Read the March 22, 2022 Election Commitments of the Green Party of Ontario on Accessibility for People with Disabilities

Text of the March 22, 2022 Email from the Green Party of Ontario to the AODA Alliance

 

2022 Ontario Election Commitments Requested by the Accessibility for Ontarians  with Disabilities Act Alliance

 

Headers

 

  1. Leadership Commitments

 

  1. a) Foster and Strengthen Our Ongoing Relationship with Your Party

 

We are committed to a transparent government and welcome open communication with your association, including meetings with Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner, candidates, and shadow cabinet. Issues concerning persons with disabilities and accessibility will continue to be a priority issue for Greens at Queens Park, and our members are committed to raising these important issues in Question Period. We look forward to continued consultation on disability and accessibility issues with your organization and improving access to government for all Ontarians.

 

  1. b) Show Strong Leadership on Accessibility

 

The Ontario Greens are fully committed to a government that encourages citizens to actively participate in their community and play a strong rol in decisions that affect them. We know that the current AODA needs to be dramatically strengthened, and we are committed to working with the public and consulting with your organization on new accessibility standards to ensure that Ontario becomes fully accessible by 2025.

 

  1. c) Protect the Gains on Accessibility that People with Disabilities Have Made So Far

 

We support strong implementation of the AODA and will not weaken or repeal any legislation that has already been passed.

 

  1. Develop and Enact Needed New Accessibility Standards Under the AODA

 

  1. a) Enact a Comprehensive Education Accessibility Standard Under the AODA

 

We support enacting an AODA Education Accessibility Standard that accords with the recommendations in the Initial Report of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee, which the Government made public on June 1, 2021, and the Initial Report of the Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committee, which the Government made public on June 25, 2021

 

  1. b) Enact a Comprehensive Health Care Accessibility Standard Under the AODA

 

We support enacting a comprehensive Health Care Accessibility Standard under the AODA that accords with the Health Care Standards Development Committee’s Initial Report, made public on May 7, 2021.

 

  1. c) Strengthen the Employment, Transportation and Information and Communication Accessibility Standards

 

We support reviewing the Employment, Transportation and Information and Communication Accessibility Standards and making necessary adjustments to strengthen them based on consultations with your organization and the public.

 

  1. d) Enact a Comprehensive Built Environment Accessibility Standard under the AODA

 

The Green party supports accessibility as an essential component of any new building project or retrofit. We support enacting a comprehensive Built Environment Accessibility Standard under the AODA.

 

  1. e) Enact an Accessible Housing Accessibility Standard and Create Accessible Housing Strategy

 

We support enacting an Accessible Housing Accessibility Standard and creating an Accessible Housing Strategy including; mandating universal design to ensure that new housing stock is accessible for all and creating incentives for retrofitting homes to make them accessible.

 

  1. f) Strengthen the Weak Customer Service Accessibility Standard

 

We support reviewing the Customer Service Accessibility Standard and making necessary adjustments to strengthen it based on a report by a Standards Development Committee under the AODA.

 

  1. g) Develop Additional New Accessibility Standards under the AODA Needed to Achieve Accessibility

 

The Green Party is committed to ensuring that Ontario is accessible to everyone and will consult with your organization and the public to determine where additional new accessibility standards are needed. We will appoint new Standards Development Committees under the AODA as necessary.

 

  1. h) Speed Up the Excessively Long Process for Developing AODA Accessibility Standards

 

We support the creation of a non-governmental body to develop and review accessibility standards in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code so as to quicken this process and render such information more easily available to the public.

 

III. Substantially Strengthen AODA Enforcement to Ensure that All Requirements under the AODA are Effectively Enforced

 

We support fully implementing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act by preparing an enforcement plan, allocating resources for enforcement, and supporting a public awareness campaign.

 

  1. Effectively Use Other Levers of Government Power to Achieve Accessibility

 

  1. a) Substantially Reform and Improve How the Ministry of Education and Ontario School System Deal with the Needs of Students with Disabilities

 

The Green Party is committed to changing outdated and restrictive terminology related to students with disabilities in the province’s Education Act so as to be inclusive of the full range of disabilities covered by the Ontario Human Rights Code. In addition, funding for students with disabilities should be determined based on the actual number of students within a particular school board.

 

  1. b) Ensure that New Generations of Design Professionals Are Not Trained to be New Barrier-Creators

 

We support accessibility as an essential component of any new building project or retrofit. Training in accessible design should be a requirement across all licensing and educational institutions in Ontario, and all new building projects should meet standard accessibility requirements before approval. A strategy must be developed both to increase the supply of accessible housing within Ontario and to undertake the retrofitting of existing buildings in order for them to meet accessibility standards.

