Barrier Free Manitoba

Barrier-Free Manitoba has released two public documents to support participaiton at tomorrow's Social and Economic Standing Committee meeting when Bill 26 will be reviewed.

The first is a detailed 23-page brief that will be provied to the Standing Committee as our formal submisison. We are pleased to post these for your review (PDF / Word but not inlcuding the appendix).

The second is a 3+ page summary of the longer, more detailed brief (PDF / Word).

Following is the text from the summary.

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Position Summary on Bill 26

Barrier-Free Manitoba believes that Bill 26 represents a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to enact strong and effective provincial accessibility-rights legislation. Bill 26 gets us ever so close to realizing this opportunity but falls short in eleven areas that need to be addressed before it becomes the law.

Here are the highlights of Barrier-Free Manitoba’s findings on what is really good about Bill 26 and what needs to be fixed. These findings provide the basis for Barrier-Free Manitoba’s written brief to the Social and Economic Development Standing Committee.

Wonderful Things

Highlights of the most positive features of Bill 26.

• It includes an extended “Whereas” section that covers the compelling need for, the significant benefits expected from, and the overall intent of the proposed law.

•It incorporates four foundational principles, including clear statements that:

• Persons with disabilities should have barrier-free access to those things that will give them equality of both opportunity and outcome.
• The responsibility for preventing and removing barriers to accessibility rests not with those faced by them but rather with the systems and parties responsible for establishing and perpetuating them.

• It provides a framework for action to realize the existing rights of Manitobans with disabilities as set out in the Manitoba Human Rights Code, and ensures that this new law does not diminish those rights.

• It aims to address a range of disabilities, not just physical disabilities.

• It refers to disability, for the most part, not in medical terms, but in terms of being disabled by barriers in society.

• It enables the enactment of accessibility standards by regulations that specify what barriers must be prevented or removed and that will apply to all sectors.

• It requires that the accessibility standards be developed in consultation with people with disabilities and with organizations that must remove and prevent barriers.

• It requires that the provision affording the higher level of accessibility will prevail should the accessibility standards conflict with provisions in any other legislation, regulation or policy.

• It centralizes the development of accessibility standards in one single council.

• It sets out a process whereby all accessibility standards must be reviewed and updated at least every five years.

• It includes a range of important measures that provide for the public availability of information on the implementation of the proposed law.

• It designates one specific minister responsible for the overall implementation of the proposed legislation.

• It requires that public sector bodies, including municipalities, develop and publish accessibility plans addressing the identification, prevention and removal of barriers.

• It provides mechanisms for the active enforcement of accessibility standards enacted under this proposed law.

• It requires an independent and comprehensive review of the effectiveness of the proposed law four years after it is passed and every five years thereafter. All reports from the reviews must be made public.

Areas That Require Improvement

Highlights of the areas requiring improvement before Bill 26 goes to Third Reading.

Paramount Concerns

1. Restrictive Definition of Disability: The wording about what a disability is needs to be changed to reflect an inclusive approach to disabilities.

2. Absence of a Grand Goal and Target Date: The Bill needs to establish the goal of reaching full accessibility and include a target date or benchmarks to drive progress toward that goal.

3. Inadequate Penalties for Non-Compliance: The Bill must have teeth that make it less expensive to meet accessibility standards than to not comply with them.

Eight Priority Concerns

1. Narrow Whereas Clause: The current clause that refers to barriers in the “built environment” should be changed to the broader phrase “social, economic and physical infrastructures.”

2. Non-Application to Legislative Assembly: The Bill must ensure that accessibility standards apply to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly.

3. Timing of Minister’s First Plan: The timing of the Minister’s first plan to implement the Bill should be moved to 2014-15 instead of 2015-16.

4. Lack of Accessibility Required in Information to be Made Public: The Bill should require that reports released to meet legislated obligations are made available in accessible formats.

5. Wording of the Private Residence Exclusion: No group should be categorically excluded from possible accessibility standards. If Government feels it must exclude existing single or duplex housing, this must be very clearly stated.

6. Limited Considerations in Establishing Time Periods: The impact of barriers on the lives of persons with disabilities and existing legal requirements must both be considered in setting deadlines for preventing and/or removing barriers.

7. Lack of Requirement for Public Release of Council Recommendations: The Bill must require that recommendations made by the Manitoba Accessibility Advisory Council are released to the public.

8. Limited Scope of Public Sector Accessibility Plans: Public sector bodies must be required to report on measures they are taking to remove barriers in existing laws, policies and programs.