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Advisory Committee of Political Parties – Meeting Summary – February 13 and 14, 2019

10. Accessibility Expenses and Factsheet for Political Parties

Presenters: Lisa Drouillard (Director Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement) and Wendy Larose (Manager, Political Financing Training Program); Introduction by Susan Torosian (Executive Director, Policy & Public Affairs)

Invited guests from the Advisory Group of Disability Issues: Diane Bergeron (Canadian National Institute of the Blind), Kory Earle (People First of Canada), Shelley Fletcher (People First of Canada), Christopher Sutton (Canadian Hard of Hearing Association), Frank Folino (Canadian Association of the Deaf)

Ms. Torosian, Ms. Drouillard and Ms. Larose opened the session with a brief introduction of invited Advisory Group on Disability Issues (AGDI) members and welcomed the five of its members present at the meeting — Ms. Bergeron, Mr. Earle, Ms. Fletcher, Mr. Sutton and Mr. Folino.

Each of the AGDI members gave a brief presentation on the barriers to voting that they face and the importance of efforts to improve accessibility in political campaigns. The Canadian National Institute of the Blind, represented by Ms. Bergeron, touched on the fact that it is often difficult for people with disabilities to cast an informed vote when much information is not fully accessible. She explained how those with sensory disabilities are often forced to rely on sighted people or to rely on incomplete information.

People First of Canada, represented by Mr. Earle and Ms. Fletcher, spoke to ACPP members about how accessible voting involves more than just physical space such considerations as ensuring spaces have ramps and sign language interpreters. Mr. Earle explained that the most important accommodation to support these voters is plain language and ensuring information is concise, legible and in a language they can understand.

The Canadian Association of the Deaf, represented by Mr. Folino, described the importance of having access to sign language interpretation, both in ASL and LSQ, at political events, campaigns, BBQs, debate, et cetera. He noted the need for videos to be accessible in both LSQ and ASL and concluded by sharing with party representatives a resource list of organizations that offer LSQ and ASL interpretation.

Following the presentations by the AGDI members, Ms. Drouillard introduced the draft Accessibility Factsheet for Candidates and Political Parties as a way of promoting an accessible and inclusive electoral system. She explained how Bill C-76 contains provisions to support accessibility and disability expenses incurred by political parties

She noted that the factsheet contains three sections. The first raises awareness about the types of barriers that people face and about why accessibility matters. The second discusses what parties and candidates can do to make their activities more accessible. The last includes a list of resources so that parties know where to turn if they are seeking information on best practices.

Ms. Larose then provided guidance on accessibility expenses for candidates and political parties. She discussed how accessibility expenses do not count toward the election expenses limit and are eligible for partial reimbursement at 90% for a maximum of $5,000 for candidates and $250,000 for parties. She outlined the definition and provided examples of what does and does not constitute a valid accessibility expenses to accommodate persons with disabilities.

Following Ms. Larose’s presentation, the ACPP meeting broke into smaller roundtable groups to discuss the accessibility factsheet and guidance given to political parties and for them to engage directly with AGDI members. Groups were asked to discuss the following three engagement questions:

  1. What do you like about the factsheet?

    • ACPP members indicated broad approval of the Factsheet, highlighting especially what was seen as its utility and the good information on removing physical barriers and other tips.
    • Specific items that were singled out as useful were the links to additional information and resources.

  2. Is there any information missing that might be useful to political parties and candidates? Is there anything that is unclear?

    • ACPP members flagged some areas where more information could be added including: more details on what constitutes accessible documents, Website accessibility (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG).

  3. With this information and thinking about your party’s processes and campaigns, how do you think your party might use this factsheet or integrate this guidance into your processes and campaigns, if at all?

    • Several ACPP members highlighted the Factsheet’s utility especially for volunteer or staff training.
    • Caution was raised that Web accessibility best practices must be diligently followed by volunteers and staff on an ongoing basis otherwise even a previously fully-accessible website may become less accessible.