Mr. Speaker, the member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound's advocacy is making a difference in the lives of his constituents.
Our government is committed to the principle that everyone should be able to access information and reading material. That is why we signed on to the Marrakesh Treaty four years ago and at the same time set up a working group comprising disability groups, including CELA, NNELS and the publishing industry, to develop a long-term strategy on the production of alternate format materials in Canada.
We recognize that alternate format materials are more important than ever for persons with print disabilities. They allow persons with print disabilities to read, to learn and to fully participate in society. Moreover, they are critical during the pandemic. People need up-to-date information, directives and guidelines related to their health and safety in alternate formats. Many Canadians have also been asked to stay home as much as possible in order to flatten the curve. They have felt isolated and have relied heavily on accessible books and materials to cope.
One of the first organizations I heard from about this issue was the Windsor Public Library, a champion for accessible reading in my community of Windsor—Tecumseh. We continue to listen to the disability community and to organizations like the Windsor Public Library about the importance of CELA and NNELS. That is why our government announced an additional $1 million on March 16 to support activities related to the production of alternate format materials carried out by the Centre for Equitable Library Access and the National Network for Equitable Library Service, or CELA and NNELS, for short.
The funding provided through the social development partnership program, disability component, recognizes that the pandemic has been hard on persons with disabilities. It has also delayed the publishing industry in its goal of making significant progress to ensure that books are born accessible in Canada. As a result, the additional $1 million will help CELA and NNELS provide more accessible reading materials to persons with print disabilities in Canada.
This investment adds to the $10 million for CELA and NNELS that was already announced in the 2020 fall economic statement. The fall economic statement provided, for the first time, stable, predictable, multi-year funding for the not-for-profit sector in this area. It adds to the $22.8 million in funding announced in budget 2019 for a transition strategy that supports moving the production of alternate format books from the not-for-profit sector to the Canadian independent publishing industry.
This money is helping independent publishers to create alternate format books and to get to a point where they are able to do so independently. In fact, in 2017 we set up a working group on alternate format materials with representatives from disability organizations and the Canadian publishing industry, including CELA and NNELS, and based on their recommendations we developed a transition strategy.
However, we are still in a pandemic, and it is causing challenges for the not-for-profit and publishing sectors. That is the reality. The Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion recently met with CELA and NNELS, and we understand there is a need to keep engaging with publishers and to possibly re-evaluate the transitional timeline.
We will not leave people high and dry without accessible information during a pandemic.