Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I think that everyone has a copy of my presentation in English and in French. We have also provided a copy in Braille today. I read Braille, but I will make my presentation with the help of a computer. My reading of Braille is a bit too slow. I will listen to the presentation on the computer and repeat what is said.
On behalf of the charity, CNIB, otherwise known as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and also on behalf of the chair of our national board, Jane Beaumont, who is here in the audience today, we would like to thank the Minister of Finance, the finance committee, and the Government of Canada for their commitment to supporting the development of a nationwide equitable library service for Canadians living with print disabilities.
In order to reach that goal, CNIB is proposing that the federal government renew its commitment to support the national digital hub, Canada's primary distributor of print materials that is accessible to the three million Canadians unable to read print because of a disability such as blindness.
According to the 2006 participation and activity limitation survey, the employment rate for Canadians with blindness or partial sight is only 35% compared with 56% for all Canadians with disabilities and 82% for Canadians without disabilities.
This low employment rate costs Canada’s government $886 million annually in social transfer payments, forgone taxation revenue, and lost productivity. We believe these employment rates are closely linked to a lack of educational opportunities for people who are blind or partially sighted. In turn, we believe this lack of educational opportunity comes as a result of the long-standing need for print materials for Canadians with print disabilities.
Currently, the national digital hub, which is being incubated within CNIB, distributes the majority of its 80,000 accessible materials to library users on CDs via Canada Post, shipping more than one million CDs, or two million pieces of mail, to people with print disabilities each year. The federal government supports these mailing costs through Canada Post, through its literature for the blind program, with approximately $11 million in annual investment.
In February 2011 the federal government provided grant funding to CNIB to make progress in support of development of long-term funding and service arrangements with provinces and territories and other stakeholders for ongoing accessible library services past March 31, 2012.
In the March 2013 economic action plan, the federal government provided funding to CNIB to assist in transitioning the responsibility for accessible library services for Canadians with print disabilities from the charity to the public library sector through the development of a national digital hub.
Working in partnership with the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, whose members work collaboratively to strengthen the capacity of Canada’s urban libraries, CNIB anticipates that this non-profit national digital hub will be launched in April 2014. The new organization will support the delivery of equitable library services through Canada’s public library systems from large urban libraries to small and first nations libraries.
CNIB requests that the federal government build on its commitment to equitable library service for Canadians with print disabilities by providing $9.63 million in flow-through funding for the next three years for the national digital hub to move out from the CNIB and to provide stability in its formative years, allowing it to focus on improving service delivery and increase the quantity of alternative format materials available to people with print disabilities from 80,000 to 180,000 titles without a corresponding increase in costs.
In addition, CNIB requests that the government partner with us to realize savings in the $11 million of funding currently spent on mailing costs for the literature for the blind program, resulting from the transition from physical mail delivery to more cost-effective wireless distribution, and invest those savings in accelerating the process.
In summary, these investments would allow the new national digital hub to reach more Canadians who have print disabilities with more accessible content, contributing positively to their education and employment opportunities, and would support the government's desire to “reduce barriers and increase opportunities to ensure the full participation of persons with disabilities in Canadian society”.
Investments in the transition to electronic book delivery would ultimately reduce the costs to the government associated with the literature for the blind program and support Canada's digital economy strategy to accelerate the adoption and use of digital technologies.
Thank you for your consideration.
Merci beaucoup à tous.