Letter from IACDI Re: BC Provincial Accessibility Legislation

IACDI and BC Provincial Accessibility Legislation

Corporate Officers Approach

Despite all attempts to work with staff, the lack of consultation requires clarity of direction from Councils to ensure the preservation of more than 30 years of efforts to create and maintain this advocacy group and its authentic broad-based support for improvements and equity for persons of different abilities.

While it is understandable that staff want to ‘get the job done’, the mind set of ‘ticking the box’ on accessible communities does not yield good results. Example 1: Colwood wants to address accessibility, but instead of setting higher standards than just the minimum building code a tick the box type of process was used. The City’s Hotel was required to provide accessible parking (box ticked) but there was no consultation about its location or accessibility. Without a plan, the City ended up on the news when a father contacted the news frustrated with the uselessness of the parking, giving Colwood bad press. IACDI was briefly involved, but in the end no clear resolution was provided to IACDI. Example 2: Age Friendly Plan funded by the Province with a $20,000 Grant for a coordinator to create a plan. Workshops (2-3) were held to identify barriers for seniors, community interest and opportunities. A coordinator approached Colwood to do the work and encouraged Colwood to engage her to do so. A plan was created and exists on a shelf in the planning department and I am not aware of the outcomes or usefulness of the plan done several years ago. The box was ticked, the result unknown and where is the accountability?

A number of inaccuracies have been circulated about our committee, The information about I.A.C.D.I. was taken from our website and one news article not necessarily accurate. The inaccurate report was then shared with Councils for action leaving I.A.C.D.I. members scrambling to address the inaccuracies as we knew nothing about the report to View Royal Council until the day before and were not aware that this information had been sent to other local Councils. One of the fundamental principles of the Accessible BC Act and the UN Convention on which it is based is "Nothing about us without us." Why are staff discussing this without engaging the committee? Will this be a similar practice going forward?

Myths include:

• Finances are not supported by the terms of reference – Truth: all expenses are approved by motion at the committee including the amount and the reason, with meticulously documented statements provided annually at the AGM. Cheques require two signatures and an approved motion and no cheques are signed by the receivers of the money.
• IACDI is not sharing minutes with member municipalities, and minutes/agendas do not conform to City Standards – Truth: Colwood City staff used to distribute the minutes after adoption of the committee, but staff requested that each appointee be responsible for sharing the minutes to their appointing agency themselves. Minutes are posted on IACDI’s webpage on the Colwood website. Staff removed support for IACDI and no format was given for the volunteers to follow after they were requested to assist with taking the minutes. No staff were assisting IACDI in posting the minutes for quite a long time and after many requests some assistance was provided to update the Colwood website.
• IACDI is not sharing issues to Council – Truth: Staff determined that they no longer wanted to put IACDI minutes on Council Agenda’s for receipt many years ago. IACDI responds to any issue Councils ask them to address. The process needs to be clearer, and if staff want a special meeting called they need to consider what the committee would need in order to effectively do so. Members of each Council sit on I.A.C.D.I. as liaisons. These Council liaisons are encouraged and expected to report back to their local Councils.
• The Accessibility Committee must be only people with disabilities. Truth: The BC Ferries Accessibility Advisory Committee and the Saanich Peninsula Accessibility Advisory Committee are both in compliance with the legislation. They are fully integrated with staff, councillor representatives and people with disabilities.
• IACDI needs to adjust their terms of Reference as they are not in compliance as the Peninsula Group is - Truth: The Peninsula’s Terms of Reference were modelled after IACDI.
• IACDI’s Terms of Reference do not meet the new legislation and must be changed prior to September, 2023 and IACDI just won’t listen to staff about the legislation and accept the plan developed by the CO’s – Truth: IACDI is willing to adjust the Terms of Reference, but must conduct proper consultation and have committee support for the changes, if deemed necessary, by the Province.
• The Chair wants to dictate how the committee works and doesn’t want to allow anyone else to take the lead – Truth: the Chair has called for any other interested members to take the lead every year that she has been nominated and while she is dedicated to ensuring that this committee is relevant and effective, cooperation is the key and all help has been welcomed. All decisions are made by a quorum (minimum 5) of the committee members.

Colwood has unfairly been tasked with supporting the committee and is entitled to compensation for staff time, its someone else’s turn – Truth: While Colwood started the committee soon after incorporation, the committee has evolved over the years, I.A.C.D.I. has always appreciated Colwood’s long time and continuing support, we are an intermunicipal committee and would welcome support from other municipalities who share our vision.

Engagement must start with respect for lived experience and a proven track record of inclusive broad-based consultation. IACDI’s process has been to identify the issue, determine who within our broad community-based network should be reached out to for context and information, and how this information can be brought forward to the committee for input and direction. This process cannot be fast tracked but the provincial legislation must get input from people with lived experience in a meaningful broad consultation that attempts to view all abilities, mobility, sight, hearing, cognitive and age-related concerns.

Issues are not addressed by just the executive, they are placed on an agenda with the relevant information and distributed via email to relevant partners to provide the most balanced approach possible. As much notice as possible is given and meetings are convened to ensure safety for members (many are immune compromised and/or have difficulty making travel arrangements without at least 3 weeks notice for HandyDart users and those who must arrange caregiver support).

We would appreciate direction from Councils that they support our broad-based process in order to ensure that the staff take the input we are providing and work with us to ensure that the efforts we are making result in an inclusive and meaningful process that does so much more than tick the box for accessible legislation. It must show beneficial results for users of all different abilities and engage with Councils to ensure broad understanding and advocacy.

There are actions that Mayor and Councils need to take by September to demonstrate a response to the accessibility legislation and to show that 25% of the population (and growing everyday) are a valued part of their community.

• Creating a mechanism for feedback such as accessibility@colwood.ca and have this feedback automatically copied to iacdisabilityissues@gmail.com
• Not only putting money aside for an accessibility plan to be created for your municipality but also planning community feedback sessions and hiring a consultant with lived experience to facilitate these events. The City of Vancouver has recently hosted an accessibility strategy feedback session.
• Endorsing I.A.C.D.I. as the West Shore’s Intermunicipal Accessibility Committee and if not already done so, appointing a Citizen representative and a Council representative and alternate if possible to participate in this committee.

Through partnerships with Mayors and municipal councils, we can create inclusive and accessible communities.

Sincerely,

Marnie Essery, Chair, on behalf of the Intermunicipal Advisory Committee on Disability Issues