Media Advisory - Accessibility For Ontarians With Disabilities Act Alliance
Ontarians with disabilities to converge on Queen's Park for 20th anniversary of tenacious campaign to make Ontario fully accessible to over 1.8 million Ontarians with disabilities, and to unveil new accessibility blitz.
TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2014 /CNW/ - Ontarians with disabilities will converge on Queen's Park to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the tenacious grassroots province-wide campaign that fought for Ontario's new disability accessibility laws, and now fights to get them properly enforced. After the celebration, a news conference will be held.
Event Details:
- Friday, November 28, 2014
- 10:00 a.m. AODA Alliance 20th Anniversary Celebration: Queen's Park, rooms 228 and 230
- 11:30 a.m. Press Conference: Queen's Park Media Studio
An excellent November 27, 2014 column about this upcoming event by senior journalist Bob Hepburn describes the two-decade record of tireless grassroots political advocacy, in the face of revolving-door ministers and many broken election promises.
At the 20th Anniversary Celebration, the AODA Alliance, which now spearheads this 20-year-old disability accessibility campaign, will honour former provincial politicians from all sides of the Legislature who helped make progress. Former provincial public figures to be honoured and who will be in attendance include:
- Former Lieutenant Governor David Onley, who made disability accessibility the core theme of his 2007-2014 term as Ontario's Lieutenant Governor.
- Former NDP MPP Gary Malkowski, who introduced the first Disabilities Act bill in 1994. He was the first deaf member of an elected legislature in the western world.
- Cam Jackson, formerly PC MPP and Citizenship Minister, who introduced the Mike Harris Conservatives' Ontarians with Disabilities Act, enacted in 2001.
- Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, former MPP and Liberal Citizenship Minister who introduced the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act which was enacted in 2005.
- Howard Hampton, former NDP leader who promised strong, mandatory disability accessibility legislation.
- Rosario Marchese, former NDP MPP who chaired the 1994 legislative hearings on Malkowski's bill the day when the Disabilities Act movement was born 20 years ago, and who pressed for strong legislation throughout his time at Queen's Park.
- Charles Beer, former Liberal MPP, who conducted the 2009-2010 Independent Review of the Disabilities Act, urging need for the Government to move more quickly.
- Ellen Waxman, former Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for the Accessibility Directorate, who led development of key accessibility standards enacted under the AODA from 2008 to 2013.
Also to be honoured from the media that have covered this issue include:
- Steve Paikin, host of TVOntario's "The Agenda" program
- Bob Hepburn, for the Toronto Star's ongoing editorial support of the campaign for accessibility legislation.
SOURCE: Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance
Media Contact: David Lepofsky, [email protected]; Learn more at www.aodaalliance.org, Twitter: @aodaalliance
Share this article