Second in Series of CBC News Reports on Ontario’s Inaccessibility Crisis Addresses Ford Government’s Failure to Effectively Enforce the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update

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

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Second in Series of CBC News Reports on Ontario’s Inaccessibility Crisis Addresses Ford Government’s Failure to Effectively Enforce the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

January 4, 2024

Summary

Today, CBC News published online the second part of its four-part series on the crisis of inaccessibility facing Ontarians with disabilities. We set that superb article out below. It focuses on the Ontario Government’s extremely poor enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and the harm this causes 2.9 million Ontarians with disabilities.

The AODA Alliance has been advocating for over a decade in an effort to get the AODA effectively enforced. You can read about those efforts by visiting the AODA Alliance website’s enforcement page.

We offer three reflections on this excellent report, and again congratulate CBC on this impressive journalistic effort:

First, Ontario’s Seniors and Accessibility Ministry offered quite troubling answers, when CBC asked about the weak enforcement of the AODA. That weak enforcement was independently confirmed by three successive Government-appointed Independent Reviews of the AODA over the past decade, those conducted by Mayo Moran in 2014, by David Onley in 2018-19, and by Rich Donovan in 2022-2023.

The Ford Government denies that there is any problem here whatsoever. As found in the following excerpt, the article included:

“In a statement, the ministry said it uses a “modern regulator approach” that ensures organizations understand how to meet their legal obligations under the AODA, which has led to a number of audits and enforcement actions against non-compliant businesses.”

Moreover, under the heading, “Ministry defends ‘proactive’ complaints system”, the article includes that:

The ministry maintains its enforcement actions are working.

In an email to CBC Toronto, it says 98.8 per cent of verification audits were resolved without escalation or the need for enforcement action, adding that since 2017, it issued only 45 orders to resolve non-compliance issues.

Key components of the AODA Compliance Assurance Program include education and outreach, self-certified reporting, audits, inspections, and enforcement measures including orders and administrative monetary penalties,” Wallace Pidgeon, a spokesperson for Cho, said in an email to CBC Toronto.

Enforcement…affirms that this is something we care about as a society, that we don’t condone. We devote resources to making sure that this is taken seriously.

And when organizations fail to meet their legal obligations, the ministry says it can pursue things like director orders and administrative monetary penalties — though those have rarely materialized. The Licence Appeal Tribunal, which is designated to hear appeals related to AODA non-compliance, has only heard four director order appeals, with all of them resolved.

People always have the option to reach out to the organization and complain directly, said Pidgeon.

“This proactive approach aligns with modern regulatory principles,” he wrote.

This all makes it sound like there is a ton of Ministry enforcement going on. Nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of obligated organizations never have to worry about hearing from the Government. Of the tiny fraction who do, they don’t have to worry about being asked to do much or being inspected on site. For the very few against whom any enforcement action is taken, they don’t have to worry about serious monetary penalties.

The AODA gives the Government ample authority to do lots more enforcement, but the Government simply doesn’t use the legislation’s potential.

What the Government calls “modern regulatory principles” is in reality a systemic and systematic failure to effectively regulate. Had the Government been doing such a great job of enforcing the AODA, as the Government claims, how come no one sees that enforcement going on? How come Ontarians with disabilities continue to face so many disability barriers, including new ones created using public money?

Second, this CBC article reports that the Rich Donovan AODA Independent Review’s Final Report recommended transferring legislative jurisdiction to the Federal Government over enforcement of the AODA in the private sector. As the AODA Alliance explained in its December 18, 2023 news release, that is a very bad idea. It would not work. It is not even constitutional. In any event, the Federal Government has not dazzled anyone with its poor enforcement of the Accessible Canada Act.

Third, in this article, Premier Ford’s Seniors and Accessibility Minister, Raymond Cho, did not make himself available to speak to CBC. The AODA Alliance knows that CBC worked on this series of reports over several weeks. It reached out to us several times for information. As a volunteer organization, we were and are always available to help the media.

It is palpably inappropriate for our elected leaders to snub the media in this way. From other media reports, this does not appear to be the first time that Premier Ford’s Seniors and Accessibility Minister has not made himself available for the media. He has also not agreed to meet with us for over two years. The Premier has never agreed to meet with us.

Check out the first of the CBC’s online reports in this series, published on January 2, 2024. The audio of AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s interview on Ontario’s inaccessibility crisis aired in the January 3, 2024 edition of CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning program is available on CBC’s website.

You can help! Urge your local media to cover this issue. Call a radio phone-in show to discuss Ontario’s inaccessibility crisis. Write your MPP.

MORE DETAILS

CBC News January 4, 2024

Originally posted at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/aoda-ontario-accessibility-enforement-1.7053294

How does Ontario enforce its accessibility legislation? It doesn’t, advocates say.

Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility maintains its enforcement actions are working

Vanessa Balintec CBC News

Someone walks down a street using a blind cane.

Ontario’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is failing because of a lack of enforcement and a complaints mechanism, advocates say. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

CBC Toronto is breaking down accessibility in Ontario in four stories: the progress made so far, how legislation is enforced, what accessibility looks like in cities, zooming in on Toronto, and if the province can reach its 2025 goal.

In her years of advocating for people with disabilities, Alex Wilding says complaints to the province about organizations failing to comply with its accessibility law have gone nowhere.

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) was meant to remove barriers for those with disabilities to ensure their full participation in society. But the Peterborough community advocate says there’s no clear guidance on what recourse citizens have when organizations don’t comply.

