Neil Squire Society Executive Director, Gary Birch, attended the Accessible Canada consultation at the Vancouver Convention Center on November 26th. Gary spent the day listening to presentations and also provided opening and closing comments. He had the pleasure of sitting next to The Honourable Carla Qualtrough (new window), Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities.

Canadians, communities and workplaces benefit when everyone can participate equally in everyday life. There has been much progress in making our society more inclusive, but we can do better.

This is why the Government of Canada is committed to developing new planned accessibility legislation to promote equality of opportunity and increase the inclusion and participation of Canadians who have disabilities or functional limitations.

Many Canadians continue to face barriers that affect their ability to participate in daily activities that most people take for granted. These could include:

• physical and architectural barriers that impede the ability to move freely in the built environment, use public transportation, access information or use technology;
• attitudes, beliefs and misconceptions that some people may have about people with disabilities and what they can and cannot do; and
• outdated policies and practices that do not take into account the varying abilities and disabilities that people may have.

In developing this new legislation, the Government of Canada is consulting Canadians both in person and online.

All Canadians are encouraged to take part in the consultation process, either by attending an in-person session or by participating in the online consultation. For the most up-to-date information on in-person venues and dates, and to participate online, please visit Canada.ca/Accessible-Canada (new window).