e e e e e e e e uh broadcast thank you and councelor we can start a meeting good morning everyone I am councelor Jamal Meyers the chair of the Toronto accessibility advisory committee the clerk has confirmed that we have quorum I'd like to call meeting 8 of the Toronto accessibility advisory committee to order welcome everyone this meeting is being held with committee members and staff participating both by video conference and in person at City Hall in committee Room 2 members of the public may also attend in person or observe the meeting on YouTube I ask everyone for their patience today with any delays and technical issues we are also providing captioning for this meeting finel will be our captioner today I'd like to remind everyone to speak clearly to assist the captioner in captioning all of our comments a few additional reminders staff please keep your video turned off until you need to speak or answer questions this makes it easier for me as a chair and for those watching on YouTube to observe the meeting members and staff please keep your microphones on mute unless you need to answer a question or speak members if you wish to speak on an item if you can have your video on and if you're able to raise your hand or unmute your Mick and let me know I will create a speaker list when voting if you have your video on and if you're able to please raise your hand or unmute your mic to indicate your vote mic sorry and if you have any motions on the agenda today uh if you have any motions on the agenda items please submit them them in writing to the clerk and the clerk will ask both the program lead and the subject matter staff to review the clerk's staff are available by email at Tac toronto.ca although we are in different locations and meeting remotely today the committee would like to acknowledge that the land we are meeting on is a traditional territory of many nations including the Miss sagas of the credit the anes naab the chipo the honi and the wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations inuth and mateti peoples we also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by treaty 13 with the Mis sagas of the credit although the municipal conflict of interest act doesn't apply to Toronto accessibility advisory committee I urge members out of an abundance of caution to declare anything that could be perceived as a conflict of interest seeing none may I have a motion to confirm the minutes of the Toronto accessibility advisory committee meeting held on June 24th 2024 uh Eric thank you very much uh moved by Eric all those in favor opposed motion carried today we have six items on the agenda let's consider the items according to the order listed listed our first item is di 8.1 chair's report I will give an overview of the chair's report so uh September 23 to 29th uh is international week of De people as we commemorate the international week of death people 2024 I want to take a moment to honor the rich culture resilience and contributions of our deaf Community this week serves as an important reminder of the ongoing need for inclusive inclusivity and Equitable access to services for all recognizing sign languages as fundamental human rights is not just about Communications it's about respect dignity and ensuring that every member of our community can fully participate in all aspects of Life throughout this week I encourage everyone to engage with and learn from the deaf Community whether it's understanding the challenges they face or celebrating the unique cultural expressions within the deaf Community let used this time to build stronger connections and Foster a society where every person is valued and empowered together we can make our city a place where diversity is celebrated and everyone has the opportunity to thrive the second day we will be uh celebrating is International Day of sign language which will be on September 23rd 2024 as we begin the week of the deaf people we also celebrate International Day of sign language on September 23rd 2024 as the chair of the Toronto accessibility advisory committee I am proud of our City's ongoing efforts to make our community more inclusive and accessible for everyone sign languages are not just the means of communication but a vital expression of identity and belonging they connect us Bridge gaps and Empower millions of people including members of our deaf and heart of hearing community on this International Day of signed languages let let us reaffirm our commitment to fostering an environment where everyone regardless of their abilities can fully participate in our society are there any questions on this item NOP seeing none are there any speakers on this item no seeing none hearing no speakers I move that the item be received for information all those in favor any opposed motion carried so we will now go to um di 8.2 and we have our presentation accessible parking review update uh members today we have Michael cou project manager transportation services city planning to provide a presentation on the accessible parking review Michael I will turn it over to you thank you counselor want to make sure everyone can see the screen yes looks good great thank you good morning Mr chair and Tac members my name is Michael cou project manager in transportation services policy data and strategic initiatives I'm supported today by my manager Nas capano and we are privileged for this opportunity to present staff findings and recommendations for accessible permit parking and various City bylaws in March of 2024 councilor Moyes submitted a request for transportation services to review and close any loopholes in the accessible permit parking bylaws and policies including