Barrier Free Manitoba

Here's the text of a message we sent out today to organizations and individuals who endorsed the call for strong and effective accessibility-rights legislation and those who subscribe to our email update service.

After years of tremendous effort, it’s all coming down to one meeting on October 29th and the five short weeks that will follow. 

Those who have tracked the exploits of Barrier-Free Manitoba will know that we began our spirited campaign by meeting with MLA Jennifer Howard in September 2008. We had the outlandish idea that the foundations for a better future could be forged within three years.

The truth is that it's actually taken 5+ years.

MLA Jennifer Howard is now the Honourable Jennifer Howard, Minister of Finance and the Minister Responsible for Persons with Disabilities.

Accessibility-rights legislation (that fundamentally shifts the burden for identifying, preventing and removing barriers from the people who face them to those who have created and now perpetuate them) was tabled in April 2013. It will soon become the law in our fair province.

If strong and effective, this legislation may be the most important advance in disability-rights in Manitoba since the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But it’s not over quite yet.

Bill 26, as currently written, is a giant step forward but it still needs to be strengthened before it goes to Third Reading in early December.

So on October 29, we are asking endorsers and supporters to join us at the Legislative Building to:

• Celebrate the prospect of game-changing legislation that promises to make Manitoba a true leader in promoting and protecting the human rights of the 200,000 of our citizens with disabilities.
• Support the last and final push to strengthen the bill before it becomes the law.

We certainly can’t celebrate without you. And Bill 26 would never have been tabled without your help.

So please join us (attached are the event pdf poster and an alternate Word version).

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Pre-Meeting Reception (hosted by Barrier-Free Manitoba)
4:30 pm
Rotunda (note the change in room)
Legislative Building

The Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development Meeting
6:00 pm (discussion of the Bill is expected to be concluded before 9 pm)
Room 255
Legislative Building

And we are asking one more thing. We’re ordering snacks/refreshments for the reception and need to know how many folks to order for. So if you plan to attend and have not already done so, please RSVP with any accommodations needed to: www.surveymonkey.com/s/the29th. Or just email me with this information.

Thanks.

It’s going to be quite an afternoon/evening!