Draft Minutes for Meeting 8 of the
Accessible Information and Communications Standards
Development Committee (IC-SDC)

Wednesday June 18th and Thursday June 19th, 2008

Place:  89 Chestnut Street,
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1R1

Present 

• Alfred Spencer (Chair), Manager of Municipal and First Nation Services within MCSS
• 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)
• Dan Shire, IBM Canada
• Robert Pearson, Sun Life Financial
• Doug Jure, Bloor-Yorkville BIA
• Michelle Saunders, Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association
• Anna Sheehan, TD Bank/Trust Companies
• Bill Munson, Information Technology Association of Canada for Ontario
• Rt. Rev. George Elliott, The Anglican Diocese of Toronto & Provincial Synod of Ontario
• Lari Langford, Ontario Library Association
• Sherrill McCall, Cambrian College of Applied Arts & Technology
• 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
• Elizabeth Daly, Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMTCO)
• Patricia McDonell, City of Toronto
• Krista Schroeder, 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
• Eydie Troper, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
• Marcia Cummings, Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC)
• Kurt Lynn, Canadian Hard of Hearing Association
• Fran Odette, Springtide Resources
• Nicole Rioux, La Table de concertation provinciale francophone du secteur des besoins speciaux
• Susan Brunet, Individual
• Giuseppina (Pina) D'Intino, Bank of Nova Scotia/ Scotiabank
• Darren Cooper  
• Sharlyn Ayotte, T-Base Communications Inc
• Lynn Shaw, University of Western
• Barbara Collier, Augmentative Communications Partnerships Canada
• Mike Murphy, ASAC
• Neita (Dr.) Israelite, York University

Support Unit

• Scot Weers, ADO
• Nelly Tion, ADO
• Sheila Mawji, ADO
• David Dilks, Lura Consulting
• Marsha Cheddi, Canadian Standards Association
• David Zimmerman, Canadian Standards Association (June 18th)
• Candace Sellar, Canadian Standards Association (June 19th)

Format of Committee Minutes and References:

For the purposes of referencing committee documents and items in the minutes, CSA has adopted the reference system used by ISO (International Organization of Standardization):

• N represents documents / presentations; and
• M represents the minute items / sections

IC-SDC Meeting 8 Documents and Presentation Material

SUMMARY OF ACTION ITEMS

Action Item 1:  The CSA Secretary confirmed that a new subcommittee on education will be established.  Interested members are to send M. Cheddi a note of interest in participating on the new subcommittee.

Action Item 2:  The CSA Secretary will establish subcommittee meeting dates during the month of July and inform committee members of the meeting dates and locations.  The CSA Secretary is to organize the following subcommittee meetings:

• Definitions
• Section 7
• Education
• Costing

Action Item 3:  The CSA Secretary is to forward the committee’s comments pertaining to Section 6 to the Lead Ministry for the IC standard.

Action Item 4:  The CSA Secretary will distribute Working Draft 4 containing subcommittee input, in early August in advance of the August 20th/21st Meeting 9. Guidance and requirements will be separated and placed in 2 separate documents.

M8.1 Call to Order

• Scot Weeres, Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (ADO), convened IC-SDC Meeting 8 at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday June 18th, 2008.
• Scot introduced Alfred Spencer as the Interim Chair of IC-SDC and advised that ADO is continuing to search for a Permanent Chair.

M8.2 Housekeeping and Facility Safety

• M. Cheddi reviewed the facility safety and housekeeping procedures with the committee.

M8.3 Opening Remarks

• A. Spencer, interim IC-SDC Chair, welcomed committee members to IC-SDC Meeting 8 and thanked Scot and the team for preparing him for the meeting.
• The Chair emphasized that the objectives of the meeting are to continue to work on the Draft Standard and to finalize a work plan for moving forward.
• The Chair stated that the agenda was developed to help the committee to achieve its goals and to provide an opportunity to work in smaller groups to ensure that all committee members’ voices are heard. 

M8.4 Approval of the Agenda

• The Committee approved the draft agenda (N114).

M8.5 Approval of the Minutes to the Last Meeting

• The Committee approved the minutes from IC-SDC Meeting 7 (N113).

M8.6 Review of Action Items from the Last Meeting

• M. Cheddi reviewed action items (N113) from the last meeting and confirmed that the main action item, to convene subcommittees to update the draft standard in consideration of the discussions at IC-SDC Meeting 7, had been addressed with the exception of the Definitions Sub-committee.

M8.7 Walk Through of Draft Standard

• The Chair asked if committee members circulated the draft standard to their constituents and confirmed that there was an overall positive response to the inquiry expressed throughout the room.
  
• The Committee had concerns about whether the issues raised by their constituents had been documented by CSA.  As such, the agenda was modified to allow committee members to comment on the standard.
  
• The Chair asked the committee to consider the following:
  • Is the current version of the standard close enough to what you expect to be released for public review?
  • What three issues need to be addressed?
    
• The CSA Secretary (M. Cheddi) thanked committee members for participating in sub-committee meetings during the month of May and acknowledged Jutta’s help in the creation of a table to assist the committee in working through the draft standard communication types. 
  
• The CSA Secretary referred committee members to document N84R3, and explained the difference between the standard content material and guidance only content material.  A section by section review of the Draft Standard was conducted.
  
• M. Cheddi provided an overview of the subcommittee efforts in exploring special regulations (Section 6.0) such as the voting process, election materials, and etcetera, and stated that these special process sections had been sent to the government for additional input and guidance. 
  
• M. Cheddi informed the committee that the educational curriculum section has been distributed to two experts identified by Beth Cooper and Jeanette Parsons for review and feedback.  
  
