Ontario Government Knows Staggering 70% of Ontario Private Sector Organizations with 20 or More Employees Violating Disabilities Act’s Reporting Requirement

I thought that this would be of interest to you.  This was just released today in the media.

But No Effective Enforcement, Despite Election Promises, Even Though Ample Unspent Budget for Implementing this Law

See Toronto Star Article and AODA Alliance News Release

November 18, 2013

SUMMARY

According to an AODA Alliance news release and a November 18, 2013 Toronto Star article, both set out below, the Ontario Government knows that fully 70% of Ontario private sector organizations with at least 20 employees have not complied with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act’s reporting requirements. The reporting deadline was December 31, 2012.

The Ontario Government is not keeping its promise to effectively enforce this law. Yet it has ample unspent funds to implement and enforce this law.

This was all revealed days ago, when the Ontario Government finally started releasing information to the AODA Alliance on the AODA’s enforcement, that it has been seeking since January 22, 2013. The Government has finally agreed to provide all information that AODA Alliance David Lepofsky has requested. At the end of the AODA Alliance’s news release, set out below, is a key four-page document that the Government has released to Lepofsky. It sets out key information reflected in the news release.

The Toronto Star reports that the Ontario cabinet minister responsible for enforcing the AODA, Dr. Eric Hoskins, is “upset” about the lack of compliance. The Star reports that he said the level of compliance is unacceptably low. He believes the Government is not doing enough to make sure organizations are complying with this law. The Star also reports that Dr. Hoskins is sending 2,500 enforcement notices today to non-complying organizations, and that he will “pursue vigorously those businesses that don’t respond.” This overdue action clearly results from our advocacy.

We encourage you to

* circulate this update widely, including to your local media.

* Let your MPP know what you think of this news, and

* Send a letter to the editor to the Toronto Star. You can send it by email to lettertoed@thestar.ca

We always urge you to send us your feedback. Write us at aodafeedback@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter and get others to do so as well! Twitter.com/aodaalliance

Please “like” our Facebook page and share our updates:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessibility-for-Ontarians-with-Disabilities-Act-Alliance/106232039438820

To sign up for, or unsubscribe from AODA Alliance e-mail updates, write to: aodafeedback@gmail.com

Learn more at: www.aodaalliance.org

The Toronto Star November 18, 2013

URL:http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/11/18/ontario_businesses_ignore_provincial_accessibility_law.html

News

Ontario businesses ignore provincial accessibility law; Queen’s Park not enforcing legislation, activist says

Queen’s Park is ignoring thousands of Ontario businesses that are flouting the province’s disability accessibility legislation, government documents show.

Meanwhile, $24 million in government funds earmarked to oversee the law since it was passed in 2005 remains unspent, say the documents obtained under a freedom of information request.

Seventy per cent of private businesses with 20 employees or more, about 36,000 across the province, have failed to comply with the law’s reporting requirement, according to the data obtained by lawyer David Lepofsky of the Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act Alliance.

Under the 2007 requirement, companies had until Dec. 31, 2012, to e-file a report with the government outlining how they accommodate customers with disabilities, train staff and receive customer feedback.

Despite the lack of compliance, not one business in violation has been inspected, issued a compliance order or fined, the documents show.

Lepofsky, who asked for an update on business compliance in January, was forced to file an FOI and initially charged $2,325. He appealed and the government released the documents late last week.

“In both the 2003 and 2011 provincial elections, the Liberals promised to effectively enforce their disability legislation,” Lepofsky said.

“But the documents show they have been palpably derelict in their duty to enforce this law.”

Economic Development, Trade and Employment Minister Eric Hoskins, who is responsible for the legislation, said he is also upset about the lack of compliance.

“I believe we are not doing enough to make sure companies and organizations are complying with the standards,” he said in an interview. “The percentage of compliance is unacceptably low.”

Since taking over the portfolio in February, Hoskins said he has doubled the number of businesses in compliance from about 7,000 to 15,000.

He ordered the ministry to send information notices to every business last spring and again last summer. On Monday, he is sending out 2,500 enforcement letters.

“I will pursue vigorously those businesses that don’t respond,” he said.

As for the $24 million in unspent funds to oversee the law, Hoskin predicted that once enforcement measures begin, spending will increase.

“Until Dec. 31, 2012, we really only had the ability to increase awareness,” he said. “This calendar year, we have turned our attention to identifying those that didn’t comply.”

