THE JOINT PEEL- CALEDON

ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (AAC)

William Goursky, Vice-Chair, presided

1. CALL TO ORDER

A quorum of voting members was not present, and in accordance with section III-4(f) of the Region of Peel Procedural By-law 54-1999, as amended, the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee received information from staff.

William Goursky, Vice-Chair of the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee called the meeting to order at 1:50 p.m. and welcomed everyone present.

Items 4 a. through 8, inclusive, were dealt with.

4. COMMUNICATION ITEMS

a. Glenn Barnes, Committee Chair, Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee, Letter dated September 27, 2005 to David Lepofsky, Chair, ODA Committee, Thanking him for his Efforts in Bringing Forward the Disability Movement in Ontario

b. Glenn Barnes, Committee Chair, Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee, Letter dated September 27, 2005 to Carol MacEachern, Regional Co-ordinator, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada Supporting its Call for the Creation of New Co-operative Housing Accessible to All Persons in Canada

William Goursky noted that Communication Items 4a and 4b were prepared as a result of direction given to Committee Chair Glenn Barnes at the September 13, 2005 meeting of the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee.

5. PRESENTATIONS

a. Town of Caledon Annual Accessibility Plan (Oral)
Presentation by Nadia Koltun, Town Counsel and Director of Legal Services, and Eriks Eglite, Director of Recreation and Property Services, Town of Caledon

Nadia Koltun, Town Counsel and Director of Legal Services, Town of Caledon, presented the 2005 Accessibility Plan for the Town of Caledon. A list of accessibility barriers addressed and initiatives completed in 2005 was provided under the following six headings:

• Architectural
• Attitudinal
• Communication
• Information
• Physical
• Policies and Practices
  

The proposed 2006 Accessibility Work Plan for the Town of Caledon was briefly discussed by Nadia Koltun and included the objectives that will guide the Town of Caledon in its ongoing accessibility initiatives.

Recommendation

b. Barrier Identification Tracking Tool (BITT) (Oral)
Presentation by Emily Tsoa, Acting Accessibility Specialist

Emily Tsoa, Acting Accessibility Specialist, demonstrated the Region of Peel Barrier Identification Tracking Tool (BITT) that is available to staff on "Pathways", the Region of Peel intranet site. She advised the members of the Committee that a poll was recently conducted amongst staff regarding the Barrier Identification Tracking Tool and the results indicated that 92 per cent of staff that responded was unaware of the tool. As a result of these findings, Emily Tsoa indicated that she is working with the Communications division to promote the tool and that she will be meeting with all departmental representatives to ensure awareness is raised throughout the organization.

Naz Husain expressed her disappointment with the survey findings regarding the Barrier Identification Tracking Tool and suggested that an "accessibility kit" be considered for distribution to new staff through the employee orientation process. The kit could include the pamphlet for the Committee, a hard copy of the Barrier Identification Tracking Tool form and other relevant information regarding accessibility and accessibility resources.

Maureen Tymkow suggested that in future, information from the Accessibility Committee and staff surveys, like the one related to the Barrier Identification Tracking Tool, be included as an insert with employee pay statements in an effort to increase communication with and participation from staff.

Staff Direction AAC-08-2005-01

Accessibility Specialist, to investigate the possibility of including future surveys and information from the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee as inserts in Region of Peel staff pay stubs and report back to the Committee at a future meeting.

c. "Making Way" Update (Oral)
Presentation by Emily Tsoa, Acting Accessibility Specialist

Emily Tsoa provided the members of the Committee with an online tour of the "Making Way" pages on the Region of Peel Website (www.peelregion.ca). It was noted that the Region of Peel Annual Accessibility Plan, recently passed by Regional Council (Resolution 2005-1146), is posted and available to the public in HTML, PDF and Plain Text formats on the website. Further, the Annual Plan can be displayed in small, medium, large and extra large formats with one mouse click. She added that updated information about each of the members and the work of the Committee is also available on the site.

 

7. REPORTS FROM THE ACCESSIBILITY PLANNING COORDINATORS

a. Colleen Grant, Town Prosecutor and Solicitor, Town of Caledon - August (Oral)

b. Colleen Grant, Town Prosecutor and Solicitor, Town of Caledon - September (Oral)

Eriks Eglite, Director of Recreation, Town of Caledon, advised the Committee that Colleen Grant, Town Prosecutor and Solicitor, Town of Caledon, will provide a full update at a future Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting.

c. Emily Tsoa, Acting Accessibility Planning Specialist, Region of Peel

Emily Tsoa reported on her analysis of the feedback forms from various accessibility training workshops and the subcommittee meeting held with William Goursky and Naz Husain regarding future training initiatives. She noted that the training feedback was generally very positive and includes requests for more information on invisible disabilities. The subcommittee has requested that members of the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee provide input regarding future training topics and formats for consideration.

