral byelection once in her entire lifetime,” he said, adding his mother’s parents, and in fact all of his grandparents, did not have the right to vote until they were in their 40s and 50s. “It means a lot because of that … that all of us have that right.”
Figure:
Michael Morris cleared his mother’s sidewalk on Monday after her driveway was blocked by snow for nearly two weeks. He took daily photos and sent them to the city’s 311 system hoping for action. Richard Lautens Toronto Star
City News February 27, 2025
Originally posted at https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/02/27/ontario-voters-with-disabilities-face-barriers-in-winter-election-advocates/
Ontario voters with disabilities face barriers in winter election: advocates
Liisa Nisula, an East York resident, struggles with snow-covered sidewalks in the Danforth-Coxwell area in Toronto, Thursday, February 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN
By Rianna Lim, The Canadian Press
As Ontarians head to the polls in a rare winter election, disability advocates say additional barriers created by snowy and icy conditions could have been avoided and are calling on the province to make voting more accessible.
Back-to-back snowstorms hit many parts of the province this month and some cities are still working to clear the snow and ice accumulated on streets and sidewalks. David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, said calling a snap election during the winter created an accessibility issue for voters with disabilities.
“Just one mountain of snow piled up in the way can be an insurmountable barrier for people like me who are blind,” said Lepofsky. “It could have been completely avoided, which would be completely foreseeable by anyone calling an election in February.”
Those who require assistance or are unable to go to their voting location had the option to request a home visit through their local election office up until the day before the election. Mail-in ballots were also an option, though the deadline to apply to vote by mail passed on Feb. 21.
But Rabia Khedr, national director of Disability Without Poverty, said those options aren’t sufficient. Mailboxes themselves may not be accessible to voters with disabilities in the winter and having an election official come into one’s home raises privacy concerns, she said.
“People with disabilities may not have the supports they need at home to ensure that their personal space is ready to receive a stranger,” Khedr said.
She also said she’d like political leaders to consider the timing of an election call, especially when sidewalks and roadways are covered in ice and snow.
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford called the snap election in January, saying he needs a bigger mandate to deal with U.S. tariff threats, but his
political rivals have criticized the winter vote as unnecessary and a waste of money.
Lepofsky said there should be legislation to prevent a winter election – or at least safeguards “to help minimize the risk that we end up having the election at a time when we are most exposed to these snowstorms.”
He said he’d also like municipalities to be proactive when it comes to clearing snow during elections.
“You can’t avoid the fact of snow falling, but we do have a problem that when they shovel the snow, they have too often created new human-created barriers, namely piles of snow, where people need to be able to walk,” said Lepofsky.
Dave Pearce, a spokesperson for Elections Ontario, said anyone who has difficulty voting because of snow accumulation is urged to contact the agency. Pearce said Elections Ontario has contingency plans in case of extreme weather.
“From urban centres to rural communities, we have set up polling locations that make voting accessible for all, including individuals with disabilities,” he said Wednesday in an emailed statement. “Assistive voting technology was available daily at advance polls and local election offices leading up to today. It is also available by appointment on election day at local election offices.”
Lepofsky added he is already in the middle of advocacy work on the issue, having filed a human rights complaint against Elections Ontario in 2019 about the rights of voters with vision disabilities to mark their ballots privately and independently. That case will be heard this fall, he said.
Gabriel Reznick, a lawyer with the ARCH Disability Law Centre in Toronto, said another issue in this snap election is making sure voters with disabilities are aware of their options during a short campaign.
“An individual with a disability has to often seek out this information. Sometimes they’re not publicized enough in order to access this information,” said Reznick.
“People don’t know that they can be accommodated. I’ve seen (Elections Ontario) go to great lengths actually to accommodate an individual, but they were unaware that they could be accommodated until we stepped in and arranged for that process to begin.”
Aside from the wintry conditions, Khedr said there are other accessibility factors that need to be considered. For example, polling stations might be too far away for some voters, she said.
Khedr said she’d like to see Elections Ontario explore technology-based alternative options for voting so people with disabilities can vote from home.
Pearce, the Elections Ontario spokesperson, said the agency hasn’t yet found online voting technology “that will protect the integrity of the voting system on the scale we need it to.”
For Khedr, adequate alternatives and accessible options for voters with disabilities are the first step in ensuring full voter participation.
“If we are truly dedicated to democracy and want to ensure that everybody has the opportunity — not just the right — to vote, then we have to make sure that we are calling an election in a way that is fully accessible to everybody,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2025.