Ontario’s 2005 disabilities act requires the government to ensure the province is fully accessible by 2025.

“Professionally, this is one of my top priorities as a minister and I have worked very seriously on this,” he added.

A 2010 independent review of the disabilities act urged the government “to show new leadership” and “revitalize” implementation of the law.

But these latest documents show the government has fallen down on the job of serving the province’s 1.7 million Ontarians with disabilities, Lepofsky said.

“The government said this is a top priority,” Lepofsky said. “Their inaction speaks far louder than their hollow words. I’d hate to see what it would be like if it was a low priority.”

Laurie Monsebraaten Toronto Star

* * * * *

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE
NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Government Records Reveal Triple Affront To Over 1.7 Million Ontarians With Disabilities: Thousands Of Ontario Organizations Violating Ontario’s Disability Accessibility Law’s Reporting Requirement – Government Breaching Its Promise To Effectively Enforce This Law – 24 Million Dollars, Allocated From 2005 To 2013 to Government Agency To Implement/Enforce This Law, Go Unspent.

November 18, 2013: Toronto

The Ontario Government has finally admitted that a staggering 70% of private sector organizations in Ontario with at least 20 employees are violating Ontario’s 2005 disability accessibility law’s reporting requirement. Making this worse, the Government has flagrantly broken its promise to effectively enforce this law, despite unused appropriated public funding available for it. Ontario’s 2005 Disabilities Act requires the Ontario Government to lead Ontario to become fully accessible to people with disabilities by 2025.

These revelations are all shown in Government documents that the non-partisan AODA Alliance pried from the Government, after a 287-day ordeal to unearth this information. A key four-page Government document including the pivotal information is set out at the end of this news release.

1. Rampant Violations of Disabilities Act Reporting Requirement

Under a 2007 regulation, private sector organizations in Ontario with at least 20 employees were given a lengthy five years to take modest steps. It required them to adopt a customer service accessibility policy (to help accommodate customers with disabilities), to train their staff on this policy, and to establish a customer feedback process. By December 31, 2012, private sector organizations with at least 20 employees were required to e-file with the Government a report simply self-declaring if they did what they are required to do.

By the end of 2012, only 7,983 private sector organizations with at least 20 employees had filed the simple mandatory report. The Government wrote to these organizations this summer to remind them. As of November 3, 2013 this number only increased to 15,293, about 30% of the total number of Ontario private sector organizations required to obey this requirement.

Government records report that until recently, the Government pegged the total number of Ontario private sector organizations with at least 20 employees at 60,000. The Government now says that the lower total of 51,421 is more accurate, based on Statistics Canada. Even with that 20% reduction, fully 70% of obligated Ontario private sector organizations are now violating the accessibility law’s simple reporting requirement, after five years to be ready.

This only relates to the e-filing requirement. The Government cannot say how many of the 30% of private organizations which filed the mandatory reports, have actually done what the law says they must do, to ensure accessible customer service for customers with disabilities.

2. Broken Government Promise to Effectively Enforce the Disabilities Act

In the 2003 and 2011 elections, Ontario’s Liberal Government promised to effectively enforce this legislation. Yet the recently-revealed Government information also shows that the Ontario Government has been palpably derelict in its duty to enforce this law.

Under the Disabilities Act, the Government must appoint one or more directors and inspectors to audit and inspect public and private sector organizations across Ontario, and can levy monetary administrative penalties. Government records reveal that for this huge province, it now has a paltry two directors and one inspector, to enforce the entire Disabilities Act. It has conducted no inspections of any organizations and a paltry percentage of audits. It has issued no compliance orders and imposed no monetary administrative penalties.

On May 10, 2005, when the Legislature unanimously passed the Disabilities Act, the Government proudly proclaimed at a Queen’s Park news conference that there would be spot audits, inspections, and available monetary penalties and enforcement for violators. Then-Minister Marie Bountrogianni reiterated why it is important for the AODA to be effectively enforced, not voluntary, referring to the previous Conservative Government’s weak and unenforceable disability law:

“They will be given of course chances to remedy their situation. It’s not about punishment. It’s about doing the right thing. However if they do not comply, there is a fine — fifty thousand dollars for individuals and a hundred thousand dollars for corporations. So we’re serious. That was missing in the previous act. That was one of the things that was missing in the previous act. And without that enforcement compliance, when you just leave it to the good will of the people, it doesn’t always get done. And so we know that we know that from the psychology of human nature. We know that from past research in other areas, like the environment, like seatbelts, like smoking. And so we acted on the research in those areas.”

