Draft Minutes for Meeting 1 of the
Accessible Information and Communications Standards
Development Committee (IC-SDC)

April 23rd and 24th, 2007
Old Colony Hotel
89 Chestnut Street
Toronto, ON

Members Present

• Laura Talbot (Chair), Talbotallan Consulting Group
• Kelly MacKenzie, Canadian Hearing Society
• Karen Taylor, Canadian National Institute for the Blind
• Rozalyn Werner-Arce, Community Living Ontario
• Tara Jeji, Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities of Windsor and Essex County
• Diane Wagner, Learning Disabilities of Ontario
• Sue Morgan, Independent Living Resource Centre of Waterloo Region
• Geoff Eden, (Individual) (Consumer)
• Francine Drouin, Regroupement des Parents et Amis des Enfants Sourds et Malentendants Franco-Ontarien (RESO)
• Karen Yarmol-Franko (for Dan Shire), IBM Canada
• Robert Pearson, Sun Life Financial
• Doug Jure, Bloor-Yorkville BIA
• Michelle Saunders, Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association
• Martha Johnson, TD Bank/Trust Companies
• Bill Munson, Information Technology Association of Canada for Ontario
• Rt. Rev. George Elliot, The Anglican Diocese of Toronto & Provincial Synod of Ontario
• Lari Langford, Ontario Library Association
• Sherrill McCall, Cambrian College of Applied Arts & Technology
• Darren Cooper, Ontario Federation of Labour/ Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario
• Don Halpert, Ontario Hospital Association
• Beth Cooper, Ontario Public School Boards Association
• Jeanette Parsons, Council of Ontario Universities
• Mary Reid, City of Ottawa/ Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO)
• Elizabeth Daly, Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMTCO)
• Patricia McDonell, City of Toronto
• Rose Langhout,  Ministry of Government Services
• Eileen Mahood, Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
• Israel Lyon, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade/Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• Stacey Young, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
  

Guests

• Jutta Treviranus, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
• Pat Parent, KPMG

Support Unit

• Scot Weeres, ADO
• Nelly Tion, ADO
• Michael Blakely, ADO
• David Dilks, Lura Consulting
• Marsha Cheddi, Canadian Standards Association

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

ACTION 1: Support Unit to supply Committee with demographic profile of Ontario in 2025 at
SDC Meeting 2.

ACTION 2: Support Unit to update IC-SDC Charter to include measures to ensure meetings are as accessible as possible.

ACTION 3: CSA to circulate recommendations to IC-SDC from CS and T-SDC before Meeting 2.
                  
ACTION 4: Support Unit to provide summary on the intersection between standards to help with preliminary content for the IC Standard before Meeting 2.

ACTION 5:  The Chair will devote time on the agenda at IC-SDC Meeting 2 to discuss public engagement methods.

ACTION 6:  IC-SDC members interested in presenting leading practices may contact M. Cheddi via email 3 weeks prior to each meeting.

ACTION 7: Task group to refine the guiding principles and present them at Meeting 2.

ACTION 8: Support Unit to update Definitions document and include a list of acronyms.

ACTION 9: Support Unit to develop options on an approach to developing the scope of the IC standard before Meeting 2.

ACTION 10:  IC-SDC to provide feedback via M. Cheddi on the KPMG costing methodology by May 10th.

ACTION 11:   IC-SDC to provide feed back via M. Cheddi on who should receive the KPMG Readiness Survey by May 10th.

Day 1 – April 23rd, 2007

M1.1     Call to Order

• L. Talbot, the Chair of the IC-SDC, convened the IC-SDC Meeting 1 at 9:30 AM.

M1.2     Housekeeping and Facility Safety

• D. Dilks advised members of facility safety procedures.

M1.3    Opening Remarks

• The Chair welcomed SDC members and commented on the good exchange of information and team building that resulted from the IC-SDC Orientation Meeting held on March 26th and 27th, 2007.  It was emphasized that learning and team building will be continuous throughout the SDC process.  The Chair also reviewed the ground rules including:
• Stating your name prior to speaking;
• Using the microphone; and
• Speaking slowly.
  • The Chair thanked those who submitted their orientation evaluation forms and encouraged members who have not yet submitted their forms to send them in to support the continuous improvement process of SDC meetings.
  • SCD members were reminded of the workshop on assistive technology to be held at 7:15 PM on April 23rd at the Adaptive Technology Research Centre at the University of Toronto. 

