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

Meeting Date/Time: January 27 and January 28, 2007
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Meeting Number 7

Meeting Location: University of Toronto
89 Chestnut Street
Toronto ON M5G 1R1

Members Present:

• Judith Sandys, Ryerson University (Chair)
• Cynthia Archer, Ontario Library Association
• Colleen Bell, City of Toronto
• Mike Bonnah, West Park Healthcare Centre
• Richard Clarke, Ontario Ministry of Government Services
• Elaine Darling, Ontario March of Dimes
• Della Derrough, Community Living Ontario
• Wendy Feldman, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
• Martha Johnson, Canadian Bankers Association
• Doug Jure, Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (Day 1)
• Sheila Larmer, Ontario Ministry of Tourism
• Adina Lebo, Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada
• Duncan MacDonald, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Lorin MacDonald, Individual
• Kerry-Anne Markle, Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services
• Ashley McClinton, Retail Council of Canada
• Victor Palmer, Adult Learning Disabilities Resource (Day 2)
• Margaret Shenton, Canadian Hard of Hearing Association (Ontario Chapter)
• Sharon Vilcini, Bloorview Kids Rehab
• Walter E. Visser, Association of Municipalities of Ontario
• Jane Warwick, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General

Members Absent:

• Beverly Ball, Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario
• Terry Downey, Ontario Federation of Labour
• Dennis Finucan, Canadian Council of the Blind (Ontario Division)
• David Kelly, Ontario Federation of Community Mental Health and Addiction Programs

Guests:

• Israel Lyon, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
• Jason Ducharme, Mercer Delta (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
• Robert Thomson, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario
• Ellen Waxman, Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services (Day 1)
• Scot Weeres, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario

Summary of Meeting Actions

Action 1: The Secretary to distribute copies of K. Boehmer’s presentation to the members by January 26, 2007;

Action 2: The Secretary to distribute initial version of Draft 7 of the final proposed customer service standard (as discussed at the meeting) to the members by January 26, 2007;

Action 3: Editorial Working Group to meet on February 8, 2007 to revise Draft 7 and recommend a final proposed customer service standard to the CS-SDC for its consideration at Meeting 8 in February 2007;

Action 4: The Secretary to distribute copies the revised work plan to CS-SDC members by January 31, 2007.

M.7.1 Opening and Welcome

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

The Chair called on S. Weeres to introduce Ellen Waxman, the new Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario. S. Weeres introduced E. Waxman who briefly addressed the members and thanked them for their commitment and hard work to date.

The Chair introduced Elaine Darling, the newest member of the CS-SDC, who replaces Brian Kon as the Ontario March of Dime’s representative on the Committee.

The Chair highlighted the key objectives of the meeting:

1. Receive public review report;
2. Consider public review feedback;
3. Review types of standards;
4. Begin process to disposition feedback;
5. Strike Working Group(s) as required;
6. Determine and agree on next steps.

M.7.2 Roll Call

The Secretary distributed an attendance list and members confirmed their attendance.

M.7.3 Administrative Matters

M.7.3.1 Housekeeping

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

M.7.3.2 Approval of Meeting 7 Draft Agenda

CS-SDC members reviewed the draft Meeting 7 agenda and approved it without change.

M.7.4 Development of Final Proposed Accessible Customer Service Standard

The Chair invited S. Weeres to introduce the professional services firm retained to facilitate and report on the public review process.

M.7.4.1 Introduction to Public Review Report

S. Weeres introduced Jason Ducharme of the firm Mercer Delta, and invited him to review the:

1. process employed to facilitate public review of the initial proposed customer service standard;
2. response rates to the public review; and
3. key outcomes.

M.7.4.2 Public Review Feedback Report

J. Ducharme addressed the CS-SDC and highlighted the process employed to facilitate public review of the initial proposed customer service standard. Public comment was invited on November 23rd, 2006 and included 3 ways for the public to provide feedback – through:

1. a Web-based feed-back form;
2. e-mail, fax or mail; or
3. regional face-to-face meetings which were held in London, Ottawa, Sudbury and Toronto.

The Ottawa meeting had a French component and the Sudbury meeting also had videoconferencing links from North Bay and Thunder Bay.

In total, 100 written submissions were received through Web-based feedback forms and 128 persons participated in the regional meetings.

The public review process revealed that there is a broad base of cautious/conditional support for the proposed standard. Key outcomes of the public review process included:

• greater clarity is urged for different reasons. Either to:
  1. guard against loopholes;
  2. make achieving compliance more straightforward; or
  3. make demonstrating compliance with the standard more straightforward;
  
  
• Sufficient flexibility is retained to accommodate all organizations impacted by the proposed standard;
• Education and training requirements are critically important and need to be clear;
• Organizations often lack awareness and skills needed to identify and reduce diverse range of accessibility barriers.

The Chair thanked J. Ducharme for his report and invited Kevin Boehmer of CSA to provide the committee with a refresher on the different types of standards.

K. Boehmer addressed the CS-SDC and provided an overview of the different types of standards (from “object-based” to “performance”) that exist to meet various public policy objectives.

Action 1: The Secretary to distribute copies of K. Boehmer’s presentation to the members by January 26, 2007;

A.7.4.3 Disposition Feedback/Prepare Final Proposed Standard

The Chair invited members to review draft 6 of the initial proposed customer service standard opposite the key outcomes of the public review process and to begin a process to disposition the feedback received.

The committee thoughtfully considered the feedback provided and focused much of its efforts on identifying improvements to proposed requirements for training and accessibility support persons, service animals and assistive devices and procedural improvements to the proposed general requirements, all with a view to improving clarity while retaining flexibility.

Action 2: The Secretary to distribute initial version of Draft 7 of the final proposed customer service standard (as discussed at the meeting) to the members by January 26, 2007;

An Editorial Working Group was established (see Annex A) to take the proposed changes to draft 6 discussed by the CS-SDC and to recommend a final proposed customer service standard for the CS-SDC to consider at its next meeting in late February 2007.

Action 3: Editorial Working Group to meet on February 8, 2007 to revise Draft 7 and recommend a final proposed customer service standard to the CS-SDC for its consideration at Meeting 8 in February 2007.

A.7.4.4 Revised Work Plan

A revised work plan was presented by the Chair (see Annex B). Members indicated their support for the revised work plan.

Action 4: The Secretary to distribute copies the revised work plan to CS-SDC members by January 31, 2007.

M.7.5 Communications

A.7.5.1 Report of Communications Task Group

On behalf of the Communications Task Group, the Chair and Secretary drafted a proposed Communiqué and presented it to the members for their consideration. The members approved the Communiqué without change.

M.7.6 Other Business

No other business was discussed.

M.7.7 Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm on Tuesday January 23rd, 2007.

Annex B
Revised CS-SDC Work Plan ¹

¹ Due to a lack of available meeting space at Bloorview, the WEG meetings were moved to CSA's offices in Mississauga. This change was made to the revised work plan following Meeting 7, and therefore looks slightly different than the version discussed by the CS-SDC.

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