3. 24 Million Unspent Public Dollars Allocated to Government Agency to Implement/Enforce Disabilities Act Since 2005

The Government has no excuses. This breach of promise is not due to the provincial deficit, or a lack of funding for the Government’s office charged with responsibility for implementing and enforcing the Disabilities Act, the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario. That Directorate has consistently had substantial unspent funds and a clear legal mandate to enforce this law.

Government records reveal that that office has operated well under budget each year since 2005, the year the Disabilities Act was enacted. Between 2005 and the present, fully $24,264,833.00 has been unspent that was allocated to it.

Here is how much the Government annually appropriated to the Accessibility Directorate, and how much per year it spent.

2005-06 Budget = $ 7,284,800.00 Actuals = $ 4,465,060.00 Difference = $ 2,819,740.00
2006-07 Budget = $10,284,800.00 Actuals = $ 7,776,128.00 Difference = $ 2,508,672.00
2007-08 Budget = $10,284,800.00 Actuals = $ 9,405,472.00 Difference = $ 879,328.00
2008-09 Budget = $14,784,800.00 Actuals = $12,434,436.00 Difference = $ 2,350,364.00
2009-10 Budget = $17,617,000.00 Actuals = $12,799,778.00 Difference = $ 4,817,222.00
2010-11 Budget = $16,468,100.00 Actuals = $12,244,031.00 Difference = $ 4,224,069.00
2011-12 Budget = $17,600,300.00 Actuals = $14,483,762.00 Difference = $ 3,116,538.00
2012-13 Budget = $16,446,500.00 Actuals = $12,897,600.00 Difference = $ 3,548,900.00

4. Conclusions – Appalling Abdication of Government’s Duty to Effectively Enforce the Disabilities Act

“Before this new revelation, an important Government-appointed 2010 Independent Review of the Disabilities Act urged the Government to show new leadership under the Disabilities Act, and to revitalize its implementation of the Disabilities Act. The Government has inexcusably fallen down on the job,” said David Lepofsky, who chaired the non-partisan coalition that campaigned to pass the disabilities act from 1994-2005, and now chairs the coalition that fights to get it effectively implemented and enforced. “Accessibility is good for business and for the public. It helps the bottom line by opening up business to more customers with disabilities. The Government said this is a top priority. Their inaction speaks far louder than their hollow words.”

“It is important for the Government to give organizations the information they need to comply with this law, and only to resort to enforcement when all else fails, but it now has been over 8 years since the Disabilities Act was passed, over 5 years since the customer Service Accessibility Regulation was passed, and over 10 months since the deadline for e-filing accessibility reports,” said Lepofsky. “Enough is enough!”

The Government has kept this embarrassing information from the public for months. Back on January 22, 2013, the AODA Alliance wrote the Government to find out how many organizations were complying with the Disabilities Act, and what the Government planned to do with those who don’t comply. For 287 days, the Government did not answer.

Fed up, on August 15, 2013, AODA Alliance chair David Lepofsky filed a Freedom of Information request to get this information. On October 2, 2013, the Government told him it would cost him about $2,325 to get the answers he sought.

Ten days ago, the Government finally agreed to disclose the requested information. This came only after an embarrassing exchange during Question Period in the Ontario Legislature with NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo and after a blistering October 31, 2013 Toronto Star editorial.

Contact: David Lepofsky aodafeedback@gmail.com www.aodaalliance org Twitter @aodaalliance

KEY LINKS

To read the Toronto Star’s October 31, 2013 editorial on enforcement of the Disabilities Act, visit http://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/11052013.asp

To read the exchange on enforcement of the Disabilities Act in Question Period in the Ontario Legislature on October 29, 2013, visit http://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/10302013.asp

Dalton McGuinty’s August 19, 2011 letter to the AODA Alliance, promising effective enforcement of the AODA, is available at: http://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/090220111.asp

Dalton McGuinty’s April 7, 2003 letter, promising a Disabilities Act with effective enforcement, is available at http://www.odacommittee.net/news80.html

Kathleen Wynne’s December 3, 2012 letter to the AODA Alliance, promising to keep all 

Dalton McGuinty’s disability accessibility commitments, is available at http://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/12032012.asp