but not not limited to larger recreational vehicles to ensure Fair compliance with the intention of the policy the original intent of the various accessible permit parking exemptions was to provide individuals with Mobility constraints the ability to find Convenient parking near their desired destination a valid accessible permit offers the permit holder the ability to legally park in locations classified as no parking they can also park within residential permit parking and green pea metered locations without paying or without a permit the concern councelor Moyes and many others have experienced is a rise in larger or overized Vehicles displaying accessible permits on residential streets these larger oversized vehicles are not what we consider passenger vehicles they are longer and heavier than everyday modes of transportation when parked in parking areas they create sight line issues for pedestrians and turning vehicles for example a motor home parked on a residental street and a No Parking section would impede Vision sight lines for both pedestrians and vehicles making turns on major roadways furthermore constituents have raised concerns about these oversized Vehicles taking up valuable space on their congested Street this is a regular complaint in the Toronto East York District where residential permit parking is an important city service the city of Toronto uses a 5.5 meter radius as the average vehicle parking space as you can see a tour bus or a coach bus would exceed this and therefore take up possibly more spaces we've identified several bylaws that speak to accessible permit exemptions they include Municipal codes chapter 9 3 9910 925 and 950 as well as their respective fine amounts in chapter 610 our recommendation to strengthen the bylaws is to limit the size of the vehicles so that only passenger and select commercial vehicles can legally display an accessible permit and benefit from uh bylaw exemptions if we take the residential on Street permit parking program chapter 925 the bylaw speaks to the fact the program is for passenger vehicles that meet the following requirements no longer than 5.2 M because the average space is 5.5 and no heavier than 3,000 kg commercial vehicles falling within this scope must also display a PUO personal use only designation this would mean Vehicles classified as motor homes buses or recreational vehicles would not be able to display a valid accessible permit and benefit from its exemptions I'd like to show you some examples of oversized vehicles that have been displaying accessible permits in the city of Toronto we have recreational vehicles that are obviously too long and too heavy commercial trucks such as the ones used for waste removal or disposal school buses and motor homes parked both during the night and over during the day in residential streets and streets that have metered parking the recommended changes to the bylaws mentioned would further allow Toronto police services parking enforcement the ability to effectively enforce at the same time it is important to note that these recommendations do not seek to restrict or remove privileges for the majority of accessible permit holders it's simply an enhancement to enforcement capabilities for oversized Vehicles a staff report will be going to the IC Committee in October afterwards we will run some educational information to ensure the public understands the rule change allow parking enforcement time to absorb the new infractions and implement the change for January 2025 I'm happy to hear your thoughts comments and questions thank you Michael uh are there any questions of staff on this item no okay uh seeing no questions uh are there any speakers on this item no okay hearing no further speakers um is there a motion to receive the item for information anyone want to move that um Navi thank you uh all those in favor opposed motion carried thank you very much Michael uh so now we are on to item di 8.3 and we have our presentation and this is the 2025 to 2029 disability inclusion Action Plan update and guiding principles uh members today we have Karen Mills and Nick Rossy accessibility Consultants with the accessibility unit the within the people and Equity division to provide an update on the disability inclusion action plan and a review of The Guiding principles uh Karen and Nick I will turn it over to you thank you uh all those in favor thank you is that mic working yeah thank you very much good morning everyone uh my name is Karen Mills I'm one of uh two accessibility Consultants within the equity and human rights section within people and Equity division today uh my colleague Nick Rossy and I will be presenting an update on the new disability inclusion action plan uh before we jump in uh if our director is online we just would like to pass it over to her to say a few words uh our director is Debbie Burke Ben I I am here Karen and committee members thank you very much I'm hearing a bit of an echo good morning everyone my name is Debbie burkman and I am the director of equity and human rights in the city of Toronto I'm really pleased to be here with my colleagues Karen Mills and Nick Rossy to give you an opportunity sorry my pronouns are she and her we're really thankful to be here uh today to give you an opportunity for us to provide you some information about a very key component of the disability inclusion action plan um for 25 2025 2029 I also want to thank you in advance as Nick and as I hand over to Nick and Karen for your feedback uh on this important component we look forward to hearing your suggestions and with that said I'll turn it back over to Karen and Nick uh for presenting uh the information to you so I'm