Regional Government

ODA Legislative Requirements

The Region of Peel has listed the current and future initiatives to provide readers the detailed information on how we have fulfilled municipal requirements of the ODA. Each requirement is addressed under a separate heading by listing the current and future activities within the contexts of Regional operations and services:

1. Measures the Region of Peel has taken to identify, remove and prevent barriers to persons with disabilities include:
   
   

   First Accessibility Plan

   • The first Regional Accessibility Plan represented a key step in the overall process of ensuring that the facilities, programs and services of the Region continue to become more accessible for people with disabilities.
   • It documented the numerous past, current and future departmental initiatives.
   • On September 18, 2003, Regional Council approved the Accessibility Plan which outlined 11 recommended actions to be undertaken to remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities, under the section “Next Steps”. (See Appendix II)

   First Year Accessibility Planning Program Implementation Process

   • 2003/04 was the first year of implementing the requirements under the ODA. During the development of its first Accessibility Plan, the Region recognized the importance of developing a strategic level approach for the annual planning process. During this initial year the Region began the foundational work required to develop a long lasting strategy to include Accessibility Planning into the existing Corporate Planning and other official Regional planning processes.
   • To produce sustainable results by ensuring that the needs of people with disability are included in the overall planning and delivery of Region’s projects, programs and services, the organization concentrated mainly on integrating Accessibility into all aspects of its operations. During the first year implementation phase most of the organization’s time and resources were spent on forming/creating a foundation for current and future accessibility plans and on communication with internal departmental management teams. This was done to establish accessibility planning as a key issue and priority within the Corporation to receive most benefit from the existing resource allocation.

   List of Recommendations from Transportation Study Report

   • The Long Range Transportation Planning (LRTP) exercise was initiated in 2002, as part of the Regional Official Plan Strategic Update (ROPSU). Since the Region is responsible for the delivery of specialized public transit services (TransHelp) for persons with disabilities, the LRTP includes development of a strategy to meet the future transportation needs of persons with disabilities. There are a variety of transportation services provided to persons with disabilities in Peel. While the Peel TransHelp service is a major component of these services, there are a variety of other services provided through other agencies, private transportation companies and accessible buses operated by the municipal transit agencies in Mississauga and Brampton.
   • The purpose of the Study of Transportation for Persons with Disabilities was to investigate the travel needs of persons with disabilities, to assess the adequacy of existing services, to consider alternative strategies to respond to future needs and to provide a recommended plan to deliver the preferred strategy. The study was conducted over a ten-month period under the supervision of a Project Team of Regional and municipal staff. The report was published in April 2004 and provides a summary of the study’s findings and recommendations. The recommended service plan will guide specialized transit services over a ten-year period to meet the anticipated growth in travel demand by persons with disabilities. (See Appendix III)

   Disability Education and Sensitivity Training

   • The AAC identified the removal of attitudinal barriers as top priority from the list of barrier categories and sensitivity training as the top priority for actions required.
   • The AAC recommended a pilot disability education and sensitivity training program provided by the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities Peel/Halton/Dufferin organization
   • For the pilots, the participants represented the Regional Council, the Executive Management Team, the AAC and the Accessibility Panning Work Group.
   • On August 3rd and September 16th 2004, the Region delivered two pilot training sessions for the targeted groups.
   • Feedback data is being collected to measure the effectiveness of the pilot in order to develop a longer-term training delivery strategy.

   Presentations to All Regional Departmental Management Teams

   • The Accessibility Planning Coordinator prepared and provided presentations to eight Departmental Management Team (DMT) meetings to provide information regarding ODA and Region’s strategic level approach to including accessibility planning into departmental SSBPs. Feedback received during various Departmental Management Team presentations expressed a clear need for the Accessibility Planning Program to develop an Accessibility Planning process which has a strategic outlook and is complimentary to existing Regional operations and budgetary processes. It also validated the recommendations listed in the first Accessibility Plan. The first Accessibility Plan recommended that the Region establish a centralized Accessibility Planning Program with a high level strategy complimenting the existing Regional operations and budgetary processes.



2. Measures in place to ensure that the Region of Peel assesses its by-laws, policies, programs, practices and services to determine their effect on accessibility for persons with disabilities include:
   
   

   A Planned Approach to Improve Accessibility

   • In the absence of any new provincial funds to assist municipalities in their efforts to implement ODA commitments, incorporating accessibility planning into the Region’s fourth Strategic Plan seemed to be the most effective means of ensuring that accessibility is considered in departmental annual business plans. Such integration would lead Regional departments to identify the barriers that exist in their programs, policies, by-laws and services for people with disabilities and develop a planned approach to recognize, reduce, remove and prevent these barriers while carrying out their existing operations. During their regular planning and budgetary process departments would have the ability to determine which barriers are top priorities and which could be phased in over time via logical allocation of available departmental resources in a timely manner.
   • In past, departments had been actively identifying and removing barriers faced by their clients and staff with disabilities while accessing their programs. However, until now, the Region had not followed a formal centralized process to document the common barriers and removal remedies applied by various departments within the organization, and to allow departments to share such information with other departments in the Region that might be experiencing similar challenges. Through centralized, formal and integrated accessibility planning process the Region will continue now and in future to monitor, track and report on-going departmental accomplishments. Through identification of common barriers, departments would have an opportunity to work with internal and external partners to develop collective and collaborative solutions. This approach will also allow us to streamline our future processes to improve citizen access to the Region’s services and programs.
   • On September 18, 2003, Regional Council approved the Accessibility Plan which outlined 11 recommended actions to be undertaken to remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities, under the section “Next Steps”. (See Appendix II)

