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

Meeting Date/Time: May 25 and 26, 2006
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Meeting Number 4

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

Annexes: 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 (Day 2)
• 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
• Sarah Collinge, Bloorview Kids Rehab
• Della Derrough, Community Living Ontario
• Wendy Feldman, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
• Martha Johnson, Canadian Bankers Association
• Stuart Johnston, Ontario Chamber of Commerce (Day 1)
• 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 (Day 1)
• Sheila Larmer, Ontario Ministry of Tourism
• Kerry-Anne Markle, Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services
• Ashley McClinton, Retail Council of Canada
• Duncan MacDonald, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Lorin MacDonald, Individual
• Victor Palmer, Adult Learning Disabilities Resource
• Rod Seiling, Greater Toronto Hotel Association (Morning of Day 1 and Day 2)
• Margaret Shenton, Canadian Hard of Hearing Association (Ontario Chapter)
• Walter E. Visser, Association of Municipalities of Ontario
• Jane Warwick, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General (Day 1)

Members Absent:

• Terry Downey, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Dennis Finucan, Canadian Council of the Blind (Ontario Division)
• Sharon Vilcini, Bloorview Kids Rehab

Guests

• Al Cormier, Chair, Transportation Standards Development Committee (Day 1)
• Edward Lee, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Day 1)

Support Unit Affiliation:

• Kevin Boehmer, Canadian Standards Association
• Terry Brand, Canadian Standards Association, CS-SDC Secretary
• Mansur Rahim, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Nelly Tion, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Estelle Small, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Scot Weeres, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario

Summary of Meeting Actions

Action 1: Support unit staff to circulate a copy of the dispositioned comments regarding Draft 3 to members for their reference.

Action 2: Task Group 3 - Costing will continue to meet with PricewaterhouseCoopers over the coming month to review survey, focus group and case study results and to provide further input into the readiness/costing assessment exercise prior to Meeting 5.

Action 3: The CS-SDC referred both “sensitivity” and “independence” back to Task Group - Definitions 4 for further clarification and requested it to report back at Meeting 5.

Action 4: Task Group 2 - Classes to consider whether or not the number of volunteers within an organization should be a consideration in the establishment of classes and report back to the CS-SDC at Meeting 5.

Action 5: The Chair of the CS-SDC will report back to the Chair of the T-SDC on what actions the CS-SDC will be taking in response to the recommendations of the Chair of the T-SDC prior to Meeting 5 in June 2006.

Action 6: Task Group 5 - Editing to meet on June 7 th, 2006 to prepare Draft 4 of the initial proposed customer service standard and to distribute to the CS-SDC for review and consultation by June 13 th, 2006 ;

Action 7: Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (ADO) staff to research how other jurisdictions deal with the issue of attendant care access and advise Task Group 6 of its findings in June.

Action 8: TG 6 to report back to the CS-SDC with a recommendation on attendant care access at Meeting 5.

Action 9: Support Unit staff to distribute Meeting 4 communiqué to CS-SDC Members by June 1, 2006 .

M.4.1 Opening and Welcome

The Chair called the meeting to order and welcomed all members to the fourth working meeting of the Customer Service Standards Development Committee (CS-SDC). The Chair highlighted the key objectives of the meeting:

• Discuss and resolve key issues arising from feedback received on Draft 3 of the initial proposed customer service standard;
• Consider scope issues referred from the Transportation Standards Development Committee for possible inclusion in the initial proposed customer service standard;
• Finalize policies, procedures, practices or requirements; and
• Define classes and implementation targets.

M.4.2 ROLL CALL

Members introduced themselves and stated their affiliations.

M.4.3 Administrative Matters

M.4.3.1 Housekeeping

The Secretary advised the members of the housekeeping issues for the meeting and of the facility safety procedures.

M.4.3.2 Approval of Meeting 4 Draft Agenda

CS-SDC members reviewed the draft Meeting 4 agenda and approved it without change.

M.4.3.3 Approval of Minutes from Meeting 3

CS-SDC members reviewed the draft Meeting 3 minutes and approved them without change.

M.4.4 Development of Initial Proposed Accessible Customer Service Standard

M.4.4.1 Task Group Reports

Task Group 1 – Draft 3

The Chair reported on the activities of TG 1 since the last meeting. TG 1 considered the remaining comments received from members regarding Draft 3 of the initial proposed standard that were not dispositioned by the CS-SDC as a whole and prepared a revised Draft 3.

Action 1: Support unit staff to circulate a copy of the dispositioned comments regarding Draft 3 to members for their reference.

A record of the dispositioned member comments is available through the CS-SDC Secretary.

Task Group 3 – Costing

The Chair reported on the activities of TG 3. The task group provided feedback to the consultant from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) retained to support the CS-SDC in assessing readiness and costs). PwC agreed to expand the qualitative dimension of the proposed methodology by adding focus groups and including case studies.