hearing a lot of feedback just so you know thanks thanks debie uh I also want to acknowledge that we also have our manager here today Dar D boo who will also be available for questions really thankful to be here so um today basically our presentation will cover a quick recap of some information we provided at the last two tag meetings then we'll do a quick overview of the proposed framework or layout of the new disability inclusion action plan followed by um the proposed guidelines which are really what we would like to seek your input on today and that I'll turn it back over um so as shared previously with tag our unit is leading uh the development of the city's next multi-year accessibility plan which will run from 2025 to 2029 and this is a Citywide plan so even though we we are developing it it applies across all City divisions so the new plan will be entitled the disability inclusion action plan and it will replace the current plan concluding at the end of this year so overall this plan really is the city's uh strategic plan to identify remove and prevent disability related barriers across the organization and the goal of the plan is to recognize and address ableist systems and embed equity and accessibility best practices in All City work the plan recognizes that disability inclusion is just more is more than just accessibility and again that it's a shareed responsibility that applies to all City divisions and staff so this slide is just a a recap of our development timeline for the new plan so if you recall research and preparation work started really in the fall of last year we then moved into what we called our listening phase or consultation phase where we consulted people with disabilities support persons Community organizations as well as City staff about barriers that people are encountering when interacting with the city and through those various consultation channels we received over 3,400 responses which we have now sort of analyzed distilled and and um summarized key findings so now that those consultations are closed and we have the data we've we entered into our planning stage so this really includes uh developing the overarching framework uh and reviewing our guing principles which are what we are sharing today internally though I also want to mention that behind the scenes we're also starting to look at the data to to develop recommended commitments uh for the new plan so the commitments will be evidence-based uh from the data and then once we have the recommendations we'll go out to divisions and start collaborating to really refine and land on what the final commitments look like uh for the the draft plan that eventually comes back to you and to council so this next slide uh summarizes the what we're thinking for the draft framework um for the disability inclusion action plan similar to the current plan we want to start off with letters of support and commitment from both the mayor and the city manager however what's new this time is we would really like to include a spotlight uh highlighting Tac uh and the important role that you have at the city so we're hoping that will definitely uh be a highlight for us next in the layout we are including an introduction which will reaffirm the city's commitment to creating an accessible City and that is a public commitment that was previously adopted by Council to really uh help guide our work at the city following the introduction pieces we plan on including a few new sections that aren't in the current uh multi-year plan so one is a proposed feedback mechanism specifically designed for the disability inclusion action plan as well as um background on our consultations and some of the key findings that came from those followed by uh updated disability statistics for the city of Toronto and then of course we'll lead into our guiding principles and the intended outcomes of the plan um after these background or introductory sections we are proposing eight Focus areas which will include specific commitments for division so those are the commitments that we are right now working on drafting based on the the data and we'll be working with divisions to refine those so the proposed Focus areas which commitments will fall under include leadership and accountability training and skills development budget and procurement activities employment Equity service equity and in this case it's really um design and delivery of services so that uh front to back end of customer service uh information communication and Technology facilities and public spaces and transportation and in in our case Transportation covers um the Toronto Island Ferry and On Demand taxis um TTC has their own multi-year accessibility plan commitments and uh advisory committee so with that I'll pass it over to Nick to start walking us through the guiding principles which is really what we want to get your feedback on today great thank you Karen so as Karen mentioned today I'm going to be speaking about the guiding principles that help to govern and demonstrate the proposals of The Guiding principles developed in consultation with tech um for the current mayap these current principles are still relevant and applicable to the new plan and so may seem familiar to you with some minor updates being proposed these guiding principles which I will go show the slide of act as an anchor to much of the work including ensuring that the core values and principles that we will walk through shortly are considered and applied at every phase and State stage of the development consultation implementation and socialization of the disability inclusion action plan these principles also act as focal points when guiding the city