[news] RE: Webcast Bill 118: Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005; Summary Amendments Lost & Tabled

Sat Apr 9 23:13:33 PDT 2005

Webcast
Bill 118: An Act  respecting the  development,  implementation and enforcement of  standards relating to  accessibility  with respect to goods, services,  facilities, employment,  accommodation,  buildings and all other things  specified in the act for  persons  with disabilities.
Legislative Assembly website at  www.ontla.on.ca  
http://www.ontla.on.ca/documents/Bills/38_Parliament/Session1/index.htm
Bill 118, Accessibility for Ontarians  with  Disabilities Act, 2005/Loi de 2005 sur l'accessibilité pour  les personnes  handicapées de l'Ontario. Hon. Mrs. Bountrogianni  (Minister of  Citizenship and Immigration). First Reading October  12, 2004. Second Reading  debated November 18, 22, 25. Second Reading  carried on division December 2.  Ordered referred to the Standing  Committee on Social Policy. Considered January  31; February 1,  2, 3, 7, 8, 28; March 29; April 4, 2005.

DAY 1 - Clause by Clause Amendments: Link reads Toronto March 29, 2005. 

Amendment Lost: Mr. Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina NDP), “I move  that section 1  of the bill be  struck out and the following substituted: "'Purpose'1.  The purpose of this act is '(a) to achieve a barrier-free Ontario  for  persons with disabilities through  the identification and  removal of existing  barriers and the prevention of  new barriers  that prevent persons with  disabilities from fully participating  in all aspects of life in Ontario; and (b) to ensure that persons  with disabilities  play a central role in the  mechanisms established  to achieve the goal  described in clause (a).'" Reason Given: “The  current language says, 'The purpose of this act  is to benefit  all Ontarians  by developing, implementing and enforcing  accessibility  standards' etc.”

Amendment Lost: Mr. Marchese: “I move that clause 1(a) of the bill  be amended by  striking out  'January 1, 2025' and substituting 'January 1,  2020.'" Reason Given: “If there was any consistency from  the deputants about an  opinion  around this bill, it would be this: I  would say that 95% of the  people who made a deputation felt that the  20-year period was  simply too  long.”

Amendment Lost: Mr. Marchese: “I move that clause 1(b) of the bill  be struck out  and the  following substituted: (b) providing for the involvement  of persons  with disabilities, of the  government of Ontario and  of representatives of  industries, of various  sectors of the  economy and of employees in those  industries and sectors in  the  development of the accessibility standards." Reason Given: “What I am adding here is employees. If we follow  with the argument  that the  Liberal members of this committee have put forth  today  in their government  motion 2, which says the purpose of this act  is  to benefit all Ontarians,  then it would seem to me that we  should be  involving employees as well,  where it's applicable.  We make the argument that  employers should be  involved, and  we don't include the fact that  employees in those industries  or  sectors should be involved in the development  of the accessibility  standards.”

Amendment Lost Mr. Marchese: “I move that section 6 of the bill  be amended by  adding the  following subsection: 'Same -- level of accessibility' (5.1)  Where an accessibility standard sets out a  measure, policy, practice  or other requirement for the removal of a barrier  and the subject  matter of  that accessibility standard was dealt with under  the  Ontarians with  Disabilities Act, 2001 as it read on the day this  act received royal assent  or under a standard or guideline that  was in  force under the Ontarians with  Disabilities Act, 2001  on that day, the  accessibility standard shall provide  equal  or greater protection to persons with  disabilities as was provided  by  the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001 or the  standard  or guideline under  that act." Reason Given: “... I think  there were a number  of people who have expertise,  like Mr. Lepofsky, who is  here,  and others, who spoke to this in their  briefs, representing many  organizations. Part of what they
 were saying is  that there are  provisions in  the current ODA, 2001, which should be retained,  and they say specifically  sections 24 to 32 of the ODA, 2001,  which amend a  series of other Ontario  statutes, i.e. the Election  Act; the Election  Finances Act; the Highway  Traffic Act; the  Human Rights Code; the  Legislative Assembly Act; the  Municipal  Act; the Municipal Elections Act, 1996;  the Planning Act; and  the  Social Housing Reform Act, 2000 -- those  provisions, they  argue, should be  retained. My amendment attempts to deal with  all of those,  except in a very collective  way, so that whatever  was achieved under the  previous bill, we don't want to  lose.  This amendment says that we will provide  equal or greater protections  to persons with disabilities with this bill, but  nothing of  the previous  bill gets lost.” In Defense of his amendment, Mr. Marchese stated, “whatever gains  people with disabilities  made  under Bill 125 should not be lost. Some argued 
 that unless  we include a  measure like mine, we could lose some of those  potential  gains that were  made. I read out a number of areas where gains  were made. I agree that it's  very general and not as specific  as it should be,  but those of you who have  the knowledge will  remember that gains were made  under the Election Finances  Act,  the Highway Traffic Act, and so on, and that  they could potentially  be  lost unless they are included.”

Amendment Tabled by Mr. Cameron Jackson ((Burlington PC), “I move that section 6 of the bill be  amended by adding  the  following subsections: 'Interim standards ' (5.1) A regulation  may be made under this  section adopting an interim  accessibility  standard before a standards  development committee has  submitted  a proposed accessibility standard to  the minister under section  9. 'Same' (5.2) A regulation adopting an interim  accessibility  standard shall not be  made unless the minister has completed a  time-limited consultation process  that complies with the regulations." Reason Given: “Much  of this has to do with the fact that there  was a considerable  amount of  progress made by the Accessibility Advisory  Council  of Ontario.” Mr. Jackson later clarified that, “I'm having difficulty with this, and I'll keep  repeating  it, because we have  further amendments that address this issue,  that  we have no guidelines, no  criteria, no time frames for  the establishment of 
 the standards committees,  whether we're  going to compensate people, what  the composition of them will  be -- a whole series of outstanding questions. On the other hand,  in a couple of areas -- we're  very close within the  university  community, for example, with the  filing of their accessibility  reports within the 10-year accommodation  framework set out in  the previous  guidelines of Bill 125. ... That's why I crafted this motion. It came out of  those  two expressions of  frustration from the ODA committee saying,  'This  could take forever.' The  current access council has done  good work. The  previous act clearly states  that they can recommend  regulations, codes,  guidelines, penalties, all of  that, and  that work of the last three years  should not be undone.”

In consequence of the need for more discussion and the time constraints, the Chair adjourned the meeting.

Transcript received from oda at odacommittee.net
By: Kathleen (Katie) M. Hill, B.Sc.Biology
Founder DS-n-SP-CAF™, C/S/X Self-Advocate
Author: RANTing OUt the Devil: Community Traumatization & Human Transformation
OUtSIdeR Art: Based on personal experiences of psychospiritual pain and outrage.
Chipmunka Publishing 
"That  which you call your soul or spirit is your consciousness, and  that  which you call your 'free will' is your mind's freedom to think or not."  Ayn Rand
“Action is the antidote to despair.” Joan Baez
COMMUNITY TRAUMATIZATION AFFECTS
Disrupted physiology
Disrupted consciousness/spirit/soul
Disrupted relationships
Disrupted meaning

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