Minutes of the Customer Service Standards Development Committee (CS-SDC)

Meeting Date/Time: April 24 and 25, 2006
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Meeting Number 3

Meeting Location: Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
5060 Spectrum Way, Suite 100
Mississauga, ON L4W 5N6

Annex: A. List of Task Group Members

Members Present:

• Judith Sandys, Ryerson University (Chair)
• Cynthia Archer, Ontario Library Association
• Cathie Auger, Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario
• Beverly Ball, Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario
• Colleen Bell, City of Toronto
• Mike Bonnah, West Park Healthcare Centre
• Richard Clarke, Ontario Ministry of Government Services
• Della Derrough, Community Living Ontario
• Terry Downey, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Wendy Feldman, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
• Martha Johnson, Canadian Bankers Association
• Stuart Johnston, Ontario Chamber of Commerce
• Doug Jure, Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas
• David Kelly, Ontario Federation of Community Mental Health and Addiction Programs
• Brian Kon, Ontario March of Dimes
• Sheila Larmer, Ontario Ministry of Tourism
• Kerry-Anne Markle, Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services
• Ashley McClinton, Retail Council of Canada
• Victor Palmer, Adult Learning Disabilities Resource
• Rod Seiling, Greater Toronto Hotel Association (April 25 only)
• Margaret Shenton, Canadian Hard of Hearing Association (Ontario Chapter)
• Sharon Vilcini, Bloorview MacMillan Children’s Centres
• Walter E. Visser, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

Members Absent:

• Dennis Finucan, Canadian Council of the Blind (Ontario Division)
• Adina Lebo, Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada
• Lorin MacDonald, Individual
• Jane Warwick, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General

Support Unit Affiliation:

• Kevin Boehmer, Canadian Standards Association
• Terry Brand, Canadian Standards Association, CS-SDC Secretary
• Linda Markowsky, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Adam Nagler, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Mansur Rahim, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario, CS-SDC Liaison
• Nelly Tion, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Scot Weeres, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Robert Thomson, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario

Guests

• Edward Lee, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
• Richard Simm, PwC
• Joe Parker, PwC
• Peter Johnson, PwC
• Steve Wilks, IBI

Summary of Meeting Actions

Action 1: Support Unit to work with Task Group 1 – Draft 3 and edit and distribute tracked and untracked versions of Draft 3 of the initial proposed customer service standard to CS-SDC Members by May 2, 2006 .

Action 2: CS-SDC Members to review Draft 3 of the initial proposed customer service standard, actively consult with their constituents and submit their comments to T. Brand by Tuesday May 16, 2006 .

Action 3: Support Unit to collate Member comments and distribute to CS-SDC Members by Friday May 19, 2006 .

Action 4: Support Unit staff to distribute Meeting 3 communiqué to CS-SDC Members by May 1, 2006 .

Action 5: CS-SDC Members to advise M. Rahim of any additional accommodations requirements for future meetings.

M3.1 Opening and Welcome

The Chair called the meeting to order and welcomed all members and guests. The following key objectives of this meeting were highlighted:

• Address/resolve issues arising from meeting 2;
• Continue to advance work on requirements, classes specified in the initial proposed standard; and
• Consider initial readiness/cost feasibility input from consultant.

M3.2 Roll Call

Members introduced themselves and stated their affiliations.

M3.3 Administrative Matters

M.3.3.1 Housekeeping

The Secretary advised the members of the housekeeping issues for the meeting and of the facility safety procedures for exiting the building in case of an emergency.

M.3.3.2 ADO Update

S. Weeres briefed the Committee on the appointment of the new Minister of Community and Social Services, Madeleine Meilleur, the former Minister of Culture, and advised of recent staffing changes to the Accessibility Directorate’s support unit team.

M.3.3.3 Approval of Meeting 3 Draft Agenda

Customer Service Standards Development Committee (CS-SDC) CS-SDC members approved the draft meeting 3 agenda without change.

M.3.3.4 Approval of Minutes from Meeting 2

CS-SDC members reviewed the approved draft Meeting 2 minutes and no further comments were made.

M.3.3.5 Review/Update Committee Work Plan

The committee reviewed the CS-SDC’s work plan. No changes were proposed.

M.3.3.6 Review of Meeting 2 Action Items

The chair reviewed the key action items arising from Meeting 2. S. Weeres reported on the request from the CS-SDC at Meeting 2 to obtain legal perspective with respect to (1) the need to clarify the relation and role of the draft proposed customer service standard and vis-à-vis the Ontario Human Rights Code; (2) preferred language regarding “same”, “equal”, “comparable” terminology; and (3) definition of “undue hardship” for the CS-SDC’s consideration.