 

  1. c) Ensure that Taxpayers’ Money is Never Used to Create or Perpetuate Disability Barriers

 

The Green Party will not use taxpayers’ money to create, perpetuate, or exacerbate barriers against persons with disabilities. To this end, we will ensure that our plans meet the accessibility standards set out in the Human Rights Code and make sure that independent contractors are aware of these standards.

 

  1. d) Establish Free Independent Technical Accessibility Advice for Obligated Organizations

 

The Green Party supports the development of publicly-funded initiatives to offer high quality knowledge related to accessibility to the public.

 

  1. e) Make Provincial and Municipal Elections Accessible to Voters with Disabilities

 

We support enforcing strict accessibility standards at voting locations to ensure that people with physical disabilities or other mobility issues are able to vote without barriers. We also need to increase the number of mobile polls at hospitals and residences for seniors and people living with disabilities who have difficulty leaving their homes and explore options for telephone and secure internet voting.

 

  1. f) Substantially Improve the Accessibility of the Ontario Public Service’s Workplaces, Services and Facilities

 

We support the development of a plan to ensure the full accessibility of the Ontario Public Service’s services, facilities, and workplaces, including the creation of new governmental positions in order to properly implement such a plan.

 

  1. g) Review All Ontario Laws for Accessibility Barriers

 

We support the thorough review of all Ontario laws for accessibility barriers and their amendment to remove and prevent these barriers. We will ensure there is a specified team with clear responsibility for addressing disability and accessibility issues.

 

  1. h) Root Out Recently-Created New Disability Barriers Traceable to the Ontario Government

 

We support removing any recently-created disability barriers and will ensure we have a dedicated team in place with clear responsibility for addressing disability and accessibility issues.

 

  1. i) Give No More Public Money to the Problematic and Unreliable Rick Hansen Foundation’s Private Accessibility “Certification” Program

 

The Green Party will not give any public money to private accessibility certification programs.

Specific Promises Sought

 

Foster and Strengthen Our Ongoing Relationship with Your Part

 

#1. As Premier, will you periodically meet with us to discuss issues concerning persons with disabilities and accessibility, including once within the first four months of taking office?

 

#2. If your Party does not form the Government, will you meet with us periodically? Will your Party raise our concerns in the Legislature, including in Question Period?

 

Show Strong Leadership on Accessibility

 

#3. As premier, will you show strong leadership on the issue of accessibility for people with disabilities? Will you substantially strengthen and accelerate the AODA’s implementation?

 

#4. Will you commit to get Ontario as close as possible to the goal of becoming accessible to people with disabilities by 2025? Will you also announce and implement a plan to get Ontario to reach full accessibility as soon as possible after 2025, if the 2025 deadline is missed?

 

#5. Within four months of taking office, and after consulting the public including people with disabilities, will you announce a comprehensive action plan for ensuring that the Government leads Ontario to become as close as possible to full accessibility by 2025 for people with disabilities, and if the 2025 goal is not reached, to reach the goal of accessibility for people with disabilities as soon as possible after 2025?

 

#6. Will you assign a stand-alone minister responsible for disability issues, who will periodically meet with us? Will other ministers with responsibility bearing on our issues also meet with us?

 

#7. Will you comply with the AODA?

 

Protect the Gains on Accessibility that People with Disabilities Have Made So Far

 

#8. Will you ensure that no amendments to the AODA will be made?

 

#9. Do you agree not to eliminate or reduce any provisions or protections in the AODA or its regulations, or in policies or initiatives within the Ontario Government that promote its objectives, or any rights of persons with disabilities under the Ontario Human Rights Code?

 

Enact a Comprehensive Education Accessibility Standard Under the AODA

 

#10. Within one year of taking office, will you enact an AODA Education Accessibility Standard that accords with the recommendations in the Initial Report of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee, which the Government made public on June 1, 2021, and the Initial Report of the Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committee, which the Government made public on June 25, 2021?

 

Enact a Comprehensive Health Care Accessibility Standard Under the AODA

 

#11. Within one year of taking office, will you enact a comprehensive Health Care Accessibility Standard under the AODA, to remove and prevent the disability barriers in Ontario’s health care system (not limited to hospitals), that accords with the Health Care Standards Development Committee’s Initial Report, made public on May 7, 2021?

 

Strengthen the Employment, Transportation and Information and Communication Accessibility Standards

 

#12. Within nine months of taking office, will you revise the 2011 Employment Accessibility Standard in order to make it strong and effective, after consulting with us and the public on it?

