Letter to the Editor: NOP Candidate on Northern Accessibility Issues
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Complete Accessibility Conformity in Ontario by 2025? The Timmins NOP Riding Association Identifies a Gap that will prevent this success. Mr Schapp & his team offer doable solutions.
By Liana Thurston Del Villano
At age 18 my younger brother’s life changed forever. He recalls one of the worst days of his life. After returning from months in the hospital he received a call from his former employer, CN Rail, asking him when he was coming back to work. Sitting in his new wheelchair, he took the call, reluctantly, explaining how he would never return to his dream job. Donnie experienced an aneurism that left his left side paralyzed for life. That was over 32 years ago.
One does not think about the barriers to disabled people until it happens in your world. My brother was determined to get out of his new chair. Over time he succeeded, and today walks with a cane with the determination and strength of one side of his body moving him along. Sure he is slow, but this step opened doors to him that were otherwise closed if he remained in his chair.
In June of 2005, the AODA, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act passed into law landmark legislation and the Ontario’s Accessibility Action Plan was born. This move put Ontario in the forefront of all Canadian provinces in the battle to decrease and eliminate barriers in society to disabled individuals. Their goal is to create an accessible province within 20 years. The year 2025 marks the anniversary of this date. The progress up to date is remarkable in the Municipal and public sectors.
Did you know, Ontario is the first jurisdiction in the world to require staff to be trained on accessibility? Ontario is also the first Canadian Province to pass a law to improve accessibility in the areas that impact the daily lives of people with disabilities. Hats off to all political parties who unanimously supported this law in 2005!
As stated by the Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Mr. Brad Duguid “We knew that changing the focus from disability to ability was necessary for our future prosperity, but would present a formidable challenge” Today, members of the Northern Ontario Party see a need to expand on that challenge, that culture change.
In the Private Sector across Northern Ontario, in our cities and our rural communities everywhere there are everyday barriers that the disabled face. As with many policies, new legislations, and laws there are often areas that “fall into the cracks”. In this case it is independent the business owner.
There are Accessibility Advisory Committees set up in most communities across our North. Did you know these committees are made up of volunteers? After a long discussion with the Advisory Committee of Hearst Ontario, the pilot project location, the Timmins Riding Association learnt that remarkably, the majority of these volunteers are disabled in some way. These committees of individuals go out to businesses who have invited them to evaluate their businesses for where and how best to eliminate a range of diversified barriers. This is done on their own time, on their own dime. The Private Sector is not mandated by the provincial government to participate in these audits. That too is a volunteer step. Should this be a volunteer position? Would the accomplishments these individuals are tasked with not best be suited if their expenses were paid? The Accessibility Advisory Committee of Hearst Ontario lead person knows firsthand of existing barriers and offers this quote,“L’accessibilité est la clé qui ouvre la porte vers un monde inclusif qui permet à chaque individu de vivre pleinement dans la collectivité et ce, en tant que citoyens, citoyennes à part entière“. Anne-Marie Portelance
Translated, “Accessibility is the key to opening the door to an inclusive world that allows every individual to live fully in the community as full citizens”.
According to the provincial government by 2035, 40 per cent of Ontario’s customer base will be people with disabilities. As well, improving accessibility can create up to $9.6 billion in new retail spending and $1.6 billion in new tourism spending in Ontario over five years. Those figures are huge! 40 per cent of our customer base by 2035 and the majority of our private sector, today, in Northern Ontario is nowhere near complete accessibility conformity.
Some identified areas are entrance steps, door sizes, automatic doors, outdoor and or indoor ramps, railings on both sides, attendance buttons low on shelves, washrooms, heavy doors, outdoor patio accessibility, restaurant wheel chair sitting space, to name a few.
Mr. Jeffrey Baldock, MA, MSW, RSW Counsellor & Provider of Psychotherapy of Framework Counselling in Timmins Ontario states “For businesses it is hard to move forward without direction and finance, they struggle. Encouragement towards no barriers is just the right thing to do, good for commerce and makes the business inclusive. Excluded people are left feeling pain on many fronts. When more people feel included it leads to reduction in depression, longevity and sense of purpose in their community. Friendly interactions like bring able to enter the local little variety store , making friends with the owner and going there often is an example of having a sense of being part of one’s community. All people are needed, all have something to contribute. All hands on deck, we are better together, we can make sure there are no barriers”
What if that little variety store has a step or two and no ramp for wheelchair access? Had my brother not progressed from a wheelchair to a cane he would never be able to go into that little convenience store. However, if those steps or step is not equipped with a railing either on either sides or down the middle, he might not yet be able to enter or exit safely, on his own.