S. Weeres reported that while neither the Ontario Human Rights Code nor the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 reference each other, the two laws exist in parallel and the Human Rights Code remains paramount. He added that the issue of terminology is not a legal matter, but rather a policy choice. The CS-SDC must determine and convey (as clearly as possible) the policy intent of the standard and determine which terminology (i.e., equal, equivalent, comparable) it believes is most appropriate. He further added that on the matter of undue hardship, the CS-SDC has the discretion and must come to its own conclusion as to whether or not to name this test in recommending its initial proposed standard.

M3.4 Development of Initial Proposed Accessible Customer Service Standard

The CS-SDC debated at length both the terminology and undue hardship issues during the meeting but did not yet reach consensus on either. Further consideration of these matters was deferred to the next meeting, pending finalization of the proposed requirements and consensus being achieved on the question of classes and proposed implementation targets.

The CS-SDC received considerable stakeholder feedback on Draft 2 of the initial proposed standard and reviewed and discussed this feedback. Stakeholder comments were grouped into three broad categories (technical, general and editorial). Key themes arising from the stakeholder feedback included:

• the need to clarify scope and definitions;
• the appropriateness of the proposed principles;
• the relationship of the proposed customer service standards to other proposed accessibility standards (e.g., transportation, built environment); and
• the need for consistency with terminology used within the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Due to the volume of stakeholder feedback received, the CS-SDC was not able to complete its review of all feedback. As such, the CS-SDC established a task group to resolve stakeholder comments and revise Draft 3 of the initial proposed standard, Task Group 1: Draft 3.

The CS-SDC agreed to establish three additional task groups: Task Group 2: Classes - to formulate options and a specific recommendation for the CS-SDC to consider at Meeting 4; Task Group 3: Costing/Readiness - to provide feedback to the consultants retained to support the CS-SDC in assessing cost of the initial proposed standard and Task Group 4 - Definitions - to address stakeholder concerns regarding definitions and terminology.

Each task group will meet prior to Meeting 4 in order to report back to the CS-SDC at the next meeting. The CS-SDC requested that Support Unit staff summarize the next round of stakeholder feedback and to highlight the key issues at Meeting 4. The chair advised that the Support Unit would work with the task groups to enable them to carry out their charges.

Action 1: Support Unit to work with Task Group 1 - Draft 3 and edit and distribute tracked and untracked versions of Draft 3 of the initial proposed customer service standard to CS-SDC Members by May 2, 2006.

Refer to Annex A for a list of Task Group members.

The chair requested that CS-SDC members document any further comments they may have or feedback obtained from their constituents on the revised Draft 3 of the initial proposed customer service standard using the comment template provided and to forward these to T. Brand by May 16, 2006 .

Action 2: CS-SDC Members to review Draft 3 of the initial proposed customer service standard, consult with their constituents, and submit any comments to T. Brand by Tuesday May 16, 2006 .

Action 3: Support Unit to collate CS-SDC member comments and distribute to CS-SDC Members by Friday May 19, 2006 .

M3.5 Path Forward

M.3.5.1 Readiness and Cost Feasibility

S. Weeres introduced the readiness and cost feasibility consultants retained from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) who provided an overview of their proposed method of costing.

R. Simm provided an overview of PwC’s proposed approach that included a survey (random sample) of proposed persons and organizations impacted by the proposed requirements. The CS-SDC requested that PwC modify its methodology to include a qualitative aspect of the survey and to also include micro-enterprise in order to capture a more reliable sample of the wider population of impacted persons and organizations. The costing task group # agreed to meet by April 28, 2006 to initiate discussion of proposed changes to the survey.

M3.6 Communications

The communications task group drafted a communiqué highlighting the CS-SDC’s progress to date. The Chair reviewed the communiqué with the CS-SDC and recommended that it be distributed to members by May 1, 2006 .

Action 4: Support Unit staff to distribute Meeting 3 communiqué to CS-SDC Members by May 1, 2006.

M3.7 Other Business

M3.7.1 Meeting Evaluation

The Chair requested CS-SDC Member feedback on the meeting. Members indicated that they found the meeting productive.

M3.7.2 Meeting and Committee Accommodations

M. Rahim requested that members contact him directly regarding any additional accommodations required for future meetings.

Action 5: CS-SDC Members to advise M. Rahim of any additional accommodations requirements for future meetings.

M3.7.3 Meeting Schedule

The meeting schedule was reviewed and no changes were proposed. The chair highlighted that there may be a need to meet into July and August depending on the additional time required to complete the costing work.

M3.7.4 Other Business

No other business was discussed.

M3.8 Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:21 pm on Tuesday April 25, 2006 .

Annex “A”

List of Task Group Membership

• Print this article
• Email this article