 

#13. Within nine months of taking office, will you revise the 2011 Information and Communication Accessibility Standard in order to make it strong and effective, after consulting with us and the public on it?

 

#14. Within nine months of taking office, will you revise the 2011 Transportation Accessibility Standard in order to make it strong and effective, after consulting with us and the public on it?

 

Enact a Comprehensive Built Environment Accessibility Standard under the AODA

 

#15. Will you adopt a comprehensive strategy to make Ontario’s built environment accessible to people with disabilities, including enacting a comprehensive Built Environment Accessibility Standard under the AODA? As part of this, within four months of taking office, will you appoint a Built Environment Standards Development Committee under the AODA to make recommendations on what a comprehensive Built Environment Accessibility Standard should include to make Ontario’s built environment accessible to people with disabilities? This should include accessibility retrofits in existing buildings, as well as accessibility in new construction and major renovations. It should include, but not be limited to, the overdue review of the 2012 Design of Public Spaces Accessibility Standard. The Ontario Building Code accessibility provisions should also be strengthened to equal the requirements in the Built Environment Accessibility Standard.

 

We understand that the Ontario Building Code and AODA accessibility standards do not now set needed accessibility requirements in the location and operation of elevators. Ontario needs strong accessibility standards regarding elevators. For example, increasingly buildings are installing “destination elevator” facilities. These confuse the public as a whole, and create serious accessibility problems.

 

#16. Will you ensure that a new and comprehensive Built Environment Accessibility Standard will include accessibility requirements for elevators?

 

Enact an Accessible Housing Accessibility Standard and Create Accessible Housing Strategy

 

#17. Will you create a Residential Housing Accessibility Standard under the AODA? Within four months of taking office, will you appoint a Standards Development Committee to make recommendations on what it should include? We are open to this being part of the mandate of the Built Environment Standards Development Committee, referred to above, or being a separate stand-alone AODA Standards Development Committee.

 

#18. Will you announce a comprehensive accessible housing strategy, (apart from an AODA accessibility standard), within six months of taking office, after consulting the public, including people with disabilities? This strategy should aim to effectively increase the supply of accessible housing in Ontario, including supportive housing.

 

Strengthen the Weak Customer Service Accessibility Standard

 

#19. Within three months of taking office, will you appoint a Standards Development Committee under the AODA to review the 2007 AODA Customer Service Accessibility Standard? After that Committee reports, will you strengthen that accessibility standard to require accessible customer service in Ontario for people with disabilities?

 

Develop Additional New Accessibility Standards under the AODA Needed to Achieve Accessibility

 

#20. Over the six months after the June 2022 election, will you consult with the public, including the disability community, on all the additional economic sectors that other accessibility standards need to address to achieve the AODA’s purposes? Will you announce decisions on the economic sectors to be addressed in those additional standards within three months after that consultation, and appoint Standards Development Committees to address those areas within nine months after that announcement?

 

Speed Up the Excessively Long Process for Developing AODA Accessibility Standards

 

#21. Will you streamline, speed up and de-bureaucratize the development of accessibility standards under the AODA, in consultation with us and the public?

 

Substantially Strengthen AODA Enforcement to Ensure that All Requirements under the AODA are Effectively Enforced

 

#22. Will you substantially strengthen AODA enforcement, including effectively using all AODA enforcement powers to enforce all enforceable requirements under the AODA, and in connection with all classes of obligated organizations?

 

#23. Will you Transfer operational AODA enforcement outside the Ministry responsible for the AODA, and assign it to an arms-length public agency to be created for AODA enforcement, with a significant increase in the number of inspectors and directors appointed with AODA enforcement powers?

 

#24. Will you immediately give Ontario Government inspectors and investigators under other legislation a mandate to enforce the AODA when they inspect or investigate an organization under other legislation? Years ago, the Ontario Government piloted this.

 

#25. Will you have the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario publicly release and promptly post detailed information on AODA enforcement actions at least every three months. It should report on how many obligated organizations are actually providing accessibility, and not how many organizations simply tell the Government that they are providing accessibility. This should include prompt reports of quarterly results and year-to-date totals, broken down by sector and size of organization. At a minimum, it should include such measures as the number of notices of proposed order issued, the total amount of proposed penalties, the number of orders issued and total amounts and number of penalties imposed, the number of appeals from orders and the outcome, the total amount of penalties including changes ordered by the appeal tribunal, and the orders categorized by subject matter. This is what the 2015 final report of Mayo Moran’s second AODA Independent Review recommended.

