Annual Public Meeting: Building momentum for a barrier-free Canada
Momentum is building
This past year, we built true momentum toward our goal of a barrier-free Canada. During our Annual Public Meeting on September 20, 2022, we shared and celebrated the progress we made with Canadians. Close to 350 participants joined us online for an opportunity to meet our Board of Directors and hear from a variety of accessibility experts.
It was also an opportunity to gain a clear understanding of our mandate and plans for the future, toward 2040. Our goal is to develop rigorous standards that will contribute to a Canada without barriers. A Canada where everyone, including people with disabilities, can be confident that opportunities and services are accessible on an equitable basis.
On this page, you will find:
- the full video recording of the event;
- relevant documents used at the event; and
- answers to questions from participants.
Date
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
1:00 to 3:30 pm Eastern Standard Time
Video recording of the Annual Public Meeting
If you missed our event or would like to watch it again, the recording of our Annual Public Meeting is available below. It is 3:07:33 hours in length, and includes captions and sign language translation. To watch it, click play on the video below. For the French recording, click here.
Video recording of the Annual Public Meeting. Includes captions and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation.
Resources
The event featured several presentations from staff, Board members, and guest speakers. These presentations can be downloaded in three accessible formats below.
Board presentation
Presentation on Standards Development
Housekeeping (instructions)
Our Mandate to Collaborate
Presentation on Grants and Contributions program
Concluding remarks / How to get involved
Questions and answers
When signing up for the event, individuals could submit questions related to our work and our mandate. While many of these questions were answered during the event, we were not able to answer all of them. Questions that were not answered during the event can be found below.
If your question is still not answered, please feel free to contact us by e-mail.
Coming soon!
Guest speakers
The meeting featured speakers from a variety of backgrounds and specialty areas. Together, with our Chief Executive Officer, Philip Rizcallah, they spoke about the key role they have to play under the Accessible Canada Act.
Stephanie Cadieux: Chief Accessibility Officer of Canada
Stephanie Cadieux is a change leader - an advocate for diversity, accessibility, disability and inclusion. She has served as head of various ministries in British Columbia. She is a member of the disability community and understands the issues. Ms. Cadieux will tell us more about her new role as Canada’s first Chief Accessibility Officer.
Michael Gottheil: Accessibility Commissioner of Canada
Michael Gottheil is a committed justice sector leader. He served as tribunal chair, mediator, lawyer, advocate, mentor and business leader. Mr. Gottheil’s journey living with vision loss has allowed him to contribute to his collaboration with the disability community, and all those who are committed to equity and human rights. Mr. Gottheil will tell us more about his new role as Canada’s first Accessibility Commissioner at the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Agenda
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1:00 PM | Welcome |
| 1:05 PM | Opening words by Elder Irene Compton. |
| 1:15 PM |
Board presentation:
|
| 1:35 PM | Presentation on standards development. |
| 1:50 PM | Break |
| 2:05 PM | Our Mandate to Collaborate. |
| 2:15 PM | Presentation on Grants and Contributions program. |
| 2:30 PM |
Panel Discussion: The Accessible Canada Act - Key players
|
| 3:15 PM | Concluding remarks and how to get involved. |
| 3:25 PM | Event ends. |