• Committee members commented on the various sections and potential areas that need to be addressed within the standard.  Please refer to the summary of concerns in Annex A.
  
• On Day 1 of Meeting 8, Jutta Treviranus of ATRC, University of Toronto, made a brief presentation on South Korea and innovative accessibility solutions to the committee.
  
• On Day 2 of Meeting 8, Jutta Treviranus, made a second brief presentation providing an overview of the four types of communication and how the communication requirements were organized in Section 7.
  
• Committee members engaged in extensive debate on Day 2 addressing the concept of sub-class information types (i.e. essential-functional-other, need to know-nice to know, internal-external-emergency, and etcetera).  There was general agreement to move forward on Mary Reid’s suggested framework.   The framework was used at the subcommittee meeting in May.  The framework leverages the four tables developed by Jutta with columns for years by when each class would be required to comply with the communication requirements.
  
• On Day 2 of Meeting 8, Dan Shire, IBM Canada, presented a proposed hierarchy of information the committee members, which was well received. The model presented by Dan showed 3 types of information that should be made accessible.  The most important type of information (at the top of the hierarchy) is “Emergency and Public Safety Information”.  The second most important type of information is information provided to and received from “businesses to customers”.  The third type of information is “internal business systems” that are used to run a business, manage inventory, etc.  The hierarchy of information is based on assumptions such as investment to remediate, public urgency, and best risk versus return situation.
  
• Committee members requested that notes/minutes from the upcoming subcommittee meetings in July be distributed to the entire committee for information purposes.
  
• The Chair reminded the committee that by the end of September a Draft Standard will have to be submitted to the Minister and therefore the establishment of timelines moving forward is very important.
  
• Agreed on revisions and key concepts (organizational classes; information types; among others) to be reflected in Working Draft 4.0.
  
• Identified proposals to enhance various clauses and tasked Sub-Committees and the Support Unit to consider these proposals and recommend revisions to be incorporated into Working Draft 4.0.
  
• Directed the Support Unit to integrate IC-SDC comments on Working Draft 3.0 with comments from the informal constituent review conducted by members prior to Meeting #8, and circulate an integrated set of comments to members.
  
• Tasked the Support Unit to prepare Working Draft 4.0 – addressing all comments on Draft 3.0 and integrating Sub-Committee recommendations – for circulation to the IC-SDC prior to Meeting #9.

M8.8 – M.8.15:  Due to changes in the meeting agenda, these agenda items were not covered at the meeting.

M8.16 Communiqué Preparation

• The committee prepared the IC-SDC Meeting 8 Communiqué (N115).

M8.17 Other Business and Meeting Process Review Feedback

• Meeting #9 of the IC-SDC will be held August 20-21, 2008 at 89 Chestnut Street, Toronto to review Working Draft 4.0.  Sub-Committee meetings will be convened prior to Meeting #9.  It is anticipated that IC-SDC members will vote on a proposed standard for public review at Meeting #10 in late September 2008 (tentatively 29-30) following a final informal constituent review.

Action Item 4:  The CSA Secretary will distribute Working Draft 4 containing subcommittee input, in early August in advance of the August 20th/21st Meeting 9. Guidance and requirements will be separated and placed in 2 separate documents.

M8.18 Adjournment
• IC-SDC Meeting 8, Day 2, was adjourned at 4:15 PM. 

*** Next meeting:  August 20th and 21st, 2008 at 89 Chestnut Street ***

 
Annex A

Summary of IC-SDC Feedback on Working Draft 3.0 of Initial Proposed Standard

1. Cross-cutting Issues

• Need to limit how many external documents are referenced in the Draft Standard for ease of use.
• Need to better understand the concept of ‘plain language’ and the associated challenges (e.g. technological and medical language).
• Need to ensure that the standard remains technology neutral.
• Need to consider timeframe and associated capacity issues for municipalities, school boards and hospitals.
•  Need to consider timeframe in general for meeting the minimum requirements.
• Need to better understand the prohibitions to utilizing ‘rolling references’ in the standard.

2. Scope and Definition Issues

• Need to see the current definition of communication reflected in the section on scope - the interactive nature of communication is missing from the definition included in Working Draft 3.
• Need for legal clarification of what is meant by “all service providers” in 2.2.
• Need to add “Services” to Section 2.2.
• Need to add “timely fashion” to definitions.
• Need to add “performance support” to the definitions.
• Need to define “plain language” in the definition section.
• Need to reflect an understanding of interactive communication in the scope.

3. Section 5 Issues

• Need to add ‘services’ to 5.1.
• Need more guidance and clarity with respect to 5.2 – committee member vote decided there is a need to retain 5.2 despite concerns over its usefulness.
• Need to clarify the feedback mechanism and process - suggestion to use language out of CS.  However, need to review the CS definition of ‘customer’ and if this includes employees. 
• Need to reflect respect of privacy issues.
• Need more clarification regarding tools in 5.4 c.
• Need to do more research to better understand the ‘plain language’ requirement and if it applies to the production of the standard itself, how it would effect more complex communications, and be impacted by regulatory content requirements.

4. Section 6 Issues

• Municipal Elections:  There are no political parties at the municipal level. Need government feedback to proceed.  Also require information from a series of conferences on accessible voting put together by the United Nations.
• Need to ensure education is accessible to all people as a fundamental right.
• Suggestion to replace the word ‘curriculum’ with ‘programs’ in order to capture programs designed by organizations and not only educational institutions.

5. Section 7 Issues

• Need other wording in 7.1.1 and not specify W3C 2.0 web guidelines as they are still in progress.
• Need to keep goals of maintaining flexibility and innovation in mind as we work through section 7.
• Support expressed that 7.1 should be reflected ‘back in the chart’, but the content of the chart should be examined.
   
  

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