Accessibility laws not enforced: advocates

YorkRegion.com
April 9, 2015
Michelle McQuigge

The Ontario government's most recent initiative to help make the province's businesses more accommodating to people with disabilities falls short of what accessibility advocates say they were led to expect.

Last May, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Alliance received a letter signed by Premier Kathleen Wynne containing some concrete promises to help hold businesses accountable to the province's access regulations.

Among them was a commitment to "establishing and publicizing" a toll-free phone number that the public could use to report businesses that weren't following accessibility rules.

But the government opted instead to simply boost complaint tracking capabilities on a general inquiry phone number and implement the changes without informing the recipients of Wynne's letter.

Glen Padassery, a spokesman for the Accessibility Directorate of the Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure, said the new tracking systems were put into place in the past six to eight months, adding that he could not speak to the government's efforts to publicize the changes.

Alliance chair David Lepofsky said he only became aware of them in late February after sending a letter to inquire about the status of the expected phone line.

The system he eventually found, he said, doesn't do enough to help the province's disabled residents.

"It certainly falls short of what we need," Lepofsky said in a telephone interview. "We were told that a line would be publicized. It hasn't been. And that it would be part of an enforcement strategy. Which, at least, we're not clear on."

Lepofsky said callers to the toll-free number must wait on the line for several minutes before learning that they have an option to file a complaint. A Canadian Press reporter who phoned the line had to follow multiple prompts and listen to a lengthy summary of general information on the AODA before having an opportunity to report on a non-compliant business.

Lepofsky said he's been unable to get clear answers as to what the government plans to do with the complaints that do come in.

Padassery said the reports will be compiled and used to analyze trends. That information will help the ministry determine which sectors are most in need of guidance on how to comply with access laws, he said, adding that the AODA is designed to address systemic issues rather than individual complaints.

"At the end of the day,...our goal is not to hammer people over the heads to get them to comply," he said. "Our goal is to provide businesses with the right tools and resources to help them understand what they need to do to make their goods and services more accessible."

Padassery said the AODA allows the government to audit companies for accessibility compliance and impose fines if their practices are found lacking. The ministry conducted nearly 2,000 audits last year but plans to cut that number back to around 1,200 for 2015. Individuals who feel they're being discriminated against are urged to take their concerns to the province's Human Rights Tribunal, he said, adding that the phone line offers help on how to take that step.

But some people believe that offering advice on AODA compliance and documenting customer complaints are distinct functions that should not be lumped together under a single phone number.

Kyle Rawn, a spokesman with consulting firm Accessibility Professionals of Ontario, said tracking complaints for research purposes is a worthwhile pursuit if the government then uses that information to take action.

Where they've let people down, he said, is in failing to provide the public with a simple way to make their voices heard.

I think people are going to be rather frustrated by the process that they've put in place, and I think it does fall short of what we all expected when they first said, over two years ago, that this was what they were going to do," he said.

Lepofsky agreed, saying the new system has little chance of having an impact if no one's aware it exists.

"Right now they're not going to receive much information if they don't publicize it, and they're not going to receive much information if they don't make the message clear," he said.

Anyone who wishes to file a complaint against a business they believe to be violating the AODA can make the report by calling: 1-866-515-2025