Thank you so much for accommodating my time issues.
The Council of Canadians with Disabilities together with CACL has been looking at the issue of a national disability act for probably two or three years, in tandem with the announcement that was in the Conservative platform some years ago.
It has always been a contentious issue within the disability community, because there are many concerns associated with it, not the least that it will become “the act for you”, if you catch the drift; in other words, that it would solve all ills.
While we recognize that a national act would really only be able to address the issues that are under a national purview, we believe there are many existing mechanisms for moving forward in the multifarious and complex areas of concern for persons with disabilities. Rick well articulated the foundational document of In Unison. There are also a number of regulatory frameworks we think we could use.
I'll give you a couple of examples. Right now there are voluntary codes of practice for transportation in this country. They do not work, as per CCD's seven-year battle with VIA, as per its recent win in yet another court around “one person, one fare”. We believe and have said for years that there should be regulations, not voluntary codes.
The second one, and I can speak to this shortly but with some experience, is this. I co-chair the homelessness advisory committee in Newfoundland and have done for eight years. One of my areas of background expertise is housing. Until the money that is provided through the homelessness partnering strategy, and earlier through NHI, has accessibility and access principles attached, what will happen is that we will continue to spend fantastic, phenomenal amoutns of money, thank you very much, and make investments in housing that is not accessible.
I'm sorry if private industry doesn't like the idea that they should have something imposed upon them, but there should be standards to ensure that something is.
In terms of an act, I would say no; I would say why don't we look at what we have existing and ensure that governments talk to each other?
Thank you.