The City of Mississauga is pleased to share it’s third Multi-Year Accessibility Plan: 2023-2028. The plan builds on the success of the previous plans, outlining new and continued initiatives to meet and exceed its legislated obligations to identify, prevent and remove barriers for people with disabilities.
“Approximately 174,000 residents in Mississauga have a disability – that’s nearly one quarter of the City’s population,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. Planning for accessibility helps create a more vibrant city that all residents, visitors and employees can enjoy and participate fully in their community. I’m pleased to endorse the third accessibility plan with my colleagues on Council as we continue to keep inclusivity for everyone top of mind and focus on removing barriers.”
The plan was developed by the City’s Accessibility Planning and Compliance Team in consultation with the Staff Accessibility Resource Team (StART) and the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC).
In addition to the new plan, a corporate report provides a status update on the final year of the 2018 to 2022 plan (included as Appendix 2), highlighting that 98 per cent of the 64 commitments were completed last year.
The 2022 annual status update includes the following highlights:
- Ensured the venues used for the 2022 Ontario Parasport and Ontario Summer Games were accessible for athletes, officials and spectators.
- Implemented 2022 Municipal Election Accessibility Plan to ensure election was accessible to all voters and candidates.
- Improved accessibility at 12 City facilities through targeted renovations.
- Installed passenger landing pads at 85 bus stop locations.
- Launched courses for staff focused on creating accessible documents and presentations.
“In Mississauga, we have made progress towards identifying, preventing and removing barriers for people with disabilities but we know more work is needed,” said Raj Sheth, Commissioner of Corporate Services, City of Mississauga. “The third Multi-Year Accessibility Plan demonstrates the City’s continued commitment to creating a barrier-free environment that helps residents participate fully in their life and work.”
According to Sheth, accessibility champions across the corporation are continuously seeking ways to make Mississauga more accessible. This includes forging new partnerships and researching innovative ways of working that will enable the City to remove more barriers and drive towards becoming a more accessible employer and service provider.
The goal of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is to identify, prevent and remove barriers to make Ontario accessible by 2025. The AODA requires organizations in Ontario to develop a multi-year accessibility plan.
The City continues to build awareness on accessibility by participating in this year’s National AccessAbility Week underway (May 28 to June 3). Everyone is encouraged to take part in this year’s active lineup, which includes an adaptive Fresh Air Fitness event and Movie Night at Mississauga Celebration Square with accommodation options (captioning and assistive listening device), as well as several library workshops focused on developing accessible Microsoft Word documents.
To learn more about the City’s commitments to advancing accessibility or to read the third Multi-Year Accessibility Plan and 2022 annual status update, visit mississauga.ca/accessibility.
SOURCE City of Mississauga
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