View Royal Council Speech, October 3, 2023

Good Evening Mayor and Council,

My name is Marnie and I am Chair of I.A.C.D.I.

Since 1989, we have been an accessibility committee. In 1993, our committee became the Intermunicipal Advisory Committee on Disability Issues with Municipal Council appointees and a citizen representative from Colwood, Langford, Sooke, Metchosin, and the Highlands. Until this year, we have never had Council appointments from View Royal and to date, have never received any funding from View Royal. In the past, we have collaborated with 10 View Royal residents and View Royal staff on various projects and initiatives including helping View Royal staff member Emmett M. complete the town’s Measuring Up Accessibility Audit.

Our mandate is to advise all Councils in the West Shore, CRD and beyond for policies, services and facilities for persons with disabilities, including transportation; housing; employment; education; and recreation; to provide an opportunity for public input on accessibility issues affecting people with disabilities; identify barriers and partner with local councils and agencies; promote initiatives that foster active living, and the “full” participation of people with disabilities in their communities.

I.A.C.D.I. does individual outreach and advocacy and informs Councils about grants that they might qualify for.

We have 3 people on our team who do paid access consulting and over 50 community partners and 3 members with indigenous ancestry and a voting member from the Aboriginal Network on Disability Society. I.A.C.D.I. has people with lived experience, caregivers and people who work with agencies that help the disabled. We give free accessibility advice upon request.

I.A.C.D.I. agrees that municipalities drafting an accessibility plan and making access improvements is important. Having an email for accessibility feedback such as accessibility@viewroyal.ca is needed with these emails being copied to iacdisabilityissues@gmail.com and current View Royal Council appointee. This email needs to be advertised so that the public is aware of it. Otherwise, the new accessibility email address will be useless.

We would also like a link on Council’s website to the I.A.C.D.I. webpage so that people can find resources, our contact info and our agendas.

We have been advocating for the new accessibility legislation for a long time. Our members participated in the consultations before the legislation became law.

It is challenging to receive ongoing calls from people who are angry and feeling left out of the way that municipalities are deciding to respond to the accessibility legislation.

There is strong sentiment that municipal staff may be in a conflict of interest advising their municipality on the direction of its accessibility plan.

Indeed, ‘the narrow focus’ and the decision of what to focus on was decided on without a focus group, feedback from residents or consulting with any community partners.

Not fulfilling Section 9 Part 3 of the Accessible BC Act will jeopardize municipalities ability to qualify for current and future funding

Section 9 Part 3 of the Accessible BC Act states that

An organization must establish a committee to
- assist the organization to identify barriers to individuals in or interacting with the organization, and
- advise the organization on how to remove and prevent barriers to individuals in or interacting with the organization.
An accessibility committee must, to the extent possible, have members who are selected in accordance with the following goals:
- at least half of the members are
  - persons with disabilities, or
  - individuals who support, or are from organizations that support, persons with disabilities;
- the members described reflect the diversity of persons with disabilities in British Columbia;
- at least one of the members is an Indigenous person;
- the committee reflects the diversity of persons in British Columbia.

‘Nothing about us without us’ advocates that persons with disabilities have full and direct participation in the development and implementation of all legislation that impacts them.

I.A.C.D.I. sincerely hopes that residents, community partners and groups like I.A.C.D.I. are actively involved in the creation of an accessibility plan.

Dan Coulter, the then Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility said about the accessibility legislation ‘We know people experience barriers and our approach will reflect that. I’m looking forward to working with advocates, communities and businesses across the province in the months and years ahead to ensure all voices are heard.’

Nicholas Simons, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction said ‘People with disabilities and people who face barriers have been involved in this process from the beginning, and it’s with their continued input that we'll ensure we build a barrier-free B.C.’

I.A.C.D.I. looks forward to continuing to work with municipal councils and staff.

I.A.C.D.I. is currently transitioning to becoming a non profit society and I will have more to share in the next few months.

I am happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you.