“It looks nice on paper. It looks impressive … They can fine an individual $50,000 a day, and if they’re a corporation, $100,000 a day for violation of the act… And then you think, OK, how do I start this mechanism?” she said.

“There isn’t one,” said Wilding, adding phone calls and emails have only led to employees reciting building codes and laws.

WATCH Disability advocate shows how common it is to encounter barriers in Ontario:

Design of Toronto bike lane endangers cyclists and pedestrians, says blind advocate

A section of bike lane on Eglinton Avenue places bikes on the same level as pedestrians with no obvious barrier. CBC’s Clara Pasieka spoke with David Lepofsky, Chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, about how the design could be dangerous for both cyclists and pedestrians – particularly people who are blind.

Wilding, who has disabilities including depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, is one of many advocates who say a lack of action from the province — from the absence of a complaint system to meaningful enforcement — underpins the AODA’s failure. Reviewers appointed by the province have repeatedly pointed to such problems, saying they jeopardize the goal of an accessible Ontario by 2025.

The Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility told CBC Toronto Minister Raymond Cho was unavailable for the interview on this series. In a statement, the ministry said it uses a “modern regulator approach” that ensures organizations understand how to meet their legal obligations under the AODA, which has led to a number of audits and enforcement actions against non-compliant businesses.

Advocates say those numbers are too low and are evidence of the legislation’s failure. And while there’s a difference of opinion on exactly how to boost enforcement, critics say the status quo isn’t tenable.

“The thing to celebrate is that there is the Human Rights Code, there is the Charter, there are some generous people who are willing to help people make use of it,” said Wilding.

‘Minimal, if any’ audits, review finds

The AODA mandates standards and instructs all organizations with at least one employee in the province to remove barriers in five main sectors: public transportation, information and communication, the design of public spaces, employment and customer service.

According to Rich Donovan, the fourth province-appointed reviewer of the legislation’s implementation, Ontario is required to monitor the compliance of over 400,000 organizations.

Donovan’s interim report found the ministry has only 20 to 25 staff hired for that task, leading to “minimal, if any” onsite audits. His full review, released in December, found that one of the strictest penalties in the act — a $100,000 fine per day of non-compliance by a large organization — has never been used before.

Instead, the ministry relies largely on self-certification and the honour system, particularly for small businesses, which comprise the majority of organizations the act applies to.

“This is not a strong impetus for change,” Donovan wrote.

In his review, Donovan recommended the province shift all accessibility regulation of the private sector to the federal government. He says doing so would make enforcement easier by allowing the province to tap into better established federal mechanisms like the Canada Revenue Agency, which regularly collects information from and audits small and medium businesses.

Employment and Social Development Canada confirmed to CBC Toronto its AODA counterpart, the Accessible Canada Act, only applies to federally regulated entities. But Donovan argues his recommendation is meant to at least spark discussion about what it would take to boost enforcement.

“Look, you’ve been at the table for 17 years, we haven’t been able to do this properly,” Donovan said, referring to the Ontario government’s handling of the AODA.

“Come up with some new ideas.”

A man smiles for a headshot.

Rich Donovan is the fourth reviewer of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, appointed to review the legislation in 2022. (The Return on Disability)

Ministry defends ‘proactive’ complaints system

The ministry maintains its enforcement actions are working.

“Key components of the AODA Compliance Assurance Program include education and outreach, self-certified reporting, audits, inspections, and enforcement measures including orders and administrative monetary penalties,” Wallace Pidgeon, a spokesperson for Cho, said in an email to CBC Toronto.

Enforcement…affirms that this is something we care about as a society, that we don’t condone. We devote resources to making sure that this is taken seriously. – Hannah Lee, ARCH Disability Law Centre

People always have the option to reach out to the organization and complain directly, said Pidgeon.

“This proactive approach aligns with modern regulatory principles,” he wrote.

Reform enforcement and complaint system: advocates

David Lepofsky, a lawyer and chair of the advocacy consumer group AODA Alliance, says the AODA was partly created to help ensure people with disabilities wouldn’t have to go through tribunals and courts to challenge barriers one by one.

“Most people with disabilities don’t have the time, the energy, the legal support, and so on to do that,” said Lepofsky.

Lawyer Hannah Lee with the specialty legal clinic ARCH Disability Law Centre says the legislation “lacks teeth” because it doesn’t allow a person to make a direct complaint against an organization that could then be investigated by a third-party.

She points out the province reported just five fines from 2015 to 2017 out of the hundreds of thousands of organizations required to comply. The threat of penalties and enforcement orders aren’t serious enough to encourage compliance, she adds.

“When you’re assessing risk, you’re not going to be in a position to really be incentivized to change and to go beyond the minimum,” said Lee.

Ontario nowhere near goal of full accessibility by 2025, review finds

Lee says no Ontario government has made any substantive moves to address the issue of enforcement — and that plays a role in attitudes around the importance of accessibility more broadly.

“Enforcement is part of that,” she said.

“It affirms that this is something we care about as a society, that we don’t condone. We devote resources to making sure that this is taken seriously.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vanessa Balintec

Reporter

Vanessa Balintec is a reporter for CBC Toronto who likes writing stories about labour, equity and community. She previously worked for stations in New Brunswick and Kitchener-Waterloo. You can reach her at vanessa.balintec@cbc.ca and on Twitter at @vanessabalintec.