Cape Bretoners weigh in on accessibility law

Alliance for an Inclusive and Accessible Canada helped organize last night’s consultation

Last night, Cape Bretoners gathered at the Cambridge Suites hotel in Sydney to weigh in on a new federal accessibility law.

Along with the federal government, the consultation was organized in part by the Alliance for an Inclusive Shwery-Stanley and Accessible Canada, which is made up of 12 member organizations and four partner organizations from Canada’s disability community.

People met because the Government of Canada has committed to adopting a strong federal accessibility law to remove and prevent barriers facing people with disabilities. The Alliance has been consulting with Canadians across the country to collect their comments, concerns and suggestions about this new law.

In the beginning of 2017 consultations got underway in major Canadian Cities like Toronto and Halifax. Recently, more rural areas have been given a chance to express their concerns.

Marcie Shwery-Stanley, a longtime disability advocate who was present at the Halifax consultation, said she was pleased that Sydney was chosen as a location to discuss the proposed legislation because rural areas have different needs than cities.

“You need to also have consultations in the more rural areas because the concerns and issues relating to disability in those areas are different from those in metropolitan areas,” said Shwery–Stanley.

The new federal accessibility law will cover areas that are under the power of the federal government. This includes railways, airlines, banks, postal services, radio and telecommunications, employment insurance (EI), immigration, Aboriginal lands and rights, the military and criminal law.

The new law doesn’t address areas that are under the power of the provinces, including health care, municipal transportation, guardianship and property rights.

Tuesday’s meeting started with a closed session that was by invitation only for seniors with disabilities at 3 p.m. The evening session that ran from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. was open to all and dealt with general concerns and ways to approach the new law.

Shwery-Stanley said it was a great opportunity for concerned or interested people to add to the discussion and shape the new legislation.

“It’s all right to complain about things, but this is an opportunity to get your voice heard and the information will be forwarded to the minister responsible (for the legislation),” said Shwery-Stanley.