Public-sector required to make information available to Manitobans in accessible formats

People with disabilities now have the same access to public-sector information that other Manitobans can easily obtain.

As of Wednesday, Crown corporations, regional health authorities, school divisions, post-secondary institutions, municipalities, government agencies, boards and commissions have to comply with the information and communication standard regulation under the Accessibility for Manitobans Act.

The regulation is the third of five standards to be enacted under that legislation passed in 2013 and focuses on removing and preventing barriers that exist digitally, in print or through interaction with technology or people.

It requires organizations to consider how Manitobans interact with or access information, including websites, to develop measures, policies and practices to provide barrier-free information and communication.

The regulation has been in place for government since May 1 of last year, said Melissa Graham, executive director of the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities.

As of Wednesday, it extends elsewhere in the public sector.

Accessible formats include such things as large print, recorded audio, electronic formats and braille, Graham said Tuesday.

Communication supports can include captioning, plain language, sign language and alternative and augmentative supports, she said.

The public sector is now required to inform the public that these formats and supports are available, ensure their staff are trained to provide these formats and supports, work with the persons making these requests to make sure it meets their needs, provide opportunities for feedback and have written policies and training materials available.

If public-sector organizations are not meeting the requirements of the standard, the public can make a complaint to the Manitoba Accessibility Office’s compliance secretariat (accessibilitycompliance@gov.mb.ca or 204-792-0263), Graham said.

“So much of our world revolves around access to information and Manitobans should not face barriers when accessing digitally, in print or through interactions with technology or people,” Nahanni Fontaine, the minister responsible for accessibility, said in a news release Monday.

“The accessible information and communication standard removes barriers and ensures we all strive to identify, reduce and remove barriers for everyone, including the one in three Manitobans with a disability.”

One longtime advocate said he supports the new regulations for the public sector but is concerned they won’t make much difference.

“People don’t know about their responsibilities within the act — that’s part of the problem,” said David Kron, executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba.

“Those standards are out there and what we need to do is sell people and tell people that it’s their responsibility to be compliant with the Accessibility for Manitobans Act — and you need a bit of a carrot and the stick,” he said Tuesday.

For starters, the government could show leadership and make its own information and communication systems more accessible, Kron said.

As for the “stick,” he said there currently aren’t any fines for non-compliance. People can complain to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission or the compliance secretariat, he said.

The secretariat has three full-time staff members who respond to public complaints, but since the province was required to comply with the accessible information and communication standard a year ago, it has not received any complaints, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

It has received 37 questions, on separate occasions, seeking clarification on the standards, with 28 of the questions from organizations outside the government, he said.

“The disability community can’t be the police for the legislation,” Kron said, more than a decade after the Accessibility for Manitobans Act was introduced.

“People are tired of advocating for the simplest things. We just want to change it going forward so that we do business in a completely different way.

“Accessibility isn’t a bad thing. If we all live long enough, we’re all going to be disabled at some point in our life.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca