Don Mcrae, Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation

B.C. Accessibility Summit 2014 Transcript

Don McRae, Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.Good morning and thankyou for joining us today for the B.C. Accessibility Summit.I'm honoured to be here with you onthe traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.Now, this feels good to see allof you out there. I know that there are manypeople watching on our webcast.Anyone canwatch the live-stream of the summit,but we do have some common viewing areas for people to get together, including our WorkBC Employment Services Centres across the province.

Today'ssummit is about how we are going to move forwardas a province on the vision of becoming themost progressive place to live in Canadafor people with disabilities. This is a processthat began in December of last yearit is a process that has included a great deal ofwork by a vast number of people.Today is an important step forward in the process,so thank you for your participation, and hereto give the traditional blessing is MusqueamElder, Mary Charles.

Mary Charles, Musqueam Elder

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am so very honoured and delightedto be here this morning to welcome youto our Coast Salish traditional territory. Usually when I go somewhere I say Musqueam traditional territory,but I would be in trouble todaywith my family from Squamish and Burrardbecause we share this territory, so I must be niceto my families.

So I welcome you all to Vancouver.I'm sorry we haven't turned the sunshine onyet, but thank you all for coming and thisis just a wonderful day, and as I say, I'mvery honoured to be here.And as we do in our tradition, I'll start our day with a little prayer, and you're more than welcome to stay seated;I know you have a long day ahead ofyou.

Thank you Great Spirit for this new day,so much like yesterday and yet so very special.Thank you for family, friends, casual acquaintancesand strangers I meet only once. They're allpart of your plan and in my life for a reason.Bless them today, Great Spirit, as you meettheir needs and guide them accordingly to your will.Let us be one with our brothersand sisters in love and peace.Make us strong mentally, physically, and spiritually to lead the way for future generationsand make this world a better place to live. May all yourblessings and kindness be bestowed on everyone herethis morning, near, far, together orapart, keep our loved ones close until we meet again.May your days be rich with joy, mayyour successes be frequent,may you have peaceand comfort, and may your hearts know justhow great you all are. Hych'ka."Hych'ka" in our dialect is "I thank you." I thank youfor this great honour and privilege for being here with you.Thank you.Thank you very much.

Minister McRae

Thank you Mary, and thank you to the Musqueam band. I should just take a second and introducemyself. My name is Don McRae.I'm Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation for the Province of British Columbiaand I'm pleased to be your emcee today.

Now, ladiesand gentlemen, over the past number of monthsI've had the opportunity to travel the provinceand participate in conversations in a numberof communities about what we as a societycan do to decrease barriers and increase accessibilityin British Columbia. Something that is veryclear to me, this is not something that anyone group can accomplish on their own. Whilegovernment has a huge role, we all need towork together, the disability community, thebusiness community, and all levels of governmentto bring our goals to life.

From December3rd to March 11th we ran a province-wide consultation.Wetalked to people from communities all aroundthe province who took the time to share theirthoughts, concerns, and ideas. There are anumber of people in the room today and watchingthe webcast will help make this comprehensive undertaking a success. I'm going to use my time up here to thank as many people as Ican, because the reality is the reason thisprocess has been such a success is becauseof the support we have received. I also wantto showcasehow broad our support has beenwithin government, within the disability community,the business sector, and from community champions.

I'd like to start with my colleagues fromgovernment, many of whom attended consultationsessions in their communities, some more than one,and have expressed their support andcommitment to this very important issue.We have Ministers Cadieux, Ministers Wat, Wilkinson and Yamamoto are here today, and there areothers who are unable to be here today but are a very important part of the process.

MLAs Larson, Sullivan, Reid, Bing, Lee, Reimer,Sturdy – there's more MLAs – Horne, Martin,Thornthwaite, Dr. Moira Stilwell and MichelleStilwell, and others who couldn't make ithere today. Now MLA Sullivan went above andbeyond during this process, attending sessionson my behalf, emceeing events, and encouragingpeople to get out and participate.I want to give a big "thank you" to you Sam. Thankyou so very much. Now at this stage, my notessay we're going to have a shot of the audience.Would MLAs, just to make sure people knowwho you are and where you are, would you pleaseeither stand or put your hand up so we cansee where you are in theroom? We may havequestions for you later. Over there...over, thank you, Sam.

We have more than 100community members in the room today,invited through a random selection process run bythe BC Coalition of People with Disabilities.

Almost 300 people put their names in for consideration,and I hope those who are not in the room areable to view on webcast. The consultation contributions throughout the province weregreat, and your input has been instrumental.You are the reason we initiated the publicconsultation and the reason we are takingaction. We appreciate your participation intoday's summit. I think there's going to beanother wide shot of the audience?For those of you who are comfortable, please take afew seconds and either raise your hand orstand and make sure we are able to recognizeand say "thank you." Can we give them a round of applause, please?

