Human Resources committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want to go back. We know that this bill will apply to federal government and federally regulated agencies. We also heard that implementing it could result in up to a $38 billion per year benefit. I'm just trying to understand that a bit more. It seems s

Human Resources committee  Thanks for that. It seems to me that we're creating a lot of bureaucracy here. You have the Canadian accessibility standards development organization. You'll have an accessibility commissioner, a chief accessibility officer, and there's also talk of hiring 5,000 civil servants.

Human Resources committee  This is all very commendable. We all want to make Canada more accessible. But do you think it's fair to the Canadian taxpayer—you're essentially saying we should sign a blank cheque—especially when some of the people who are lower income would have accessibility issues themselve

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to all the people at the committee here today. This is for Ms. Laroche. You're talking about hiring basically 5,000 people with disabilities. Will there be an attempt to have a balance of disabilities? In other words, I mean people with visual impai

Human Resources committee  I guess that's to say that all people with all disabilities will be looked upon, including people with episodic disabilities. They're all going to be reached out to.

Human Resources committee  I'm assuming that there would also be a gender balance and also indigenous people and visible minorities. Is there going to be any special effort in that regard?

Human Resources committee  Thank you. This is for Ms. McDonald from Canada Post. I know it's very early on in the game here, but I think we most often think of barriers as being a lack of wheelchair ramps and automatic doors. Can you paint a picture about what other possible barriers could exist through

Human Resources committee  Do you have any more specifics? We all know that if somebody in a scooter comes up, the counter should be a certain height and the door should open. What other disabilities are your outlets having to deal with?

Human Resources committee  Thank you.

Human Resources committee  Dr. Prince, welcome. I know you had some pretty strong words about the bill as it is now. You talked about it seeming to be a machinery-of-government bill. It should be about people. It's disturbing. Thanks for your honesty. Can you give us some specific examples of how this bil

Human Resources committee  To help people who don't have disabilities, what are some things in the workplace that have to change? This question is for Dr. Prince or anybody else who might have some knowledge on that. What has to change? We all see the accessible washrooms and wheelchair ramps, but what

Human Resources committee  Is there anyone else?

Human Resources committee  I just want to give Dr. Treviranus some time to comment.

Human Resources committee  This is for Mr. Desjardins-Siciliano. You've talked about VIA striving to be or being a world leader in accessibility. You should be lauded for that. You said that you use standards from the Canadian council for disabilities to get there, and these standards were deemed acceptab

Human Resources committee  It's rather redundant, then. You also talked about VIA Rail being door-to-door accessible, but we do know that not every train station is accessible. I can see one in Trenton, Ontario, that doesn't have an elevator or any ramps. I'm not certain this would be necessarily unique.