Incarceration of Information

Are you dying to find the latest annual report of the Nova Scotia Disabled Person's Commission (DPC)?  Look no further than the Disabled Persons Commission Annual Report 2002-2003.  Although Canada signed the UN Convention on Persons with Disabilities on March 11, 2010, it's still 3 years in the future for the DPC.

These 5 to 9 year old reports are among the most current documents on the website of the Nova Scotia Disabled Persons Commission, which today (October 26, 2012) proudly announces

This page and all contents Crown copyright © 2004, Province of Nova Scotia, all rights reserved.  Comments to: williaye@gov.ns.ca - Page last updated 2007-August-16. 

Five years.

What has this secretive commission, costing over $400,000 annually, whose director earns $86,621.28 been doing all that time?

That's what motivated me to write a detailed email to E. Anne MacRae, the executive Director, in late June, requesting copies of reports and minutes from their activities.

I received a response on July 12, which is reproduced in full here, and contains details of:

• efforts to increase the commission’s staff, to create a Disability Strategy for the province and to redesign the website to be fully accessible.
• A new and fully accessible website currently in the testing stage with the expectation that it will be rolled out by early Fall. 
• Links to 3 additional statistical reports, published in 2009 and 2010, all reviewing 2006 data 
• A list of current Commissioners
• Caution that many of the issues are complex and progress can be incremental. 
• And concluding with pride
• "I’m proud of our work and look forward to an expanding role for the commission as we embark on developing the Disability Framework." 

Nice, but not exactly the flood of pent-up information I was looking for.

So with my friend and fellow blogger Parker Donham, I filed a Freedom of Information Request on July 16, asking for the minutes of the Minister's Steering Committee meetings (twice a year for ten years) and the draft Disability Strategy and Disability Framework (whatever that is).

Not having heard by August 16, I inquired and learned there was no record of my request.  Should I have spent $10 to send registered mail?  

• So the 30 days for the DPC to respond actually started running August 16.
• September 16, a 30 day extension is sought 
• October 18, another 30 day extension, granted by the Freedom of Information Review Officer without consulting us.

90 days is way too long.  I think these people

• don't do anything
• have never written another annual report
• have confused 'disabled' with 'stupid'
• have confused 'disabled' with 'passive'
• need to be held accountable

As a disabled person, I'd like to be wrong about the people who are supposed to protect my interests.  So maybe I could get an answer before the UN Convention is signed.  3 years ago!

Gus Reed

PS Here are a half dozen studies that should have been done:

• Making Departmental Websites and Services Accessible
• The Payoff for Accessible Tourism
• Physical and Programmatic Barriers to Employment
• Accessible Transportation in Rural Nova Scotia
• Recreational Opportunities for Nova Scotians with Disabilities
• Moving Beyond a Medical Model of Disability

Language Matters

Vote for an accessible HRM

October 15, 2008

For Immediate Release

PDF version

Starting September 24, The James McGregor Stewart Society asked HRM Council candidates to acknowledge the importance of an accessible HRM by endorsing an Agenda for Access. The Agenda covers simple considerations of access to Government Functions, Infrastructure and Municipal Services. As of October 14, 35 of the 57 candidates have endorsed the agenda. Check the latest tally below.

The Agenda is such an uncontroversial program, easily accomplished by routine fairness and courtesy, that failure to endorse it raises questions of judgment and commitment to good government. The James McGregor Stewart Society recommends voting only for candidates who endorse the Agenda for Access.



Here are the comments of those who have replied (no one who replied withheld support)

Agenda for Access in HRM

It is estimated that 20% of Nova Scotians live with a disability. In order to achieve a fully accessible and barrier free HRM, the James McGregor Stewart Society seeks your support for some important measures. Most of these measures require only common sense and consideration of the needs of disabled Haligonians.