in its actions including decision making and service approaches they are also quite aligned with the city's workplace culture values which Center upon respect equity and inclusion as well as innovation so I'm going to start with leadership and accountability now to effectively demonstrate our commitment to accessibility Excellence the city really needs to lead by example maximum accessibility means moving beyond and encouraging senior leaders in all areas at all levels of the organization to advance accessibility in their respective areas of responsibility we know that these advancements will look different for different areas of work and life but they center around the real key notion that we must create barrier-free communities work places and services for all Full Stop within this principle we will the city will Foster a culture of equity and disability inclusion challenging and confronting assumptions and biases right from the design stage as Karen mentioned we've embedded the recognition and addressing of a list systems processes and behaviors and this will ensure that we as change makers acknowledge that there's no room for lack in self and or systemic awareness lastly establishing an accountability and compliance framework will allow us to ensure that goals are being achieved inclusive of clear lines of accountability for decision makers and for leaders the next guide principle is collaboration and engagement and as was shared with this advisory Council in June the centering of collaboration and engagement in the development of the action plan has proven to be instrumental this consultation which is an example of collaboration and engagement has included findings and impacts that will be embedded where able throughout the plan as Karen mentioned those re results from the surveys are being analyzed the city in its addressing of barriers of accessibility barriers requires that we take a collaborative approach and that it's a shared responsibility amongst us all and in many ways these engagement processes will help the city to make inform decisions and build and sometimes try to repair relationships with different communities that it serves as part of this guiding principle the city will commit to the spirit of nothing about us without us which means conducting ongoing meaningful engagement with employees residents and visitors with disabilities especially when designing and implementing City of Toronto Goods services and Facilities consult with the Toronto accessibility advisory committee on decisions related to accessibility planning Consulting with the assorted divisional program advisory committees and accessibility stakeholders ensure that employee and public engagement activities are both inclusive and accessible as well as ensuring that City divisions continue to work together to align and Advance disability related priorities with the guiding principles of respect and dignity these are two elements that anchor many many um strategies and initiatives across the world if the city is going to ensure that we are indeed providing goods and services to people with disabilities we must do so with the guiding principle of recognizing the worthiness that all humans have bring and are this includes respecting one's personal experiences and their individual needs as part of this guiding principle the city will create and maintain a culture of dignity and respect for all city employees residents and visitors provide services in a caring compassionate and non-judgmental manner free from discrimination and harassment respect the independence of employees residents and visitors with disabilities by enabling their access to City Goods services and Facilities I will now pass it off to Karen who's going to walk us through the next set of guiding principles thanks Nick so next in line we have equity and inclusion so through the new plan we want to recognize that we just can't look at accessibility and isolation but also need to consider equity and inclusion so and really when we mentioned disability inclusion we're thinking about all of these pieces so looking at it in a holistic way to ensure that um um you know people have Equitable outcomes and feel included so as such this guiding principle states that the city will ensure everyone can access our services and facilities and where needed individual needs of people with disabilities will be met under this principle the city will ensure that people with disabilities can access and benefit from the city's Goods Services facilities in an equitable way similar to others uh the city will seek permanent accessibility solutions for employees residents and visitors with disabilities to ensure they have access and can benefit equally from City Goods services and Facilities the city in good faith will consider individual needs and proactively provide accessible formats communication supports or other accommodations to ensure Equitable outcomes and this City will take an approach that reflects on the impacts of ableism and intersectionality during all stages of policy planning and delivery of goods services and Facilities next is uh accessibility by Design and so for the purposes of this plan we have defined accessibility by Design as the intentional in incorporation of accessibility into the design delivery of all Goods services and public spaces including City run facilities so under this principle the city will incorporate accessibility into the earliest planning stages and throughout the design development implementation and procurement of City Goods services and Facilities the city will create inclusive Solutions ensuring that accessibility is not an afterthought and the city