M1.4     Approval of Agenda (N26 R1)

• The Committee approved the agenda without modification.

M1.5     Approval of Minutes to the Orientation Meeting (N25)

• The Committee approved the minutes without modification.

M1.6     Review of Action Items from the Orientation Meeting

M1.7     Process Overview / Plan for the 2 days

• SDC members provided positive feedback on the orientation meeting communiqué that was developed.  The Committee agreed to formulate points for the Communiqué at different points during the meeting.
• The Committee requested to review how we issue large files / printing and determining which documents can be shared.
  • Members will email their request for hard copy documents and any alternative formats to M. Cheddi.  Hard copies of documents that exceed 10 pages in length will be available at SDC Meetings.
  • Agendas, meeting minutes, and meeting Communiqués can be shared with external stakeholders.  The circulation of other committee (draft) documents will be determined by the Committee at SDC meetings.

M1.8    Review and Refine IC-SDC Charter

• SDC members will update the IC-SDC Charter (N27) as required at each SDC meeting.

M1.9    Committee Voting Process

• M. Cheddi referenced pages 11-12 of the IC-SDC Charter document (N27) which contains details on how committee decisions are made and when formal votes are required.  When the time comes for a formal vote, the voting process will be reviewed again with the SDC.

M1.10      ADO Presentation on the Work of other SDC’s and the Context of Accessible IC

• N. Tion spoke to the SDC about the work of the Transportation Committee, Customer Service Committee and future work of the Built Environment (BE), and Employment (EMP) Committees.  Public consultations identified  these sectors as priorities
  • Customer Service (CS) Standard (proposed)
• The CS – SDC proposed a requirement that all service organizations identify, remove and prevent barriers to people with disabilities. The standard primarily addresses barriers in training and business practices to meet customer service needs for people with disabilities;
• Proposed requirement to make available information on how to access policies and practices in accessible ways / formats; and
• Requires an accessible customer feedback / complaints mechanism.
  • Transportation Standard (in progress)
• Addresses barriers that are unique to modes of passenger transportation – covers access to and in the vehicle;
• Also considering IC issues (e.g., information to passengers, stop announcements)
  • Employment Standard
• Intended to propose requirements related to business policies and practices (e.g., recruitment, work place conditions, practices)
  o Built Environment Standard
• The Ontario Building Code will be the foundation and will address access to different types of buildings, open spaces, streetscape elements.
• Potential cross-over areas with IC may include signage, technology for IC that needs to be built into the design of the building.

• SDC members requested a discussion to determine how to best solicit input from the public during the development of the IC Standard (in advance of public review).

• S. Weeres clarified KPMG’s role versus the role of the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC).  ATRC is conducting a jurisdictional review of initiatives, policies, and practices of jurisdictions outside of Ontario. KPMG is conducting a readiness and costing study.

M1.11    Consultant Presentation and Discussion of Lessons Learned from Inter-jurisdictional Review

• J. Treviranus, Director of the ATRC at the University of Toronto, introduced herself to the IC-SDC and presented on the lessons learned from the inter-jurisdictional research she conducted on behalf of the Committee.
• J. Treviranus started the ATRC in 1993 and has been involved in accessibility research and development since 1979.  She has been involved in initiatives to develop accessibility guidelines, participated on international groups, and has been an expert witness to human rights lawsuits around the world.
• The presentation on Lessons Learned from other Jurisdictions (N34) identified challenges / opportunities for the proposed IC Standard:
  • Standard for a quickly changing field;
  • Provincial Jurisdiction;
  • Encouraging Innovation; and
  • Maximum Impact with Finite Resources
  • Three approaches to providing accessible IC were discussed:
• A single resource – accessible to everybody;
• Resources that are accessible to everyone - but optimal to no-one (e.g., common look and feel initiative – Canada); and
• IT-based personalization - allows for innovation, creativity, optimization
• The following recommendations were provided to support the development of the standard:
  • Avoid specifying specific technologies and practices;
  • Allow for interoperability with assistive technologies;
  • Focus on access to the function;
  • Avoids issues with voluntary compliance;
  • Allows for unbiased evaluations;
  • Focuses on measure with the greatest impact; and
  • Stresses good business of inclusive design – curb cut advantage.