Fair Government

• All public meetings must be held in accessible locations, with appropriate amenities (signers, accessible washrooms) served by scheduled and accessible public transportation.
• There will be continuing emphasis on HRM website accessibility
• There will be an accessibility section in the Annual Report, detailing accomplishments
• HRM sponsored or funded events will be accessible to everyone
• A higher profile will be given to the HRM Advisory Committee on Persons with Disabilities

Barrier Free Infrastructure

• The HRM Municipal Service System Guidelines (Redbook) will be continually monitored to include modern standards of accessible design for infrastructure
• Heritage properties which are public accommodations will have a plan for accessibility
• HRM will develop plans to eliminate barriers in currently Inaccessible public facilities and budget accordingly

Effective Municipal Services

• A fully accessible public transportation system, including taxis, remains one of HRM's highest priorities
• Public Safety and services must pay special attention to the needs of people with disabilities – for example:
• Include disability considerations in snow removal standards (curb cut clearing, bus platforms, tactile clues)
• zero tolerance for crimes against disabled people
• Emergency measures should address planning and protection for disabled people.

Have a say in the HRM Council election

Your Society is asking candidates for the HRM Council election on October 18 to endorse our Agenda for an Accessible Halifax. If you are in agreement with this initiative, you can send a message to the candidates urging their participation by clicking the link at the bottom or using the list of candidates to compose your own email.

Dear HRM Council Candidate,

It is estimated that 20% of Nova Scotians live with a disability. In order to achieve a fully accessible and barrier free HRM, the James McGregor Stewart Society seeks your support for some important measures. Most of these measures require only common sense and consideration of the needs of disabled Haligonians.

The names of candidates, their indication or absence of support and their comments are posted on our website http://jmcgs.blogspot.com/ Thank you in advance for supporting this initiative.

If elected to the HRM Regional Council, during my term I will support the following measures to ensure a more accessible Halifax:

Government

-All public meetings must be held in accessible locations, with appropriate amenities (signers, accessible washrooms) served by scheduled and accessible public transportation.
-There will be continuing emphasis on HRM website accessibility
-There will be an accessibility section in the Annual Report, detailing accomplishments
-HRM sponsored or funded events will be accessible to everyone
-I will encourage and pay attention to the HRM Advisory Committee on Persons with Disabilities

Infrastructure

-The HRM Municipal Service System Guidelines (Redbook) will be continually monitored to include modern standards of accessible design for infrastructure
-Heritage properties which are public accommodations will have a plan for accessibility
-HRM will develop plans to eliminate barriers in currently Inaccessible public facilities and budget accordingly

Municipal Services

-A fully accessible public transportation system, including taxis, remains one of HRM's highest priorities
-Public Safety and services must pay special attention to the needs of people with disabilities – for example:

-Include disability considerations in snow removal standards (curb cut clearing, bus platforms, tactile clues)
-zero tolerance for crimes against disabled people
-Emergency measures should address planning and protection for disabled people.

Thank you for your support.

Members of the James McGregor Stewart Society are asked to send emails encouraging candidates to support the Agenda for an Accessible Halifax.

Click to start an email to all candidates who have yet to respond

Or if your browser does not support mailto tags, cut and paste from this list:



and their replies:

Putting Pen to Paper

Here is another friendly and informative letter from Kevin Murphy. Kevin has a gift for sounding reasonable, and it is worth noting that the person receiving this missive should have no reason to feel personally threatened in any way. It is always a temptation to be angry, but anger often obscures the message. Kevin is a seeker of justice, and his message is clear. We all need to point out injustices. We can take a leaf from his book.

As Kevin's uncle Tim was keeping his rendezvous with death in April 1917, Canadian John McRae, author of the most famous lines of World War I, was saving lives in a field hospital less than 100 kms away. The irony of Kevin's experience would not be lost on them:

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Read Kevin's letter........

Peter Stoffer
Member of Parliament-Sackville Eastern Shore
2900 Highway #2Fall River, Nova ScotiaB2T 1W4

Peter: Happy new year to you and your family. I have been meaning to flip you a note since we attempted to visit the Admiralty House, CFB Halifax Military Museum at CFB Stadacona this past summer. My wife Stephanie and I made a commitment to visit, with our two children, 10 places within Nova Scotia that neither of us have ever been before. We decided that as a family unit, we would make day trips out of these educational visits to local Nova Scotia landmarks and attractions to do our part for the Nova Scotia tourism industry.