The transcript of the May 10, 2005 Queen’s Park news conference, held immediately after the Legislature passed the Disabilities Act, is available at http://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/09272013.asp

To read the AODA Alliance’s January 22, 2013 letter to the Ontario Government, requesting the Ontario Government’s plans for enforcing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, visit http://is.gd/XdwlVG

Learn more about AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s August 15, 2013 Freedom of Information application by visiting http://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/08152013.asp

Why website accessibility matters

On May 30, 2012, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a legally blind woman’s 2010 legal victory over the federal government, ordering the government to make its websites accessible to blind persons. It may not be a case under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), but it does show us how website accessibility matters and has an impact on promoting accessibility for persons with disabilities.

The Federal Court of Appeal ruling reaffirmed that the inaccessible federal government websites violated Donna Jodhan’s constitutional equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. More specifically, with its inaccessible websites, the federal government denied Jodhan equal access to, and benefit from, government information and services provided online to the public on the Internet, and this constituted discrimination against her on the basis of her blindness. Therefore, she has not received the equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on her physical disability and that constitutes a violation of subsection 15(1) of the Charter.

What does this ruling mean for promoting web accessibility?

This case has major implications, highlighting the importance of access to the Internet for all persons with disabilities. It also indicates that information provided in alternative formats is not necessarily sufficient, particularly if a user can’t access it in a similar time frame. If Canadians who are blind or have low vision (regardless of their ability to use a screen reader) are not offered accessible Internet content like those without a disability, they are at a disadvantage.

Chances are disability advocates and people with disabilities will continue to demand accessible information. For organizations that do not comply, expect a challenge.

In Ontario, the Information and Communication Standard under the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation states that websites and content will conform to the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 at Level A and AA, with the exclusion of live captions and descriptive audio interpretation.

Courts may consider this decision a precedent beyond the federal government. Organizations in Ontario (under the AODA)—and across the country—should think about these factors:

·       Alternative formats to provide important information, with or without aid from a representative, cannot match equal rights to receive information as quickly and privately as another person when the information is readily available to the public

·       The standards are not finished, and they clearly will not make Ontario accessible by the year 2025 if new standards are not developed and released soon

·       People with disabilities do not have to wait for the AODA and standards to make equality rights a reality; that is, they may already challenge an organization or individual that they believe has discriminated against them

·       This case affects how information and communications on the Internet are delivered nationally, and is not limited to the province of Ontario

Your organization should:

1.    Train staff to produce accessible information and communications now.

2.    Beat the goal in the Integrated Accessibility Regulation and use 15 months as the time to deliver accessible Internet content.

3.    Grab the accessibility Internet consultants that are available because supply is not as high as demand. If you wait, you may pay more to educate staff and to make your Internet communications accessible. The earlier everyone involved produces accessible information and communications, there will be less to fix later. It costs less to do something right the first time than to fix a problem.

4.    Take note, in the Integrated Accessibility Regulation, only the government is obliged to make intranet sites accessible. If your intranet sites are not accessible you may:

o   See a standard released in the next few years to correct this issue

o   Be taken to court because a person who is blind or has low vision or low mobility is not provided equal opportunity for employment and advancement at the workplace

5.    Focus on any information vital for the well-being of persons with a disability, or for providing equal opportunity. An example is your organization’s capacity to advertise work positions and receive responses in an accessible manner. If you use an advertising agency to promote your open job positions, ensure they are taking the steps now to become accessible.

6.    Focus on alternative formats that protect privacy and allow users to access information in a timely manner. In the present case, Jodhan required outside assistance to obtain information verbally or on paper. Braille is considered as the appropriate alternative format if she received information on paper. However, Braille is not the only format because there are many people who are Blind or have low vision who do not know how to read Braille. Ask the customer for the preferred method to communicate, do your best to comply and avoid a reliance on staff to relay information verbally. Remember, if you provide information and methods to interact with your organization via the Internet, no alternative format can compete with these online services.

If your IT departments or personnel are not taking the AODA seriously, consider sensitivity-awareness training. Also, consider letting staff know this is the future of IT and if staff wants to remain relevant they will have to learn to develop accessible content with style. Just because you provide accessible content, it does not mean your website will be boring. Staying within the guidelines will reap rewards of reaching a wider audience, and accessible Internet communications can be just as elegant as your desired image.

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 or sandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca or visit www.accessibilitycompliance.ca