will ensure accommodation process is in incorporate an approach that recognize and address various types of accessibility related barriers that brings us to the last guiding principle which is innovation and adap adaptability through this principle we want to recognize that accessibility can always be approved upon especially as Solutions technology and best practices uh start to surface as such the city will need to continue to seek new approaches and solutions that facilitate increased participation of city employees residents and visitors with disabilities under this principle the city will take a holistic approach that recognizes that accessibility Solutions may need may not address um the needs of everyone so uh multiple barriers might need to be addressed and uh multiple Solutions may be needed as well the city will seek to embed an accessibility lens towards continuous Improvement of processes and procedures and the city will investigate Technologies products and services that will improve accessibility for city employees residents and visitors with disabilities so we recognize that was a lot um there's quite a few guiding principles there but in terms of today that we would really like to uh seek your feedback to see if these guiding principles still resonate with the committee as Nick said these these were sort of developed with one of the previous uh terms of ta for the current multi-year accessibility plan so we do feel they are relevant but if we we you know with a few minor changes that we've made to update them um but we would like to seek your input to see if they still resonate with you or if you can uh provide any points to improve on them so with that I'll pass it back to the chair thank you Karen and Nick are there any questions of staff on this item uh Navi uh five minutes please hi Nick and Karen I wanted to thank you for your presentation as well as Debbie for attending today um my background is in uh critical disability studies and part of my interest was expanding on understandings of accessibility and intersectionality one of the uh great advancements in disability discussion and policy especially at a municipal level I'm so excited to see the inclusion of um understandings of ableism and intersectionality in The Guiding principles I also have found that sometimes the definition of what is included in considerations of intersectionality can become um maybe not as clear so I had some questions or maybe um I don't I don't know if you'll be able to answer this today but like hypothetical questions that maybe could be examined in these guiding principles to expand on understandings of accessibility and intersectionality um one of the uh issues that I found with definitions of disability when it comes to considerations of intersectionality is that often our traditional definitions uh and our policies and procedures may not apply to communities who may um who may be experiencing many of the fun limitations we would TR traditionally Define as being uh included in disability um so I'm wondering if there is room to continue to investigate or to include in the portion um that um commits to meaningful engagement and design and um a continued commitment for the consultation with community to expand on City's definition of disability I'm thinking for instance um with the bipo communities that I spoke to in my research often times traditional definitions of disability Define or resonate with the ways that they Define their experience or access support so while um thinking about accommodation processes for instance often times these processes can call in people who are very well informed with how to navigate those systems whereas other people who are experiencing intersectionality don't have access to the that same um those same definitions or understandings of self so uh just a general Point here of a need to expand on what the commitment is to the intersectionality piece and and maybe even to integrate that into parts to the many guiding principles of how collabor collaboration meaningful and engagement and expansion of understanding is a commitment of the city I would really love to see um see that included here thank you uh Nick orasi do you want to respond oh sorry sure yeah no sorry Nick sorry Nick or Nick or Karen I was just riveted by that response so I just was taking a moment to process it yes excellent excellent points and you're you're absolutely right the definition of many terms that fall within the equity space just aren't up to the speed in which they are changing in local community and so with the embedding of the understanding which requires socialization on an ongoing basis amongst all uh stakeholders and folks participating um is required in order to demonstrate that yes the definition of disability the definition of accessibility is constantly changing is constantly Evergreen and so promoting that notion of being flexible and adaptable to one's own understanding but also to input it in a contextual tangible way into our strategy uh is yes absolutely important we'll definitely take that back so thank you for sharing that uh thank you Navi uh are there any other questions uh Ana five minutes please yeah I just want to thank the team for putting this together taking a look through it I really appreciate the breakdown of The Guiding principles uh one of them I was taking another look at here so the leadership and accountability principle uh reviewing it I think it's great that we're talking about fostering a culture of equity and disability inclusion we're talking about recognizing and addressing able systems and establishing a framework for accountability and compliance I think a piece that