CBC News February 28, 2025
Originally posted at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/disability-advocates-guelph-waterloo-region-snow-buildup-1.7470239
Disability advocates call on municipalities to have more ’empathy’ when it comes to snow removal | CBC News Loaded
Guelph resident who uses wheelchair says he got stuck in a snowbank for 45 minutes
Aastha Shetty · CBC News · Posted: Feb 28, 2025 7:00 AM EST | Last Updated: February 28
People in wheelchairs on sidewalk and a mobility bus on road, but a large snowbank is between them and the people can’t get on the bus.
Snowbanks can make it impossible for people to get in and out of a public transit bus. Advocates are calling on the municipal government to clear snow more effectively. (K-W AccessAbility/Twitter/@KWAccessAbility)
Tall snow banks and snow covered sidewalks are making it more difficult for people with disabilities to get around this winter.
Advocates are asking residents to be more mindful of regularly clearing the paths around their homes or businesses.
Abigail Murphy, a disability advocate from Waterloo, says municipal staff also need to do more to help.
“Poorly cleared sidewalks and very narrow snow banks create obstacles for people who use wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, crutches and other mobility aids,” she said, pointing out that sidewalks are required to be stable and slip resistant under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
“[Snow-covered sidewalks] give people two options: first is to just not go outside during these weather events, which means missing appointments, work class events, friends just missing out on life and excluded from the public,” Murphy said.
“And the other option is to instead walk on the street around traffic, which places them at a significant risk,” she explained.
As the city of Toronto cleans up after back-to-back snowstorms, people with disabilities say navigating the large snow piles has been nearly impossible, even forcing some of them to stay home. As CBC’s Naama Weingarten reports, they are asking the city for an accessible snow removal plan.
‘I want them to have some empathy’: Guelph advocate
In 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that people can sue cities over snow removal activities that cause injury. The ruling stems from a case where a woman injured herself while climbing over a snowbank in Nelson, B.C.
Mike Ashkewe from Guelph, knows firsthand what it is like to get stuck in a tall snowbank. He uses a wheelchair and says it’s happened to him several times this winter.
snow covered sidewalk
Mike Ashkewe says this is the bus stop where he got stuck in the snowbank for 45 minutes after getting dropped off by a Guelph Transit bus. (Mike Ashkewe)
Last week, he said he took a Guelph Transit bus home — and quickly found out his last stop was blocked by a tall snowbank.
“We pull up to the bus stop, the driver deploys the ramp… I get off the bus and immediately I get stuck,” Ashkewe said, adding that’s when, along with his wife, he began looking around for help.
“I happen to know Ward 1 councillor Erin Caton, who lives pretty close to me, and they were able to come down with their partner to come help me dig out along with some of my friends that lived close by. Erin had taken my phone and called city operations emergency after hours number and had requested help… as of right now, that call has never been returned.”
People with mobility issues struggle to navigate sidewalks as cities rush to clear snow
Bus stop accessibility after snowstorms continues to be a challenge for wheelchair users in Waterloo region
Ashkewe says it took a group of bystanders and friends about 45 minutes to dig him out of the snow bank.
Waiting so long in freezing temperatures was painful and Ashkewe says he was worried about getting frostbite.
“This could have happened to anybody… A lot of the disabled residents and other advocates in the city don’t feel like we’re being adequately listened to — that accessibility when it comes to snow removal is a low priority,” he said.
“I don’t blame the driver [of the transit bus]. It would be easy to be mad at them. And for a little while, yeah I I was. But I don’t wanna ruin someone’s career. I want them to be educated. I want them to have some empathy toward the issue.”
‘Everybody needs to help’: Londoners with disabilities call for better accessibility in snow
After that incident, Ashkewe says he continues to get stuck in snowbanks while travelling around the city — and he worries about his ability to independently move around after the next big snowstorm.
City of Guelph says they’re aware of what happened to Ashkewe, and an internal investigation is currently ongoing.
Guelph Transit has been working diligently with the City’s operations team to remove snow from Guelph Transit stops since a Significant Weather Event was declared last week,” said Glenn Marcus, acting general manager of Guelph Transit, in an emailed statement.
“The City of Guelph is committed to providing accessible and reliable services that meets our community’s needs. We will continue to look for opportunities to improve if, and when, we miss the mark on achieving that vision,” the statement continued.