How is the private sector business owner expected to financially foot the bill to improve where needed? With rising costs to owning a business, most are financially unable to. For example, new buildings are mandated to implement washrooms of accessibility to wheelchairs, walkers and other mobility devices. A cost upwards of approximately $40,000 for a washroom in a local Timmins Brewery had to come out of the new business owner’s budget. Is this a realistic expense to put on the new business owner?
The decision to invite the Advisory Committee into the business will inevitably cost thousands of dollars to the private sector business owner. This is a call all businesses we spoke to want to make, but just simply cannot afford to. In the end, it is the disabled who suffer daily.
This is the “Gap”, the Private Sector.
Are there solutions? Is there a way to encourage all private sector businesses to make the call to the Advisory Committee in their community? Is there a spin off directly aimed at each community to add to its economy by implementing these solutions? The answer is yes, to all three questions.
The solutions lie in encouragement through awareness, funding, and ease.
In 2014 the Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure increased awareness with a five week campaign outlining the importance of complying with the accessibility requirements as well as filing. This resulted in a 150 per cent increase to reporting as compared to 2012. This proved a plan to increase awareness works. Moving forward with plans to increase awareness there are areas where improvements can still be made.
One being to the collective data of exceptionally challenged individuals in each region within our district census profiles. For example, for the City of Timmins one will not find any data such as population, yearly income, mobility, gender or age on disabled individuals in the 2016 census. Having this information publically available would increase awareness of meaningful information 100%. Available 24/7 when needed, by business owners, professionals, students, volunteers and non- profit organizations, perhaps even to the Advisory Committees as well.
Funding cannot come from Municipal budgets. With the existing financial weight of DSAB on all Municipal shoulders this kind of community service funding has to come from the Provincial government. These costs roll down to the taxpayers when placed on Municipalities. Northern Ontario taxpayers cannot afford an increase in taxes to provide for this provincial wide social need.
Ironically, it is in taxes a solution falls. A small business provincial tax break, with a payback sliding scale would lessen the blow of the initial costs incurred to upgrade. With the current Social Capital Partners Community Loan Program already set up to lower interest rates to small businesses who commit to hiring people with exceptionalities, there may be room to expand on this partnership to include lowering interest rates for costs of upgrading the business establishment to meet the needs of its customers locally. A portion paid outright by the provincial government of the initial cost based on determined criteria would be the kick off incentive. The bottom line, positive outcome of these financial incentives would only result in the ease of businesses of all sizes, on all streets, to omit all barriers. In the end undoubtedly helping to ensure the AODA target of complete provincial accessibility conformity by 2025 is accomplished. Without financial help, this gap may never be completely closed.
To ease the barrier of entrances with steps a progressive suggestion is a innovative simple way that would have a small positive impact on our Northern Municipal communities. If manufactured in the North, preferably, in each individual district.
Once the Advisory Committee has performed their audit on the business the specifications of a needed ramp are then submitted to the manufacturer of choice. This ramp is completely mobile and light enough to be used when needed. The logistics of size and other details are all specific to the location. This is a simple doable solution to eliminate the barrier of one or two steps holding so many back from the shopping experience in smaller street level buildings.
A mobile ramp also overcomes complications our Northern winter months would present. This cost to be absorbed 100% by the provincial government to those who demonstrate further commitment to breaking down all existing barriers presented to any exceptionally challenge individual within their establishment.
Is the concept of portable ramps made by local manufacturers a farfetched unrealistic concept? Looking at the solution the Town of Wasaga Beach did to solve the “sand” barrier, the above concept is not so out of reach after all.
https://www.wasagabeach.com/town-hall/clerks-office/accessibility
One could even go as far as to ask the Minister why every established public beach does not have these mats?
Many Northerners were taught at an early age, that where there is a will there is a way. Perhaps these words are an ongoing source of my brother’s strength.
The Northern Ontario Party welcomes and encourages all political parties running in this year’s 2018 Election to comment on their stance on helping the private sector across Northern Ontario become completely barrier free by the year 2025.
The intent of this note is to bring awareness. Moving forward the Northern Ontario Party – Timmins Riding Association intends on bringing these suggestions, possible solutions, along with public and political responses to it to the attention of the AODA should political responses from other leaders transpire.
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