maybe needs another thought here is perhaps education and that's not just education of providing materials that the public would use but also Education and Training for your leadership structure ensuring that if you walk into a job as someone with a disability you know you have an empathetic understanding and supportive manager who understands accessibility and what the disability needs may be and especially is aware of invisible disabilities as well so I'm not sure if I've accurately determined where it would go but I think that's a piece I haven't seen outlined yet in the presentation provided I can respond to that um so we do have one section which will have specific commitments under it and that is skills and and um training so um we will definitely be considering training of all staff including you know people leaders under those commitments uh but we can also for sure try and mirror some of that what you said into the the um guiding principles as well thank you yeah if I could just add to that quickly um the city the city in its expanse um has some ongoing continuous learning uh for boards leaders and for staff across the division that touches upon it's not perfect by any means but touches upon some of the ongoing evolutionary understandings of these common terms that we refer to um and expect folks to be familiar with and so I think there might be an opportunity as well to apply your amazing comments into um and sharing with that group who is tasked with uh building more continual uh and continuous learning opportuni ities um for City staff so thank you excellent thank you both so much thank you uh next we have Liv Liv five minutes please thank you it's been uh it's been really great to see the evolution of this um I think it it's getting um you know deeper and and stronger uh in each iteration so uh I I commend you and you've really um taken you know feedback from from multiple touch points um and we really see that um the one I wanted to to look at today um was uh let me just pull it accessibility by Design which is so important um you know I just wonder if we can strengthen the language here one of the places where um sometimes efforts towards greater accessibility falls down is around budgeting um and budgeting in advance and including um uh accessibility costs as part of the cost of doing business part of your fixed costs um and I think you know you mentioned procurement here um which absolutely but I also think explicitly pulling out that thread of budgeting where it may not just be procurement but it may be um looking at annual budgets looking at project budgets and making sure accessibility is um accounted for and um organically part of that process so i' I'd encourage if we can um use even even stronger and more focused language there I think that would be helpful um so my question is can we to phrase it as a question thanks Liv um and for sure uh that is a great comment and we will uh similar to the last question we will have a section specifically on budget and procurement activities with individualized commitments but I I definitely feel your point that we could elev it here as well and is Debbie still on your hand yeah Debbie I I was wondering if you wanted to speak about Equity responsive budgeting Sheriff thank you so much I'm glad we're all on the same uh through the chair uh great question live we uh the team that works along with Karen and Nick and and dearra and I we are responsible for Equity responsive budgeting uh working with divisions of the city and one of the uh key activ activities throughout the process is uh providing divisions with an understanding if they're looking at their budgets that they should be considering the equity impacts for all of the grounds of the code of course one of which is disability so your comment though is a a really good comment for us to take back as we're going through the process right now how are we ensuring that when we talk about Equity that we're ensuring that people are understanding it from an accessibility perspective as well so thank you so much for the comment really appreciate it thank you uh any other Co questions uh Eric uh five minutes please I everyone uh thanks for that presentation uh first of all I'll just Echo the the comments uh from the other members who put it much more eloquently than I would have around the evolution of language I think that's uh very good progress in this plan and I think it's very helpful towards changing the mindset around accessibility and disability so so Kudos s um I just had a question I don't think it's for this uh update specifically on Guiding principles but just to understand the process will there be uh metrics and ways of of measuring the success of uh this plan through either the goals outcomes or the sections uh further on as this plan is developed to ensure that it's being implemented and carried out properly yes than uh thanks for that um there's we have a few different mechanisms um so under the current plan and this will this is expected to continue with the new plan as well we do a yearly reporting uh process with all the division so that includes compliance as well so they they are asked about their compliance status on all the aoda requirements that we must follow and in addition they are asked to provide updates on work to implement their commitments under the Strategic plan so that will continue on a yearly basis and we review those um those reports uh to create a yearly annual progress report against the plan and some of the commitments I mean it it can be difficult because not all of them have a quantifiable measurement attached to them but we are asking divisions when when we're working