‘It’s going to be a battleground’: Dave Antaya on potential pushback in NOTL against accessibility changes Zahraa Hmood
Niagara-on-the-Lake Advance
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
The clock is ticking for the province of Ontario, a clock critics say the government hopes to hit the snooze button on.
Ontario is coming up on its 20-year anniversary since passing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) in 2005, which stipulates Ontario must become fully accessible for people with disabilities by 2025.
With three years left until then, disability advocates say the provincial government isn’t moving fast enough to make it happen.
“There’s nothing proactively being pushed to provide assistance, or guidance to make this happen,” said Dave Antaya, a Niagara-on-the-Lake member of the region’s Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee. “They’re ignoring it and hoping it can go away.”
As part of the accessibility committee, Antaya pays close attention to how accessible things in Niagara-on-the-Lake are for people with disabilities. He said while the town has made great changes to make its municipal buildings accessible, some local businesses have had a more challenging time with the task.
For example, he said, some businesses downtown on Queen Street have steps or ledges to get inside, which aren’t wheelchair accessible. Once inside, some buildings are hard to manoeuvre around for anyone with mobility issues or who is blind.
“It sounds like picky and small things, but they are barriers,” he said.
Removing these barriers is going to take commitment, money and outside help, Antaya said, and once 2025 comes around, he anticipates there’s going to be pushback from some who haven’t made all accommodations – especially if and when the province starts to enforce those changes.
“It’s going to be a battleground,” he said.
David Lepofsky, chair of the AODA Alliance, spent a decade working on the legislation before Queen’s Park passed it in 2005. Since then, he said every government has dropped the ball on accessibility, which will make it “impossible” to meet the 2025 deadline.
“We’ve been betrayed,” he said. “A substantial number of the barriers we faced are still there.”
The problem, Lepofsky said, is threefold: first, the government hasn’t passed all the accessibility regulations required; second, the regulations they have passed are not strong or all-encompassing enough; third, those regulations aren’t being effectively enforced.
After asking the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility what the current government is doing to meet the AODA goals, an email statement sent from their communications department states they’re is working to support jobseekers and workers with disabilities through their Ontario Disability Support Program and Employment Ontario, through which they’re providing funding for eligible employment supports, including workplace accommodation needs.
Eduardo Lafforgue, president and CEO of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce, said they’ve been pushing for more funding from all levels of government, which is needed now more than ever: since the COVID-19 pandemic started, businesses are in survival mode and don’t have the ability – or will – to set aside funds to make accommodations.
“All the buildings are very difficult to adapt,” Lafforgue said. “You need funding, and you need specific funding.”
Alongside funding, Lafforgue and Antaya said old buildings in Niagara-on-the-Lake will also bump up against the municipal heritage committee’s rules when making any changes to their buildings.
“You’re looking at some pretty significant rules and regulations that retailers, businesses and homes must be compliant to,” Antaya said.
Public will may be the final piece of the puzzle. This is especially relevant in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Antaya said, where its aging population is more likely to need accessibility accommodations – either now or down the line.
“As a member of the committee, I don’t know that we have … ample strong influence,” he said. “We need to be dialed into the people to sell that this is something that needs to happen.”
Zahraa Hmood is a is a reporter for Niagara this Week, covering north Niagara. You can follow her on Twitter at @zahraahmood.