   Anchored Accessibility into Strategic Planning

   • To ensure that the AAC’s expert advice is received during key steps of the process, Regional staff provided a presentation to AAC regarding the corporate planning process and its importance in guiding overall Regional operations. All members of AAC received a presentation from the Director of Strategic Initiatives on the importance and focus of developing one broad Strategic Action specific to accessibility that would serve to:
     
     1. anchor the work of the AAC directly in the Regional Strategic Plan,
     2. provide a foundation for current and future accessibility plans, and
     3. assist the Accessibility Planning Program in establishing accessibility planning as a key issue and priority for Regional departments
   • The AAC participated actively in a number of workshops and e-mail discussions to develop the specific Strategic Action statement “Contribute to creating a receptive, accessible community that ensures full participation of individuals with disabilities”, which was included in the fourth Strategic Plan. On May 13, 2004 the Region’s fourth Strategic Plan titled Fast Forward Peel: Building a Strong Community Together was approved by the Regional Council. The Region’s fourth Strategic Plan is a testament to the partnership that exists between Regional staff, Council and community stakeholders including people with disabilities. In drafting a statement to create a very strong blueprint for the future, the Region engaged many a wide range of people including community stakeholders, multicultural agencies, the business community, area municipalities, Regional Councillors and staff.
   • On September 18, 2003, Regional Council approved the Accessibility Plan which outlined 11 recommended actions to be undertaken to remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities, under the section “Next Steps”. (See Appendix II)

   Integrate Accessibility Planning Program into Departmental SSBP

   • This year’s Plan includes: key trends, strategic issues, objectives, departmental actions and tasks to achieve listed objectives; the Regional accomplishments to-date; and a list of barrier removal initiatives that have been initiated. Guided by the Strategic Action each department will be encouraged to include accessibility in their Service Strategy Business Plan (SSBP) process. Once included, annual accessibility planning will include monitoring of departmental SSBPs to ensure that the tasks listed in SSBPs are carried out. Then progress reports would be provided to the Regional Accessibility Planning Coordinator.
   • The objectives listed in the second Accessibility Plan will be supported by a detailed work plan. The Region has changed the second Accessibility Plan format to match the departmental Service Strategy Business Plan (SSBP). This will provide departments with accessibility actions and tasks which could be incorporated into their SSBP’s.

   Accessibility Plan “Inputs” and Reporting Format

   • Accordingly, the 2004 Accessibility Plan has been developed by incorporating high level directions received from the AAC, data received from the Barrier templates submitted by each Regional department, and the first Accessibility Plan published in 2003. Led by the Director of Strategic Initiatives, Janine Elias-Joukema, further consultations with the AAC also took place in a format similar to the departmental SSBP development sessions.



3. List of the by-laws, programs, practices and services that the Region of Peel will review in the coming year in order to identify barriers to persons with disabilities include:
   
   • The Regional Municipality of Peel is in final stages of approval for its Regional Official Plan Strategic Update (ROPSU). This includes updating sections of the Official Plan that relate to regional structure, environment, and human services including long range transportation planning. The Region of Peel is responsible for the delivery of specialized public transit services for persons with disabilities. Therefore, the long range transportation planning component of the ROPSU includes the development of a strategy to meet the existing and future transportation needs of persons with disabilities in an efficient and effective manner. The Region has also reviewed and amended a number of policies to ensure specific reference and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the proposed amendments to human services Policy sections. (See Appendix VI)
   • A review summary of departmental accessibility initiatives was compiled using a template, which lists the accessibility accomplishments reported by various Regional departments during the period July 2003 – August 2004. Some of the initiatives have been completed and others are underway at the time the information was submitted to the Accessibility Planning Coordinator. (See Appendix VII)



4. Measures that the Region of Peel intends to take in the coming year(s) to identify remove and prevent barriers to persons with disabilities include:
   
   
   • This year the Region is reviewing its Official Plan at a policy level to create a blue print for the future. Once approved by the Council an implementation work plan for Official Plan will be created. In addition the Project Team ensured that accessibility impact is considered during various sections of policy review, which will result in addressing the needs of persons with disabilities during the implementation phase of these amended policies.
   • 2005 Departmental SSBPs have not been completed at the time of this report preparation. Once SSBPs are completed, the Accessibility Planning Program will have access to data which would identify future departmental actions and tasks related to the Accessibility Strategic Action developed by AAC in 2004. Currently the SSBP annual process cycle and Accessibility Plan reporting date are not complimentary to one another in order to obtain some of the data required for ODA reporting. Revisions to the reporting requirements have been suggested to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration during the ODA consultations organized by the Minister earlier this year.