In the fourth review of the AODA, Rich Donovan states that Ontario will not be fully accessible by 2025. In other words, the provincial government will not meet its own deadline under the AODA. Limited creation, implementation, and enforcement of AODA standards impacts the well-being and safety of Ontarians with disabilities. Therefore, Donovan recommends that the Ontario government should declare this lack of progress on accessibility a crisis. This crisis state should last six (6) months. During this time, the Ontario government should form a crisis committee to implement crucial accessibility improvements in the province. The Premier should act as the chair of this committee, and the Secretary of Cabinet should act as co-chair. Furthermore, Donovan outlines tactical recommendations the province should follow to fulfill its remaining responsibilities in the public sector. One of these tactical recommendations is accessibility in all Ontario public buildings by 2030.
Accessibility in All Ontario Public Buildings by 2030
The review notes that public buildings will not be fully accessible in 2025. Therefore, the province needs a new deadline for the accessibility of its buildings. The review recommends that this new deadline should be the year 2030. However, certain buildings should be fully accessible before this deadline, including:
- Schools
- Hospitals
- Service Ontario offices
- Large public-sector organizations
The review recommends that each government ministry should audit the accessibility of its own buildings. In addition, the accessibility agency should perform similar audits of all Ontario public-sector buildings in 2027 and 2030. Each government ministry should retrofit its buildings according to the recommendations in the agency’s audits. The Treasury Board Secretariat should allocate funding for this effort.
Moreover, the agency should publicize the results of these audits. These publications should include reasons for any ongoing inaccessibility.
After the 2030 deadline is reached, the agency should still audit buildings every three (3) years, to ensure that they maintain their accessibility.