We also have representativesfrom many of the more than 60 organizationswho sent in written submissions to the consultation.A full list of those submissions is availablein a report we produced, the "Disability ConsultationReport: Moving Together Toward an Accessible British Columbia."In addition, these submissionshave been available for access by all ministriesto guide current and future policy and programdevelopment.

We also have a representativefrom the BC Association of Aboriginal FriendshipCentres, Julie Robertson. It's great you could make it, Julie.Is Julie here somewhere? Whereis Julie? A hand or wave – there she is.There's Julie. Thank you very much. Let'sgive her a round of applause.

Now, would all the service and advocacy organizations I just mentioned make themselves known in the roomand to the audience in British Columbia? Remember,we're not just doing it for those who arein the room; there are people who are watchingonline, and there are people who will watchthe archived version of this. So could youas well either stand or raise your hand ifyou're an advocacy organization or serviceorganization who assisted in the process,would you please acknowledged with a hand?

The next group I'd like to acknowledge is the Minister's Council on Employment and Accessibilitywho represent the disability communityas part of the leadership team for the consultation.This group includes people from business,non-government, and government sectors, aswell as families and individuals with disabilities.They advise me on ways to increase employmentand accessibility inour province.

Now, Carla Qualtrough, who is the chair of the council, a lawyer and paralympian and is also a vice-chairof the Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunalof British Columbia, she'll also be participatingin today's discussion later. And there are13 other people on the Minister's Council,and a number of them are here today, includingDr. Joe McLaughlin who is a Deputy Chair of the Council and runs McLaughlin EducationalConsulting Services. He's advised us throughout the process on behalf of the Deaf, hard ofhearing, and deaf-blind community to ensuretheir voices were heard; Dr. Gary Birch whois the Executive Director of the Neil Squire Society;Neil Belanger, Executive Directorof the BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society;Karen Lai, a local consultant andaccessibility adviser who has also helpedus with the summit; Roger Mundell, CEO ofUdutu Online Learning Solutions.

We have HerWorship, Mary Sjostrom who is the mayor ofQuesnel who will also be moderating a paneldiscussion later today; Marilyn Tyfting theVice-President of Human Resources of TELUSInternational, Michael Schratter, a teacherand advocate for "Ride Don't Hide,"and Robin Syme who is the Executive Director of CanAssistand is here on behalf of Nigel Livingstonwho is on sabbatical. Minister’s Council members,please stand or raise your hand so we toocan acknowledge you. Carla, don't be shy.

Another group that has been instrumental in guiding the consultation process on behalfof the disability community isSupporting Increase Participation group, or SIP, as wecall them. And I apologize, but we do loveour acronyms. SIP members include Jane Dysonand Robin Loxton from the BC Coalition ofPeople with Disabilities; Faith Bodner fromInclusion British Columbia; Neil Belanger fromthe BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society,who also is a member of our Ministers Council.We have Bev Gutray, Jonny Morris, and PaigeThomson from the Canadian Mental Health Association,BC division, Lorraine Copas and Karen Williamsfrom the Social Planning and Research Council, and Kendra Milne from the Community LegalAssistance Society.

This group advises myMinistry on policy related to low-income BritishColumbians, and the members have been involvedin a number of key areas of the consultation.SIP brought together 100 disability advocatesfor a five-hour, open-space forum in Vancouver in early January – a very dynamic day.Many of the members attended consultation sessionsin their communities, and we received writtensubmissions from many members of the groupon behalf of their organizations.Folks, would you please as well make yourself known tothe audience, as you would do, whether throughhand or by standing. Please, we can give thema round of applause, please.

I would also like to single out Jane Dyson who has been truly instrumentalthroughout the consultationprocess, for special recognition. Jane hasbeen a sounding board for the staff organizingthe consultation, and has helped to ensurethe needs of the disability community were forefront throughout the process. Most recently,she and the BC Coalition of People with Disabilitiesadministered the random selection processfor the community members who are here today.Thank you so very much, Jane.

And from the third area of the consultation leadership team, business, we have members of the PresidentsGroup. This group of BC business leaders,15 in total, have come together to advicegovernment and champion employment and consumeropportunities to improve outcomes for peoplewith disabilities.

Tamara Vrooman, presidentand CEO of Vancity and co-chair of the Presidents Group, is here with us today, and will beparticipating in today's panel discussion.Though he couldn't be here with us today,I want to acknowledge Wynne Powell, Presidentand CEO of the London Group. Wynne is theother co-chair of the Presidents Group.

