Perhaps I can start and give people a chance to rest their voices.
Within the federal government.... Before I arrived in this job, I was at National Defence for four years. I was the ADM responsible for construction for the Canadian Forces, and one of my colleagues was the champion for persons with disabilities. He was a senior admiral, and he was always saying to me, “Karen, you've got to use the construction program” to start working on these issues. Let's find the levers within departments, and not only the traditional people who deal with these issues; let's start making this everybody's business to accommodate, to think about barrier-free access to the people--civilians and military people as well--who get injured.
I can tell you with some degree of pride and ownership that I really did work with the army, navy, and air force at defence, to really push their thinking when they were designing a new building anywhere across this country, to make sure we asked the questions about barrier-free access and whether there was something we should be doing. Yes, it might cost a little more money, but over time we've got to make this a natural part of the way we think.
There are two angles to it within the government. One is compliance, because of the human rights legislation. This is a matter of legislation and law. We have to make sure we are removing those barriers and accommodating people who need that accommodation. This is not an option; it has to be done, but it takes time to add to the compliance mentality wherever we are, and into those things I talked about earlier. This is about people and allowing them to be productive and to contribute. We do that by understanding more over time and by dealing with those situations.
My best friend has been disabled for 35 years, so I have a real personal interest. She works in the public service, so I'm aware of those issues. My job as a leader in the public service is to make sure I am spreading the word, encouraging people, and explaining to them what the possibilities and best practices are. I have listed technologies that help people who are visually impaired, who are hearing-impaired, or who have other issues in working with computer technology. Good work has gone on, good work that helps a department help someone who comes into a work unit, that shows how you make it possible for them to give.
Yes, we've made a good start, but yes, we have a lot more to do. I've only been on the job for seven days, kind of owning the policy, but I can tell you that for years prior to this, as a public servant, I worked with those policies. I tried to work with them in a real way, and to work with the engineers and the other people in another department to ask them to think about this stuff, care about this stuff, and incorporate it into their natural way of thinking. That's only one small example. Yes, to go back to Winston Churchill, there's a long way to go.
I can say to you that when you have committed people and they talk to other people, that creates more committed people. The technologies, the projects.... There's a sign language project that's of interest here; we're really trying to make sure it's not just the service side reaching out and including Canadians who want to be part of the consultative process, but also making sure within the government that people can function effectively and, as was said earlier here, contribute to the best of their ability.
All I'm saying is that we have policy and we have legislation. That's the foundation. Tools and policies are only as effective as the people who use them; a lot of what we need to do is push the understanding, use, and awareness of these tools that we have within the federal government. That's really our role, with an internal focus to government, but we have to be an example to the rest of the country, so we have to keep pushing on that one.
Those are some of my thoughts.
