Nonprofits and for-profits in Ontario need to start paying attention to legislation making its way down the pipe and that comes into force on January 1, 2012.
What the province is now calling its “AccessON” campaign — ostensibly to get all organizations on-board to ensure people with disabilities are able to conduct business and access services wherever they choose — is building in a slow roll-out over the next year.
As of January 1, 2010, Ontario hospitals, schools, municipalities and other public sector organizations were required to comply with the legislation that was passed in 2005 as the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, Ontario Regulation 429/07 Accessibility Standards for Customer Service. (The passage of the regulation made Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to develop, implement and enforce mandatory accessibility standards.)
So what’s the next step for Ontario nonprofits?
Get your action plans ready
Essentially, the government is mandating an across-the-board “accessible Customer Service Standard” wherein all businesses, for- and nonprofit alike, with at least one employee will have to comply by 2012; though reporting rules for businesses with one to 19 employees will differ significantly from those with 20+ on staff. How?
According to the act’s regulations, the province won’t require businesses with a staff of less than 20 people to formally report how it has implemented internal policies, procedures and employee training to better serve disabled customers.
Organizations with 20 or more employees, however, will need to file accessibility reports to show that they are complying with the requirements of the standard. They will also be required to document in writing all of their policies and procedures on the subject, and notify customers that all documentation required by the new standard are available to peruse upon request. Additionally, these larger organizations will have to file a report with the ministry answering questions such as the following:
- Has your organization established and documented a process to receive and respond to feedback on how its goods or services are provided to people with disabilities, including actions that your organization will take when a complaint is received?
- Does your organization permit people with disabilities to enter the parts of your premises that are open to the public or other third parties with their support person, and provide notice of any fee charged for the support person, and is this included in your policies, practices and procedures? And,
- Does your organization permit people with disabilities to keep their service animals with them on the parts of your premises that are open to the public or other third parties, except where the animal is excluded by law, and is this included in your policies, practices and procedures?
All of the questions can be found on this Service Ontario resource site.
The province has put together an informative webpage dedicated to answering questions about these new standards here. Most of the information, so far, seems relatively straightforward and commonsensical. Still, many organizations are unaware that they will need to comply and there is even less information about how the province plans to enforce the law once it comes into force.
The Ministry of Community and Social Services, which runs the program, told CharityVillage® via email that it plans to accommodate disabled people in all areas of society by 2025.
“That is why we intend to phase-in implementation over the next 15 years, to reduce the impact of five accessibility standards and allow organizations flexibility to plan and make improvements over time,” said Sandy Mangat, a ministry spokesperson.
Additionally, according to Mangat, a final proposed standard — the Built Environment Standard — is now before the province’s Standards Development Committee. It should be noted that in 2009 Minister Madeleine Meilleur stated that existing buildings would not be required, for now, to be retrofitted to meet accessibility requirements.
Mangat said this plan should give businesses and organizations time to “break down barriers in stages.”
ONN nonprofits with accessibility
Constance Exley, director of the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN), an incubated project of Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation, tells CharityVillage® that her network is readying itself to work with the myriad of nonprofits in the province who will want to familiarize themselves with the accessibility standards.
“A few organizations are aware of the new regulation and already have their policies, practices and procedures for this in place, but the vast majority do not. With some information and training, we do not expect that it will be overly onerous for organizations to comply and ONN will be particularly focused on helping smaller nonprofits with this transition,” she says, adding that her group supports the Ontario government’s efforts to make the public and private sector more accessible to people with disabilities.
Exley also mentions that this week, ONN will launch an initiative at the end of November to actively support nonprofits in understanding and complying with the new standards.
The project, called Enabling Nonprofits Ontario (ENO), is described as “a broad and cross-sectoral communications and education initiative that includes regional forums, webinars, enews, and project website, about the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), in general, and the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service, in particular.”
ONN plans to roll out an exhaustive communications platform that will reach all its clients and beyond by compiling a database of the province’s nonprofits. It will also assemble an advisory committee comprised of “experts in accessibility issues”, though no names have yet been declared.
Lastly, ONN/ENO will convene 10 regional forums from late winter to early summer 2011 to allow as many Ontario nonprofits to have in-person access to resources and pose questions about the upcoming change in regulations. Organizations unable to attend live forums will be able to interact via four planned webinars.
ENO is being funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services through the EnAbling Change Partnership Program. More details will be posted shortly on their enews site, she says.
Proactive nonprofits
While many nonprofits are still a ways off from setting up their accessibility plans, at least one major Toronto organization is well ahead of the game, Habitat for Humanity.
Arundel Gibson, vice-president of people at the nonprofit, tells CharityVillage® that Habitat Toronto has been planning for the new regulations for some time and is proud to be at a point where it will be in full compliance with the law by 2012.
“It’s very much on our radar. The legislation is very much something that we’ve been considering for quite some time. We already have policies and fair practices, anti-discrimination [policies] that exist,” Gibson said, adding that Habitat was still doing a lot of investigative work on the requirements, specifically with regards to how reporting back to the government will be done.
That said, Habitat has recently completed building its new offices; a “completely accessible” structure, according to Gibson. “We initially started doing this because we have volunteers who require an accessible facility. For example, we have a lift designed to transport wheelchair-bound persons to the second floor. We also have wheelchair accessible bathrooms. We want to ensure that Habitat is successful” in its implementation of the requirements by the province.
Accessible seminars
Over the course of the next year, the province is offering multiple two-hour breakfast seminars and webinars to nonprofits and other organizations who want to learn more about the upcoming changes in law.
Nonprofits would do well to check in with these to ensure they understand how best to plan for the law and get their voices into the mix if any questions remain. And it’s even more imperative they understand the potential penalties of non-compliance.
Not so fine for nonprofits
As a last note of caution, the province warns businesses and nonprofits alike that in the worst case scenario, those who choose not to comply with the new standards could be in for some hefty fines.
Mangat said that the province expects that administrative penalties would rarely be necessary and would be used only as a last resort.
“Ultimately, if organizations are non-compliant we will use our enforcement tools to achieve compliance. If compliance assistance efforts are not successful, organizations who are not compliant may be issued an administrative penalty. The proposed range of penalties is from $200 to $155,000,” Mangat said, adding that the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) also provides for a number of offences for which, if convicted, “a fine may be imposed by the court. Persons may be liable, on conviction, for a fine of not more than $50,000 for each day or part of a day on which the offence occurs or continues, and $100,000 for each day for a corporation.”
Best to sign up for a get to those seminars and read up on the literature now.
The ENO newsletter will be launched the week of Nov 22nd. Sign up here.
Sign up for an AccessON breakfast seminar or webinar here.
Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com.
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