Naz Husain suggested that future training include more personal experience stories, as previous sessions have shown that this is an effective means of connecting with the audience. Maureen Tymkow asked what the goal or theme would be for the proposed training session recognizing the annual United Nations International Day of the Disabled Person in December of 2005. William Goursky replied that given the results of the feedback form and analysis from previous training sessions, emphasis would be placed upon invisible disabilities. Michelle Bidlofsky, Acting Community Relations Supervisor, Social Services department, Region of Peel, suggested that the "workshop" and "trade fare" approach used in 2004 was very successful with a singular focus on raising awareness.

William Goursky asked if a different host location should be considered. Michelle Bidlofsky explained that the Region of Peel Administrative Headquarters located at 10 Peel Centre Dr. in Brampton represented the largest single concentration of Regional employees and as such it was a preferred location. Charlotte Gravlev also indicated that the Council Chamber facility at 10 Peel Centre Dr. provided certain advantages such as the ability to webcast the training session to all employee desktop computers throughout the organization regardless of the location of the facility.

Maureen Tymkow suggested that staff be invited to join the subcommittee on training initiatives to broaden the range of input.

Councillor Richard Paterak added that it is important to build upon what was accomplished with the United Nations International Day of the Disabled Persons training session in 2004. He recommended that staff who participated in the 2004 training session be approached to provide further comment on how to improve upon the training provided last year.

Charlotte Gravlev indicated that the department of Housing and Property will be the sponsor for the 2005 United Nations International Day of the Disabled Persons event. Planning for the December event will now proceed along with the sponsor department and further details will be forthcoming.

8. REPORT OF THE ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR

In the absence of the Chair of the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee no report was presented.

Regional Chair Emil Kolb arrived at 3:10 p.m.

A quorum of voting members was achieved.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

RECOMMENDATION AAC-21-2005:

That the minutes of the September 13, 2005 Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting be approved.

3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

RECOMMENDATION AAC-22-2005:

That an update on the Margaret Dunn Library in the Town of Caledon be added to the agenda under Other Business Items as Item 9a;

And further, that the agenda for the October 11, 2005 Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting be approved, as amended.

4. COMMUNICATION ITEMS

a. Glenn Barnes, Committee Chair, Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee, Letter dated September 27, 2005 to David Lepofsky, Chair, ODA Committee, Thanking him for his Efforts in Bringing Forward the Disability Movement in Ontario

Received

b. Glenn Barnes, Committee Chair, Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee, Letter dated September 27, 2005 to Carol MacEachern, Regional Co-ordinator, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada Supporting its Call for the Creation of New Co-operative Housing Accessible to All Persons in Canada

Received

5. PRESENTATIONS

a. Town of Caledon Annual Accessibility Plan (Oral)
Presentation by Nadia Koltun, Town Counsel and Director of Legal Services, and Eriks Eglite, Director of Recreation and Property Services, Town of Caledon

RECOMMENDATION AAC-23-2005:

That the third Annual Town of Caledon Accessibility Plan dated September 2005, with the endorsement of the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC), be forwarded to the Council of the Town of Caledon for approval.

b. Barrier Identification Tracking Tool (BITT) (Oral)
Presentation by Emily Tsoa, Acting Accessibility Specialist

Received

c. "Making Way" Update (Oral)
Presentation by Emily Tsoa, Acting Accessibility Specialist

Received

6. REPORTS

7. REPORTS FROM THE ACCESSIBILITY PLANNING COORDINATORS

a. Colleen Grant, Town Prosecutor and Solicitor, Town of Caledon - August (Oral)

Deferred to the November 1, 2005 Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee Meeting

b. Colleen Grant, Town Prosecutor and Solicitor, Town of Caledon - September (Oral)

Deferred to the November 1, 2005 Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee Meeting

c. Emily Tsoa, Acting Accessibility Planning Specialist, Region of Peel

Received

 

8. REPORT OF THE ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR

Deferred to the November 1, 2005 Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee Meeting

9. OTHER BUSINESS

a. Update on Margaret Dunn Library, Town of Caledon

Councillor Paterak advised that temporary on site accessible parking along with a temporary paved access route to the current site of the Margart Dunn Library in the Town of Caledon have been installed and will be in place for the duration of the construction on the new library.

Received

10. NEXT MEETING

Tuesday, November 1, 2005 (1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.)
Region of Peel Headquarters
Council Chamber, 5th floor
10 Peel Centre Dr.
Brampton, Ontario

11. ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.