Minutes for Meeting #13 of the
Accessible Information and Communications Standards Development Committee (IC-SDC)
April 28th, 2009
89 Chestnut Street, Second Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1R1
Day 1: 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Present
- Mary Kardos Burton, IC-SDC Chair
- Kelly MacKenzie, Canadian Hearing Society
- Karen Taylor, Canadian National Institute for the Blind
- Rozalyn Werner-Arcé, 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 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 Financial Group
- Bill Munson, Information Technology Association of Canada for Ontario
- 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
- Jane Wright, City of Ottawa/ Association of Municipalities of Ontario
- Elizabeth Daly, Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMTCO)
- Patricia MacDonell, City of Toronto
- Julie Strilesky on behalf of Marla Krakower Ministry of Government Services
- Nicole Hamacher, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
- Kurt Lynn, Canadian Hard of Hearing Association
- Fran Odette, Springtide Resources
- Nicole Rioux, Table provinciale francophone pour la personne handicapée
- Susan Brunet, Individual
- Giuseppina (Pina) D'Intino, Bank of Nova Scotia/ Scotia Bank
- Darren Cooper
- Sharlyn Ayotte, T-Base Communications Inc
- Neita (Dr.) Israelite, York University
- Teresa Colangelo, Ontario Federation of Labour
Absent
- Israel Lyon, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade/Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship
- Peggy Bram, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
- Marcia Cummings, Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC)
- Lynn Shaw, University of Western
- Barbara Collier, Augmentative Communications Partnerships Canada
Guests
- Jutta Treviranus, University of Toronto – ATRC
Support Unit
Brenda Lewis, ADO
Leslie Warren, ADO
Hari Viswanathan, ADO
Sheila Mawji, ADO
Ben Somers, ADO
David Dilks, Lura Consulting
Patricia Halajski, Lura Consulting
Marsha Cheddi, Canadian Standards Association
SUMMARY OF MEETING 13 ACTION ITEMS
ACTION 1: Support Unit to prepare an updated standard and timeline document incorporating the updates that were agreed to during the vote and circulate these documents along with the Chair’s transmittal letter to the Minister to the Committee.
ACTION 2: IC-SDC members who voted “No” to clauses in the standard are to provide their rationale for voting “No” to M. Cheddi by Tuesday May 5th, 2009.
M13.1 Chair’s opening remarks and meeting objectives
- Mary Kardos Burton, IC-SDC Chair opened Meeting 13.
- In her opening remarks, the Chair noted that the goal of the meeting is to vote on a final proposed standard to send to the Minister of Community and Social Services. The Chair highlighted key points the Minister should know about the Committee’s standard. The standard seeks to make systemic change by requiring organizations to:
- have policies and procedures;
- train their employees;
- have accessible web sites and web content; and
- provide alternate formats and communication supports and services.
The standard also identifies areas of priority for persons with disabilities.
- The Chair reminded the Committee that over the course of the 2 years the Committee had constituent reviews and a public review period where the Committee had the opportunity to receive feedback on the standard.
- The Chair also noted that it has become clear that there is an expectation that Government will need to harmonize the accessibility standards being developed across all committees. Areas for potential harmonization could include organizational classes, timelines, and policy and training requirements. In light of future harmonization efforts, the Chair proposed that the Committee vote clause by clause on the content of the standard and vote on the proposed timelines separately. The Committee supported the Chair’s proposal.
M13.2 Approval of the Agenda and Minutes to the last meeting
- Action items from Meeting 12 were reviewed, all action items were complete and the minutes from Meeting 12 were approved.
- The draft Meeting 13 agenda was approved.
M13.3 Clause by clause review of the draft standard and Committee discussion
- The Committee participated in a clause by clause review of the revised standard. The Chair requested that the Committee point out any errors in the standard, and if making a suggestion, then a proposed solution needs to be provided.
- Following the incorporation of the changes identified by the Committee, the Support Unit produced a final version of the standard to take to a formal clause-by-clause vote.
M13.4 Clause by clause vote on standard
- There was quorum among voting members as defined in the SDC rules (N110).
- The Committee voted clause-by-clause on the proposed requirements and voted on the timeline document separately. The Chair asked voting members of the IC-SDC if they can support the content of the clause and the accompanying comment boxes.
- As a result of the vote, all the requirements in the standard and timeline document were approved to go to the Minister of Community and Social Services.
M13.5 Next steps
- The IC-SDC directed the Support Unit to prepare an updated standard and timeline document incorporating the updates that were agreed to during the vote and circulate these documents along with the Chair’s transmittal letter to the Minister to the Committee.
- IC-SDC members who voted “No” to clauses in the standard are to provide their rationale for voting “No” to M. Cheddi by Tuesday May 5th, 2009.
M13.6 Meeting adjournment
- The Chair expressed her sincere gratitude to committee members for their hard work and commitment.
- IC-SDC Meeting 13 was adjourned at 4:00 PM.