The Varsity March 4, 2025
Originally posted at https://thevarsity.ca/2025/03/04/opinion-the-accessibility-for-ontarians-with-disabilities-act-has-failed/
The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
Opinion: The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act has failed
Accessibility is now a “national crisis,” it is time we take it seriously
By Catherine Dumé — Published March 4, 2025
As the clocks struck 12:00 am on January 1, 2025, the Ontario government’s deadline to make the province accessible came and went. But instead of celebrating, Ontarians with disabilities condemned the government for failing to meet its promise.
I won’t deny that Ontario has made strides in ensuring physical accessibility, such as by improving transportation, customer service, and the design of public spaces. However, for many Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), this is barely enough. Accessibility is about increasing the participation of PWDs in every aspect of society — not just removing physical barriers, but addressing digital, systematic, and institutional barriers across workplaces, education, healthcare, politics, and more.
Viewing accessibility solely through the lens of physical spaces is not only limited, but dismissive of the broader changes needed. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act’s (AODA) failure is not rooted in its ideas — but in its execution. The legislation was designed to develop, implement, and enforce accessibility standards to make Ontario barrier-free by 2025, yet that vision remains far from reality.
Should we not expect that the government keeps the promises it made?
Why the AODA matters
Before the AODA, disability rights in Canada primarily relied on litigation to combat discrimination. When the first draft of Section 15 of the Charter was introduced in 1980, it prohibited discrimination based on race, sex, and religion — but not disability. Despite criticism, the Liberal government at the time refused to add disability to the list of protected grounds. It was only through persistent advocacy from disability activists during the 1980s that disability became recognized as grounds for discrimination, and was finally added into Section 15 in 1985.
Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know this piece of history — I didn’t either. At U of T, we combat our blindspots in history by dedicating certain courses to race, gender, and Indigenous thought. Yet, disability often remains on the margins of these conversations. This forgotten history and how the AODA came to be isn’t just a footnote — it’s integral to understand.
Despite legal progress, many advocates found that litigating individual barriers one case at a time was expensive, burdensome, and inaccessible — especially for a community where poverty, unemployment, and reliance on government funding are widespread. The frustration laid the groundwork for the original AODA Alliance in 1994 — known at the time as the Ontario Disability Act committee — which pushed for stronger legislation with genuine enforcement power to break systemic barriers.
The future of accessibility policy
But this is not the end of the road. In 2019, the federal government passed the Accessible Canada Act, setting a new goal of making Canada accessible by 2040. In 2023, lawmakers passed the Disability Benefit Act to provide financial support for Canadians with disabilities. While it offers a glimpse of hope, the act is predicted to lift 25,000 working-age persons with disabilities, and 15,000 of their family members, out of poverty each year — contrary to the then-federal minister’s promise that it would lift “hundreds of thousands of working-age Canadians with disabilities out of poverty.”
So, the AODA remains in effect — legislation does not simply expire overnight — and the Ontario government still has the responsibility to break down barriers.
In fact, the AODA is in the process of introducing a brand new standard: education. Two years ago, two education committees published their recommendations for the new standard, which aims to address eight key barriers in higher education. According to the ministerial report, these barriers range from organizational practices and financial constraints to lack of awareness.
If implemented, the education standard could not only improve the quality of education for students with disabilities, but also help ensure they are given the opportunity to succeed on their own terms — not just receive accommodations.
Yet, despite this exciting news, one should err on the side of caution. The Ontario government has yet to meet its initial goals from 2023, and it has been slow to implement the first five AODA standards in customer service, employment, and transportation.. Given this track record, one might wonder why the education standard would be any different.
Accessibility is a national crisis
This is why, as a student with a disability, I am urging universities, policymakers, politicians, disability organizations, and other relevant stakeholders to treat accessibility as a crisis. While the government has the responsibility to ensure its goals are met, it is also equally your responsibility to implement the government’s recommendations.
Accessibility should never be an afterthought — it is crucial for the participation of PWDs. Without proper accommodation, students with disabilities will struggle to succeed.
We are at a critical juncture. In the coming months, Canadians will vote in the federal elections to determine which political party will govern for the next four years. These next four years are pivotal, as they will shape the future of accessibility in this country.
Will accessibility be treated as the national crisis it is, or will it remain an issue relegated to the fringes of the Canadian political sphere?
On behalf of students with disabilities, I urge you to take the former approach — for our sake.
Catherine Dumé is a Masters student studying political theory. She is the co-founder of the University of Toronto’s Accessibility Awareness Club.