Human Resources committee  I think the standards development organization is a good safeguard against the intention getting lost and also a very direct way of implementing the policy. Of course, what happens in the public service is opaque to many of us. Probably you're more familiar with it than we are. I

Human Resources committee  Our natural comparators are the U.K., the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and those kinds of countries, and they've all gone the anti-discrimination route, of course, with their federal legislation. I'm very pleased that Canada didn't go that route, but rather took an access-and-inc

Human Resources committee  I'd like to roll into my response a response to the questions about both the composition of the standards development body and the timelines. A lot of stakeholders are involved here. There's an opportunity to do this quickly or to do this well or something in the middle. We're o

Human Resources committee  I think that one of the other sides may be people with disabilities who think that it's not enough, who want the legislation to go further and faster and be more far-reaching. I think that's perhaps one of the most delicate sources of opposition to be addressed. I suspect you've

Human Resources committee  I think one of the strengths of this legislation is that it is structural in its approach rather than individualistic. I referred before to the three objectives of policy, equity, access and support. Whereas the Employment Equity Act is about equity, about ensuring freedom from

Human Resources committee  Yes, and I'll begin my remarks by saying that most people who have actually made the amendments necessary to make their premises accessible or their processes accessible are surprised by how small the costs are. The costs often sit in people's minds as a huge impediment to moving

Human Resources committee  I have not heard a number like that, but that's very interesting. I'd love to know more about that. The bottom line is that if we plan these things from the outset, if we design processes and structures to accommodate everyone from the outset, the costs are minimal. If we have t

Human Resources committee  You're looking at me, so I'll speak.

Human Resources committee  Obviously, yes, you would expect the same standard to be applied across the board. The mechanism for ensuring that standard is met may be different within government from what it is outside of government. I think the principle you're stating, which is that you would expect the st

Human Resources committee  By definition, someone who self-identifies is basically someone who responds affirmatively to the question “Do you have a disability?” Defining disability is a thorny issue. The government has addressed it in a number of places throughout the federal policy infrastructure. It wo

Human Resources committee  Good morning, and thank you for this opportunity to appear before this esteemed committee and to share part of the research of the Canadian Disability Policy Alliance that I hope may be of use to you in your deliberations towards the passage of Bill C-81. I will begin by commend