Action 2: TG 3 will continue to meet with PwC throughout June 2006 to review survey, focus group and case study results and to provide further input into the readiness/costing assessment exercise prior to Meeting 5.

Task Group 4 – Definitions

W. Visser reported on the activities of TG 4. The task group reported that it developed a proposal for revising clause 2 (terms and definitions) of the initial proposed customer service standard. The CS-SDC reviewed and tentatively accepted the revised clause pending further clarification regarding the definition of “sensitivity” and “independence”.

Action 3: The CS-SDC referred both “sensitivity” and “independence” back to TG 4 for further clarification and requested a revision at Meeting 5.

Task Group 2 – Classes

R. Seiling reported on the activities of TG 2. The task group considered options for classes and made a recommendation to the CS-SDC based on the size of organization. The CS-SDC adopted the TG’s recommendation, however further consideration of the inclusion of volunteers for the purposes of establishing classes was required.

Action 4: TG 2 to consider whether or not the number of volunteers within an organization should be a consideration in the establishment of classes and to report back to the CS-SDC at Meeting 5.

M.4.4.2 Proposal from Chair, Transportation Standards Development Committee (T-SDC)

The Chair of the Transportation Standards Development Committee (T-SDC), Mr. Al Cormier, reported that the T-SDC recommended that the CS-SDC consider incorporating four specific issues into its initial proposed customer service standard that it believes are not specific to transportation but should instead be included in the initial proposed customer service standard:

• service disruption;
• point of sale;
• complaints handling; and
• training.

The CS-SDC discussed these issues and concluded that most are already addressed in the initial proposed customer service standard, with the possible exception of attendant care/companion access, which has been referred to a new task group set up to further research this matter and report back to the CS-SDC at Meeting 5.

Action 5: The Chair of the CS-SDC will report back to the Chair of the T-SDC on what actions the CS-SDC will be taking in response to the recommendations of the Chair of the T-SDC.

M.4.4.3 Discussion/resolution regarding Member Feedback on Draft 3 of the Initial Proposed Customer Service Standard

The Chair facilitated a review of key issues arising from feedback received from members on Draft 3 of the initial proposed customer service accessibility standard, including:

• Scope of customer service transactions (e.g., inclusion of business to business transactions);
• The need for further clarification around such definitions as “independence” and “sensitivity”;
• Possible exemptions;
• Challenges in responding proactively to needs of persons with disabilities whose disabilities/requirements may not be readily visible or apparent; or if persons with disabilities do not disclose their requirements ;
• Distinction between modification of customer service barriers and provision of alternative methods of service delivery; and
• Requirements of disability awareness training programs (i.e. how should these training programs be designed given the broad range of disabilities addressed by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005).

The CS-SDC considered the issues raised made revisions based on the committee’s discussion (to be reflected in Draft 4) and requested Task Group 4 – Definitions to provide clarification regarding the terms “independence” and “sensitivity”.

M.4.5 Path Forward

M.4.5.1 Define Classes and Progressive Implementation Targets

The CS-SDC will consider progressive implementation targets at its next meeting on June 27 to 28, 2006.

In order to prepare Draft 4 of the initial proposed customer service standard and address one of the issues raised by the Chair of the T-SDC (attendant care access element of the point of sale issue), the CS-SDC created 2 new Task Groups. See Annex A for a list of task group members.

Task Group 5 – Editing

The purpose of this task group is to edit the initial proposed standard for consistency, conciseness and readability and to distribute Draft 4 to the CS-SDC prior to Meeting 5.

Action 6: Task Group 5 - Editing to meet on June 7 th, 2006 to prepare Draft 4 of the initial proposed customer service standard and to distribute to the CS-SDC for review and consultation by June 13 th, 2006 ;

Task Group 6 – Attendant Care Access

The purpose of this task group is to review the recommendation from the T-SDC that attendants/support service providers shall not be charged an admission/fee when accompanying persons with disabilities. To support the work of the task group, the CS-SDC requested that Accessibility Directorate staff research other jurisdictions to see what approaches (if any) have been taken in response to this issue and to advise the task group of its findings in early June 2006.

Action 7: Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (ADO) staff to research how other jurisdictions deal with the issue of attendant care access and advise Task Group 6 of its findings in June.

Action 8: Task Group 6 – Attendant Care Access to report back to the CS-SDC with a recommendation on attendant care access at Meeting 5.

M.4.6 Communications

The communications task group drafted a communiqué highlighting the CS-SDC’s progress to date.

Action 9: Support Unit staff to distribute Meeting 4 communiqué to CS-SDC Members by June 1, 2006 .

M.4.7 Other Business

No other business was discussed.

M.4.8 Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:18 pm on Friday May 26, 2006.

Annex “A”

List of Task Group Membership

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