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Advancing Government Leadership on Accessibility in Ontario

In the Third Review of the AODA, the Honourable David Onley recommends needed improvements to the Act. One of these improvements is a renewal of government leadership to implement the AODA. Therefore, in response to the review, the Ontario government has implemented a framework to make the province more accessible. Through this framework, called Advancing Accessibility in Ontario, the government commits to making changes that will improve opportunities for citizens with disabilities. These changes will take place in four areas of the economy. In this article, we will focus on the area of government leadership on accessibility in Ontario.

Advancing Government Leadership on Accessibility in Ontario

The framework outlines the government’s plans to lead by example and achieve the AODA’s goal of an accessible Ontario by 2025. These plans include:

Customer Service

Similarly, the framework also includes plans to improve customer service for citizens with disabilities. For example, these plans include:

  • Improving trails, beach access routes, and provincial parks, with mobility mats and other features
  • Simplifying the application process for accessible parking permits
  • Funding retrofits, such as elevators, in community agencies throughout the province
  • Removing information barriers in publicly accessible government websites
  • Improvements in specific cities, such as:
    • Adding ramps, elevators, and other features at Toronto’s Go Transit stations
    • Funding research and programming at the Abilities Centre in Whitby

Employment

Likewise, the framework outlines the government’s plans to become more accessible as an employer. For instance, these plans include:

  • Supporting ministries, and workers in the Ontario Public Service (OPS), to meet AODA requirements
  • Ensuring that internal government activities are accessible for government workers with disabilities
  • Forming cross-government committees of deputy ministers to:
    • Address systemic barriers and gaps
    • Plan and implement accessibility improvements
  • Expanding eligibility for youth to work as interns in the OPS, to gain work experience
  • Connecting students and graduates with disabilities to mentors within the OPS and broader public sector

Recommendations for More Government Leadership from the Third Review of the AODA

All these strategies are valuable steps that the government should take to make Ontario more accessible. However, the Third Review of the AODA recommends many more important actions to enhance government accessibility. For example, the Review recommends that the government should:

  • Include deadlines for each of its accessibility goals
  • Improve AODA enforcement, through the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (ADO)
  • Remove any accessibility problems in current laws, and create new laws without such problems
  • Hold all meetings and public events in accessible locations
  • Hire qualified candidates with disabilities to work at the OPS

In other words, the government’s current framework will not create enough improvement to make Ontario fully accessible by 2025. Moreover, some of the framework’s goals for the future involve laws that the government should already be following. For instance, in January 2020, the government was required to make all its websites accessible. Therefore, the framework should not include this element as a current goal. Instead, all government websites should already be accessible to citizens with disabilities.

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