New 4-Minute Video Provides a Good Summary of the Many Disability Barriers at the New Toronto Criminal Courthouse

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update

United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities

Twitter: @aodaalliance

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance

New 4-Minute Video Provides a Good Summary of the Many Disability Barriers at the New Toronto Criminal Courthouse

June 23, 2025

It’s just been released! Watch the punchy new 4-minute trailer for last summer’s longer videos that made public the accessibility barriers in the billion-dollar courthouse that the Ford Government opened in 2023 (full link is: https://youtu.be/hViGUVoj_iM). Now you can very quickly show others just how bad this “Billion-Dollar Accessibility Bungle” is!

We are delighted that over the past ten months, so many people have watched the 14-minute version and the 49-minute version of this video!

It is inexcusable that the Ontario Government spent so much public money on this important new facility without living up to its commitments to ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities. What’s worse is that the Government has not announced any reforms to how it designs and builds new infrastructure so that it doesn’t repeat these blunders.

Over the ten months since we first revealed these accessibility blunders to the public, the Ford Government has not disputed any of the facts in our earlier videos, which are condensed in our new trailer video, unveiled today.

A front-page story in the September 17, 2024, Toronto Star reported that the Ford Government had received an independent report by an expert accessibility consultant that confirmed the existence of a number of the disability barriers at this courthouse that the AODA Alliance had revealed. Check out the September 17, 2024 AODA Alliance Update to read all about it.

Last year, the Ford Government also hired “Human Space,” a second accessibility consulting firm to report on disability barriers at this courthouse and recommend changes. AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky was one of the people who took part in a disability advisory group for that consultant at the Government’s request. Members of that disability advisory group were told that they would get a copy of the consultant’s final report. However, months later, it has not been provided.

We understand that the Ford Government has already received the final report of the Design of Public Spaces Standards Development Committee it appointed under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The AODA required the Government to make that report public upon receiving it. We’ve not heard a word about when they plan to obey that legal requirement.

What You Can Do to Help

Watch the new 4-minute trailer about the Ontario Government’s ridiculous “Billion-Dollar Accessibility Bungle.”
Encourage others to watch this video. Circulate it on social media. Get disability organizations to post it on their websites.
Send this video to members of the Ontario Legislature. Encourage them to watch it.

Check out the AODA Alliance website’s built environment page to learn about our advocacy over the past 16 years or longer to prevent the creation of new disability barriers in the built environment, and to remove existing barriers.

Believe it or not, 173 days have passed since the deadline which the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act set for the Ontario Government to lead this province to become accessible to people with disabilities. Have you seen any plans by the Ford Government to get this province to that destination as soon as possible, or ever? We’re still looking!

Send us your feedback. Email us at aodafeedback@gmail.com