Barrier Free Manitoba

One of the first compliance requirements set out under the Accessibility for Manitobans Act is the development of multi-year accessibility plans by public sector organizations. We have prepared a brief summary of these requirements (Word / PDF). The deadline for the development of these plans by large public sector bodies was December 31, 2016. 

Earier today, Barrier-Free Manitoba sent messages to the 80+ obligated organizations formally requesting copies of the accessibility plans. We have asked that the plans be provided to us by February 28, 2017 (two months past the compliance deadline) and advised them that we will be posting those we receive on our website.

The Message

Here is the message we sent out this morning:

"I am writing to you on behalf of Barrier-Free Manitoba (BFM), the non-profit, non-partisan, cross-disability initiative that led the 5+ year community campaign to secure passage of the landmark Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA). Since the all-party, all-member Third Reading passage of the AMA in Manitoba’s Legislature in December 2013, BFM has been working to ensure the full and timely implementation of the Act.

The AMA has been described as “game changing” legislation and requires that substantial progress toward full accessibility is achieved by 2023. The AMA places special responsibilities on large public sector organizations to play leadership roles in the journey to full accessibility. As part of this, the AMA required that all other large public sector organizations in Manitoba had developed multi-year accessibility plans by December 31, 2016. The AMA also requires that these plans are made available to the public. (We have attached our overview of these requirements for your convenience.)

Please consider this a formal request for a copy of your organization’s multi-year accessibility plan. As we will be posting these plans shortly on our website, we ask that you provide us with an accessible e-version of your plan. Sending the plan as a Microsoft Word document may be the easiest option as PDF documents are inaccessible for many persons using screen readers. Finally we ask that you provide your plan to us by Tuesday, February 28, 2017.

In closing, we extend our thanks for the work you and your colleagues have invested in developing your plan. Good plans, when followed, can make an incredible difference. We look forward to your further leadership in promoting and protecting the rights of the almost 200,000 Manitobans with disabilities in the years ahead.

Regards,

Patrick Falconer
Consultant to the Barrier-Free Manitoba Steering Committee"

List of Obligated Organizations

Here's the list Barrier-Free Manitoba has developed of the organizations that were required to have developed multi-year accessibility plans by the end of December 2006.

The Province of Manitoba

Provincial Government Departments

• Agriculture
• Civil Service Commission
• Crown Services
• Education and Training
• Families
• Finance
• Growth, Enterprise and Trade
• Health, Seniors and Active Living
• Indigenous and Municipal Relations
• Infrastructure
• Intergovernmental Affairs and International Relations
• Justice
• Sport, Culture and Heritage
• Sustainable Development

Crowns

• Manitoba Hydro
• The Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation
• Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation
• The Workers Compensation Board

Municipalities

• Brandon
• Dauphin
• Flin Flon
• Morden
• Portage la Prairie
• Selkirk
• Steinbach
• Thompson
• Winkler
• Winnipeg

Regional Health Authorities

• Interlake-Eastern RHA
• Northern RHA
• Prairie Mountain Health
• Southern Health-Santé Sud
• Winnipeg RHA

Colleges/Universities

• Assiniboine Community College
• Brandon University
• Canadian Mennonite University
• Manitoba Institute of Trades & Technology
• Red River College
• Université de Saint-Boniface
• University College of the North
• University of Manitoba
• University of Winnipeg
• Yellowquill College

School Divisions

• Beautiful Plains School Division
• Border Land School Division
• Brandon School Division
• Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine
• Evergreen School Division
• Flin Flon School Division
• Fort La Bosse School Division
• Frontier School Division
• Garden Valley School Division
• Hanover School Division
• Interlake School Division
• Kelsey School Division
• Lakeshore School Division
• Lord Selkirk School Division
• Louis Riel School Division
• Mountain View School Division
• School District of Mystery Lake
• Park West School Division
• Pembina Trails School Division
• Pine Creek School Division
• Pine Falls School Division
• Portage la Prairie School Division
• Prairie Rose School Division
• Prairie Spirit School Division
• Red River Valley School Division
• River East Transcona School Division
• Rolling River School Division
• School District of Whiteshell
• Seine River School Division
• Seven Oaks School Division
• Southwest Horizon School Division
• St. James-Assiniboia School Division
• Sunrise School Division
• Swan Valley School Division
• Turtle Mountain School Division
• Turtle River School Division
• Western School Division
• Winnipeg School Division