To understand IC trends with respect to the “participatory web”, J. Treviranus recommended reading an article by Kevin Kelly from the August 2005 issue of Wired Magazine “We are the Web”. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech_pr.html

• The IC-SDC will supplement the jurisdictional review by presenting on leading practices / policies / procedures within the organizations / sectors they represent. On an on-going basis, IC-SDC members will receive presentations (2-3 presentations at each meeting) from members who wish to share leading practices.  Members interested in presenting may contact M. Cheddi via email 3 weeks prior to each meeting. The presentation should be 10-15 minutes in length and should address:
  • What types of barriers you are trying to address?
  • What is your starting situation and what end goal did / do you want to achieve?
  • Have timelines been set/established?
  • Progress to date?
  • Cost?
  • Whether you are partnering with other organizations in executing the initiative.

M. Johnson, R. Pearson, and R. Werner-Arce volunteered to present at IC-SDC Meeting 2.

M1.12    Develop Guiding Principles

• Committee members identified themes / topics that could be included in a set of principles to guide the development of the IC standard.

A task group was assigned to refine the principles and present them back to the SDC at IC-SDC Meeting 2.

M1.13    Scope and Definitions of IC Standard

• Definitions

  • Members reviewed the draft definitions document and provided definitions to add to the list and clarifications of existing definitions.  Definitions developed by other SDC’s and definitions referenced in other codes and laws will be leveraged to ensure consistency.

Scope

• The SDC discussed the scope of the IC standard.  SDC members requested an approach that will identify what type of information (within provincial jurisdiction) that can be influenced by the IC Standard and identifying who are the producers of the information. 

M1.14    Long Term Objectives Discussion

• The Committee discussed the long term objectives of the standard in terms of what the 2025 outcomes of the standard might be.
• The task group that was assigned to refine the Guiding Principles will also refine the long term objectives and present them back to the SDC at IC-SDC Meeting 2.

M1.15    Costing Methodology and Readiness Presentation

•  KPMG delivered a presentation on their Readiness and Costing Approach (N34). The role of KPMG is to support the work of the IC-SDC and to provide costing advice.
• KPMG will issue a survey to collect data from organizations to get a sense of where organizations are now with respect to accessibility and how much it will cost to meet the requirements of the proposed standard (once the scope of the IC standard has been developed).

The IC-SDC provided the following initial comments on the costing methodology:

• Consider regional variations (access to services, technology, resources, etc.);
• Consider costs related to equipment installation, support, and maintenance;
• Consider balancing the message of cost with the benefits (e.g., learn from industries reaction to the cost impacts of complying with the Kyoto Protocol); and
• Where do we choose to cut processes off and where do we start them? Need to determine who bares the cost?

M1.17   Process Review

• IC-SDC Meetings:

  • IC-SDC meetings will start at:  Day 1 - 9:30 / Day 2 – 9:30
  • IC-SDC meetings will end at:  Day 1 - 5 PM / Day 2 - 4 PM. 
  • Breaks:  20 minutes
  • Lunches:  45 minutes
• The IC-SDC will revisit start times at Meeting 2 at CSA’s facilities in the context of the charter.
• IC-SDC Future Meeting Dates:
    
  

• SDC members requested an on-line collaboration workspace.  ADO will explore ways to support this.  In the interim, committee members have access to email addresses of committee members to exchange information back and forth.
• SDC members who attended the workshop on assistive technology held at the Adaptive Technology Research Centre provided positive feedback about the value and experience of the session. 

M1.18   Adjournment

• The Chair provided closing remarks and thanked the Committee, ADO, D. Dilks and CSA. The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 PM.

   

   

  
   

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