I was truly hoping that I would not need to weigh in on this very interesting question. However, truth be told; it has become a very burning question over the past few months and we should not be blaming the pandemic for contributing to all of this.
When the ACA was made legislation in June 2019, there were so many Canadians with disabilities who had very high hopes for its ability to solve several problems such as ensuring that federal government departments would change their attitude from one of not listening to attitudes of collaboration, engagement, and a willingness to work with stakeholders to create a more accessible and inclusive environment for Canadians with disabilities. Above all, transparency and accountability.
Sadly enough, this attitude on the part of some high profile government departments seem to be still present and I can only say that I have personally witnessed some very high profile federal government departments continuing to willfully and recklessly ignore the guidelines of the ACA.
I am very reluctant to identify these so-called culprits but I am not sure what else to do. There are a few departments however that have picked up the mantle and have decided to show leadership. I congratulate Elections Canada for their leadership and I also congratulate Via Rail for fully adhering to excellent customer service.
I unfortunately call out the following departments for their poor attempts to follow the guidelines and for failing to even give it a decent try. These departments continue to show little transparency and accountability. Most of all, little or no respect for accessibility and inclusiveness.
Statistics Canada and the Canada Border Security Agency are two departments that I have personally been dealing with over the past two months and I can only describe their efforts as embarrassing, shameful, and an unwillingness to engage.
Only time will tell as to whether the ACA is toothless because of its inability to deal with departments such as those mentioned here or will they have the teeth to enforce the regulations.
I can only hope that these two culprits find a way to change their ways.
Just my two cents for today.
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