 

#26. Will you make as a core feature of AODA enforcement the on-site inspection of a range of obligated organizations each year on the actual accessibility of their workplace, goods, services and facilities? It is not good enough for the Government, as at present, to mainly or only aim to ensure that obligated organizations keep good records on steps taken on accessibility. It is far more important for organizations to actually achieve accessibility.

 

#27. Will you establish and widely publicize an effective toll-free line for the public to report AODA violations? Will you also provide and widely publicize other online avenues to report AODA violations, including Twitter, Facebook and a web page? Will you publicly account on a quarterly basis on the complaints received and the specific enforcement action taken as a result?

 

#28. Will you create new ways for crowd-sourced AODA monitoring/enforcement, such as the Government publicly posting all online AODA compliance reports from obligated organizations in a publicly-accessible searchable data base, and by requiring each obligated organization to post its AODA compliance report on its own website, if it has one?

 

Additional enforcement measures regarding accessibility of built environments are also needed.

 

#29. Will you require that before a building permit and/or site plan approval can be obtained for a construction project, the approving authority, whether municipal or provincial, must be satisfied that the project, on completion, will meet all accessibility requirements under the Ontario Building Code and in any AODA accessibility standards?

 

#30. Will you require that post-project completion inspections include inspecting for compliance with accessibility requirements in the Ontario Building Code and AODA accessibility standards?

 

Substantially Reform and Improve How the Ministry of Education and Ontario School System Deal with the Needs of Students with Disabilities

 

#31. Will you undertake a comprehensive reform of Ontario’s education system as it relates to students with disabilities including its funding formula for students with disabilities in order to ensure it is sufficient to meet their needs, and to ensure that funding is based on the actual number of students with disabilities in a school board, and not on the basis of some mathematical formula of how many students with disabilities there hypothetically should be at that school board?

 

#32. Will you immediately create a new deputy minister or associate Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Education to be responsible for leading reform of Ontario’s education provided for students with disabilities, to ensure that students with disabilities can fully participate in and be fully included in school programs?

 

Ensure that New Generations of Design Professionals Are Not Trained to be New Barrier-Creators

 

#33. Will you make it mandatory for professional bodies that regulate or licence key professionals such as architects and other design professionals, to require adequate training on accessible design to qualify for a license, and to require existing professionals, where needed to take continuing professional development training on accessible design? This should not include the problem-ridden Rick Hansen Foundation training for accessibility assessors, addressed further below.

 

The Government annually contributes substantial funding to several Ontario colleges and universities for the training of design professionals, such as architects. Thus, public funding is now being used to train generation after generation of these professionals, without ensuring that they know how to meet accessibility needs. Public money is thereby being used to train and license generations of new barrier-creators. That is not a responsible use of public money.

 

#34. Will you require, as a condition of funding any college or university that trains professions, such as design professionals (like architects), that they include sufficient training on meeting accessibility needs, in their program’s curriculum?

 

Ensure that Taxpayers’ Money is Never Used to Create or Perpetuate Disability Barriers

 

#35. Will you enact, implement, enforce, widely publicize and publicly report on compliance with standards and create a comprehensive strategy, all to ensure that public money is never used by anyone to create or perpetuate barriers against people with disabilities, for example, in capital or infrastructure spending, or through procurement of goods, services or facilities, or through business development grants or loans, or research grants?

 

#36. Will you substantially reform and improve the way public sector infrastructure projects are managed and overseen in Ontario, including a major reform of Infrastructure Ontario, to ensure that accessibility is addressed far earlier, and more effectively in the project? This should include a requirement that accessibility advice be obtained on all major projects starting at the very beginning, with input being required from the outset obtained from people with disabilities. Any accessibility advice from people with disabilities or accessibility consultants should be promptly made public. Any decisions by the Government or by project teams it hires to reject any accessibility advice should promptly be publicly reported, identifying who made that decision, and the reasons for it. The accessibility requirements for any infrastructure should be made public as soon as possible, and well before a bidding competition is closed.

 

#37. Will you require that when public money is used to create public housing, principles of universal design will be employed in the design of that public housing?

 

#38. Will you create a fund to increase the number of accessible public premises, which would be available to public buildings that agree to make their property available to the public, in the case of emergency?

 

Establish Free Independent Technical Accessibility Advice for Obligated Organizations

 

#39. Will you establish a publicly-funded centre, arms-length from the Ontario Government, that will provide expert detailed technical advice on accessibility to the public, including obligated organizations, modelled after successful US programs? For example, an Ontario “Job Accommodation Network”, designed to operate like the successful US service bearing that name, could help employers and employees in the public and private sectors.

 

Make Provincial and Municipal Elections Accessible to Voters with Disabilities

 

#40. Will you consult with voters with disabilities by the end of 2022, and then introduce in the Legislature within 9 months after that, a bill that comprehensively and effectively addresses accessibility needs of voters and candidates with disabilities in provincial and municipal elections?

 

#41. Will you commit that your candidates will not take part in any all-candidates’ debate during the June 2022 election campaign if the location is not accessible to people with disabilities??

 

Substantially Improve the Accessibility of the Ontario Public Service’s Workplaces, Services and Facilities

 

#42. After promptly consulting with people with disabilities within the Ontario Public Service and in the general public for no more than four months, will you announce and implement a plan to substantially re-engineer and strengthen how the Ontario Public Service discharges its duty to ensure that its own services, facilities and workplaces are accessible? This should include, among other things, ensuring that the accessibility of its services, facilities and workplaces is regularly and comprehensively audited and that public servants are made accountable for ensuring their accessibility, with the results of that audit promptly made public.

 

#43. Will you ensure that in Mandate Letters, the Premier promptly directs the appropriate cabinet ministers and senior public officials to implement the Government’s accessibility obligations and commitments, and to make this direction public, once given?

 

#44. Will you establish a full-time Deputy Minister or associate deputy minister, who is responsible for ensuring the accessibility of the Ontario Government’s services, facilities and workplaces, to be called the Ontario Public Service Chief Accessibility Officer? Similar positions have been successfully established in leading large businesses.

 

#45. Will you ensure that in each Ontario Government Ministry, there is a full-time Accessibility Lead position directly reporting to that Ministry’s deputy minister? This should include establishing an Accessibility Lead position in the Cabinet Office, which reports directly to the Secretary of Cabinet, to ensure that accessibility is considered in all work of the Cabinet Office, and to ensure that all Cabinet Submissions are vetted in advance to ensure they do not create or perpetuate disability barriers.

 

#46. Will you include in the annual performance reviews of each deputy minister, assistant deputy minister and director below them, where feasible, specific annual commitments relating to their mandate on accessibility for people with disabilities? In 2007, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ordered this for senior management at the Toronto Transit Commission.

 

Review All Ontario Laws for Accessibility Barriers

 

#47. Within four months of taking office, will you announce a detailed plan for lawyers at the Ministry of the Attorney General to undertake a review of all Ontario laws for disability accessibility barriers, and for ensuring that new legislation and regulations will be screen in advance to ensure that they do not authorize, create or perpetuate barriers against people with disabilities?

 

#48. Will you complete a review of all legislation for accessibility barriers by the end of 2023 and the review of all regulations by the end of 2024? By June 2024, will you introduce into the Legislature, with the intent of passing it, an omnibus bill or bills to amend any legislation as needed as a result of this accessibility review?

 

#49. By the end of 2025, will Cabinet amend any regulations that the government deems needed to remove and prevent disability barriers as a result of the accessibility review?

 

Root Out Recently-Created New Disability Barriers Traceable to the Ontario Government

 

#50. Will you immediately make public any critical care triage protocol for hospitals or for other health services such as emergency medical services, that have been issued since 2020, including those pertaining to any specific age group, and any drafts that have been circulated to hospitals or other health care providers?

 

#51. Will you immediately rescind any draft or final critical care triage protocols that have been sent to any hospitals or other health care providers?

 

#52. Will you consult directly with us and the disability community on any future plans or protocols regarding critical care triage?

 

#53. Within six months of taking office, will you appoint an independent inquiry to investigate and report on the effectiveness of the Ontario Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to the needs of people with disabilities, including in terms of such things as health care services, critical care triage protocols, education services and income supports?

 

#54. Will you immediately repeal the Ontario regulations that permit municipalities to allow the use of e-scooters in public places?

 

#55. Will you pass legislation or regulations to provide for effective enforcement of the ban on riding e-scooters in public places, with strong penalties?

 

#56. Will you pass legislation or regulations to ban the sale of e-scooters for use in Ontario, with strong penalties?

 

#57. Will you ban robots on sidewalks, with effective enforcement such as a right to dispose of any robot on public sidewalks?

 

Give No More Public Money to the Problematic and Unreliable Rick Hansen Foundation’s Private Accessibility “Certification” Program

 

#58. Will you commit not to spend any additional public money on any private accessibility certification program, including the Rick Hansen Foundation’s private accessibility certification program?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I borrowed the same format from 2018 so all the specific asks can be found at the bottom