Over the past few years, I have taken up genealogy as a hobby, and enjoyed many hours researching my family's history. One of my most intriguing discoveries, was to learn that my Great Great Uncle, Timothy Murphy (from Gold River, Nova Scotia) served our country during World War I, and made the ultimate sacrifice at Vimy Ridge. Although I have always had a keen interest in Canada's military history, and present activities, this discovery of a direct family sacrifice for our country, has furthered my commitment to supporting Canada's proud military heritage.

As you are aware, due to my spinal cord injury obtained in 1985 while playing minor hockey in the Cole Harbour rink, I use a wheelchair for mobility. Despite this obvious challenge, I have never let my physical disability stand in the way of me obtaining any of my personal or professional goals. In the past 23 years I've been involved in many advocacy efforts aimed at leveling the playing field for all persons with disabilities regarding equal access to programs, services, and facilities, of both a public and private nature.

In August 2007, I was at CFB Stadacona for some business in the newer section of the base. During this visit I had decided to do a little reconnaissance work regarding the accessibility of the Admiralty House CFB Stadacona Military Museum, in advance of our planned family visit. Unfortunately, I was to find out that the museum is not wheelchair accessible. The reasons given to me by the front-line staff, was that the museum was located in a heritage building, and was not able to be renovated for accessibility.

Unfortunately for me and my family, we did not get to visit this particular museum. The purpose of my note is not to point out the important role that museums play in maintaining our heritage and educating our present and future generations, but rather to remind our bureaucratic infrastructure, that the demographic of our population is broad and diverse, and includes millions of Canadians with varying levels of physical mobility.

My hope is that this note to you will be forwarded to the appropriate channels, in support of any efforts aimed at making not only this Museum at CFB Stadacona, but every other museum in Canada, accessible to all Canadians regardless of their level of mobility.

Respectfully, Kevin S. Murphy
KSM Freedom Solutions Inc.
20 Deerwood Drive
Mineville, NS B2Z 1J6
(902) 404-7033
http://www.ksmfreedomsolutions.com/

CC:
Kevin Lamarque, Director-Nova Scotia Office, Canadian Heritage
Murray Mason, Canadian Military Veteran
Warren Reed, Director-James McGregor Stewart Society

Be Heard!

You can help! Become an activist!

If you are as busy as everyone else, it's hard to find time to write your government representatives. To make it easier, here is an all purpose email that you can modify a bit to fit your requirements.

Should you write to the Prime Minister? It's up to you. Think of yourself as a vote, not a person......

Start a new email, and copy and paste these addresses (adding and subtracting as you wish) into the TO: box:

Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, Layton.J@parl.gc.ca, Dion.S@parl.gc.ca, ndpcaucus@gov.ns.ca, lco@gov.ns.ca, pcmlas@gov.ns.ca, jmcgs.info@gmail.com, kellyp@halifax.ca

Need more names? All you ever dreamed of right here!

Copy and paste this blue text into the body of your email with any changes you may wish to make:

Dear Representative,

I am writing about the deplorable state of access at ____________ on ___________. Although some slight modifications have been made, they seem to have been done without any recognized standard. The power doors are too narrow for wheelchairs, the buttons are impossibly located and the short ramps replacing the step is too steep. I am baffled that _____________ was able to receive a permit while excluding me and others like me. Would they get a permit if their sign said "No Politicians"?

I am also writing to remind you of the urgent necessity to acknowledge and promote the equity rights of persons with Disabilities. Here are are some of the many issues that need attention:

• For government
• All programs, existing and proposed, must be reviewed for disability neutrality
• Government's stated goal is the full and unfettered participation of disabled people in their democracy
• For Charities focusing on disabilities
• Recruit directors from among those intended to benefit
• No events in which disabled people can't participate as equals
• No stereotyping of disabled people in image or word.
• For media
• No images or language that imply separate standards for disabled people
• For Business
• Value every customer equally, and promise to provide safe and dignified access.
• For everyone
• Do not assume the principal goal of disabled people is a "normal" life.
• Do not consider disabled people to be objects of pity or need
• Do not use patronizing language
• Recognize and remove the barriers which make people disabled

Thank you for your attention to this important subject.

Yours truly,