Andother Presidents Group members here todayare, we have Mark Brand, one of Vancouver'smost recognized social entrepreneurs; we haveRobin Ciceri, President of the Research UniversitiesCouncil of British Columbia; Graeme Doak,Vice-President of Human Resources and Government

Relations for the Pacific Northern Gas Ltd.;Lee Doney, Director of Community Living BCand consultant for RLD Strategies; we haveReg Ens, Executive Director of the BC Ag.Council; Lindsay Gordon, who is the incomingchancellor of the University of British Columbiaand is the past president and CEO of HSBC

Bank Canada; Fiona Macfarlane, a managingpartner of Ernst & Young; Craig Richmond,President and CEO of the Vancouver AirportAuthority; Jill Schnarr, Vice-President ofCommunity Affairs at TELUS International,and Dallas Smith, President of the NanwakolasCouncil.

Presidents Group members, pleaseshow us where you are in the room, eitherby hand or by standing, and we want to acknowledgeyou and your contribution as well. Would youplease stand up or raise your hand.Thank you for joining us today, and for the few who were unable to attend, I look forwardto working with you in the future.

We also have members of the Small Business Roundtable with us. Small business represents 98% ofall businesses, and 56% of private sectorjobs in British Columbia. So we're very gladto have representatives from the sector here

today. We have assistant deputy ministersand government staff here from 12 ministriesand six crown agencies who are part of theCross-Government Accessibility Committee.Now, members of this group are wearing bluebadges so they're easy to spot in the room,but please identify yourself now so peoplecan see who you are and seek you later, shouldthey have questions. So we are going to havea crowd shot, if we may, and the blue-badge people?Thank you very much. And just a tip: They know lots of things.

Now, these folks will be available throughout the lunch-hour,if you have any questions for them. I knowthere are many others in the room, and watchingon the webcast, who have made significantcontributions to the consultation processand will be key as we move forward in makingBritish Columbia more accessible. I want tothank everyone for taking time to participatein the summit today and listening to the nameof the great number of people who are supporting this effort.

Now, I'll tell you one of the great things about being the emcee is not only do I get to acknowledge and thank everyone; I get to establish the flow of the day. First,

I am going to talk about the overall consultationprocess and the consultation report that werecent released. Later, we'll hear from ourPremier, Christy Clark who is responsiblefor setting us on this path, and we have avideo greeting from the "Man in Motion" himself,Rick Hansen. We'll also a chance to hear fromcommunity accessibility pioneer, Her WorshipMary Sjostrom, mayor of Quesnel, and finallywe'll have a panel discussion. We'll takesome questions with Mary as our moderator.

Here in the room everyone should have cardsand pens on their table. These are for youto write down your questions for the paneldiscussion later. For those of you watchingthe webcast, you can Tweet in your questions using #disabilityBC.That's #disabilityBC.We'll be collecting all the questions, and around eleven o'clock,just before we start the panel, and at that pointMary Sjostrom will take over, and I'll bejoined by Carla Qualtrough and Tamara Vrooman.Mary will read the selection of the questions,and we'll discuss how we'll work togetherto increase accessibility in British Columbia.

At noon we'll wrap up the formal portion ofthe day, and the webcast, and for those ofus in the room – not those of you at homeon the webcast – we'll have the opportunityto enjoy a light lunch, but everyone willhave an opportunity the wonderful music ofSylvi MacCormac and the Horizon. This noon-hourwill also provide an opportunity for discussionand questions about what we've heard today.

Now, if you allow, let's switch gears andtalk about the action we've taken thus far

on the road to making British Columbia themost progressive place in Canada for peoplewith disabilities. I've said it before andI'll say again: While government clearly hasa major role to play. We cannot do it alone.

As part of our commitment, government workedand will continue to work closely with boththe disability and the business communities.Consistent with the U.N. Convention on theRights of Persons with Disabilities, we committedto consult with people on the topics thatdirectly impact them.

We launched a province-wideconversation consultation on December 3rdof last year. That's the International DayFor Persons With Disabilities. We closed thepublic consultation on March the 11th, whichis the anniversary of Canada's ratificationof the United Nations Convention. The consultationwas designed to ensure people have multipleopportunities and ways to participate. Participants were encouraged to be as frank as they werecomfortable with, both about what was workingand where improvements could be made.

Many of the participation options were availableanywhere in the province, either by mail,by phone, e-mail, and online. Half the consultationsessions were held in communities outsidethe lower mainland or Victoria, and in addition,hundreds of people participated by postingtheir thoughts on our online forum, hostinga conversation using a downloaded conversationtoolkit, Tweeting, sending in e-mails callingin their comments, or sending in written submissions.

It was important that the voices of Aboriginalpeople be heard as part of this process.So in a special in-person session was held in Terrace, at the Kermode Friendship Society.

We also encouraged attendance and participationthroughout the province using social mediaand outreach with our partners. Throughout,the Deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind community, providedhelpful feedback to improve the accessibilityof the web site, and a consultation specificallyfor this community was held on February 25th.