Barrier Free Manitoba

Barrier-Free Manitoba received the Manitoba Accessibility Advisory Council’s (MAAC) ten-page discussion paper on the morning of Tuesday, May 1, 2012. This was less than seven hours before the original registration deadline for the Council’s public consultation event.

With the very limited time available, Barrier-Free Manitoba has conducted a preliminary review of the discussion paper. We are pleased, in advance of the public consultation event, to share the major comments and conclusions from our review.

Following is a summary of our key observations:

Positive Elements:
The discussion paper:

1. Positively states the Province of Manitoba’s commitment to move forward with accessibility-rights legislation.

2. Outlines the important role that the MAAC will play in making recommendations towards this end.

3. Steps beyond the previous discussion paper by including some additional detail about a proposed legislative model.

4. Proposes a direction for legislation that is consistent with two of Barrier-Free Manitoba’s nine principles.
• Cover all disabilities.
• Move beyond the complaints-driven system to comprehensively address discrimination and barriers.

5. Begins to address a further four of the principles:
• Establish a timely and effective process for monitoring and enforcement of the standards.
• Incorporate ongoing leadership roles for the disability community.
• Supersede all other provincial legislation, regulations or policies which provide lesser protections.
• Not diminish other legal and human rights protections.

Concerns:
The discussion paper:

1. Provides very limited information on the scope and nature of the working recommendations the Council must be considering for its June 16th report to the minister.

2. Falls far short of adequately addressing three of the nine principles:
• Reflect a principled approach to equality (by not incorporating specific reference to both domestic and international law and to foundational principles).
• Establish a definite target date to achieve a barrier-free Manitoba.
• Require the development of clear, progressive, mandatory and date-specific standards in all major areas related to accessibility that will apply to public and private sectors.

3. Does not show that careful consideration has been given to the experience in other jurisdictions.

4. Does not cover the important role that needs to be played by independent reviews to assess and report on the legislation’s implementation.

We are also concerned that the process leading up to the May 8th event does not reflect best practices for community consultations. The shortcomings in the process have likely precluded informed and thoughtful participation by many.

Our Most Significant Concern:
The report does not demonstrate the vision for, and commitment to, the type of strong and effective accessibility-rights legislation required to meaningfully advance the human rights of the almost 200,000 Manitobans with disabilities.

The full results are provided in two different documents - a five-page summary (Word / PDF) and a one-page report card (Word / PDF). The report card is a quick reference which assesses the discussion paper against the nine principles that have been proposed for the new legislation.

We will be preparing and releasing a more comprehensive brief in response to the discussion paper in the coming weeks.