through um kind of refining the commitments asking them to think about how they will measure this how will they uh consider it to be done or is it will it be ongoing and how they can report back to us so that is being considered uh as we develop the commitments as well and then the other part of it is really when you think about the next plan in another five years when we do the consultations again there are some key questions that will be repeated to help try and get that gauge of overall is the city doing better you know with accessibility as well does anybody else Nick do you want to add in yeah I just want to add to that um key element around measuring qualifiable data you know we all there seems to be an understanding and it's pretty prevalent um around measurement being strictly number based must comply to the width of a ramp or uh any other relevant AO Ada sort of stated elements um but we know that attitudinally these barriers often cause the most um harm with community members and so we're looking at more qualifi more innovative qualifiable ways to kind of measure this progress and a key element of that is measuring um and applying knowledge and capacity building to City staff across the organization um via various forums as well as leveraging different program advisory bodies that the city of Toronto has to ensure that knowledge is continuously being built and it's to your point earlier as well Eric around the evolution of language and building in that piece of continuous learning that will be pivotal to the success of this plan thankk you um any other questions NOP okay uh I just had a couple questions uh sort of picking up on the themes of every what everyone was saying it's it's really exciting to see the good work that's happening and the evolution and how this is coming along um I did have a question as to some of the accountability metrics as to whether that will include tracking the metrics of the city staff that have some sort of training on the aoda I know that's a requirement of the aoda will that figure be publicly reported on a consistent basis uh we today we haven't publicly reported it uh we have been audited by the province in the past and had to uh provide our training numbers um and and we do have a mandatory training course that all staff have to take uh it's pushed out pretty strongly with new employees so once you're signed up into uh the employment system and our training online training platform uh new staff will get an email remind well they first an email notification saying they need to do this training and then they'll get reminders continuously until they have completed it so um yeah that's one of one of the training pieces and and kind of the number uh crunching that we can do to confirm um there's also materials for staff to do in-person training as well recognizing that a lot of our staff are you know out in the field you know uh and need inst staff training as well so that's another piece and what about existing employees do they have the same requirements yep y so yeah and we pretty much when this uh course that we created back in I think it was 202 it was launched it may been 20 20 2019 it was made mandatory for all staff so it was a new course uh went out to everybody than you and I guess sort of continuing with the questioning on uh staff training I've seen some uh jurisdictions have uh developed anti- ableism strategies uh or policies specific to how staff would take anti-racism strategies is there any uh thinking as to whether this will eventually be part of the the divver disability inclusion action plan at some point I'm going to pass that one over to dearra to respond to oh sorry sure thank you um yeah certainly I think we Our intention and our proposal will be to include um language that includes anti- aism that's what we will be proposing for the new plan um we also have already a human rights and anti-harassment and discrimination policy that's overseen by our partners in and human our colleagues in human rights office that includes um disability based discrimination so that's really like the fundamental piece around anti- ableism um we also have our corporate accessibility policy which we will also uh maybe propose to update um to include language around ableism um but yes this I think anti- ableism is definitely something that we will be proposing to have more of a um reflected more in all of our our work so we won't we might not have a standalone policy but it will be baked into the poliy not at this point that's not in the plans okay thank you um thank you are there any other questions of Staff seeing none are there any speakers on the item okay seeing no further speakers can I please have a motion to receive the item for information uh thank you Ana all those in favor opposed motion carried thank you very much thank you thank you um so the next item is di 8.4 um the accessibility protection zones around construction project uh this item um I'm going to ask that we vote to defer it until the next meeting of the Toronto accessibility advisory committee and that's because the staff weren't available to answer questions uh we spoke with Karina before and she was uncomfortable with this approach um so if it's okay with the committee I'd like to move a motion to defer uh until the next meeting uh all those in favor opposed motion carried thank you very much our next item is di 8.5 overview of the social procurement program and policy accessibility feedback and we have a presentation uh members today we have Hillary kired director program support policy and development purchasing and materials management division uh who will provide a presentation to the city on the city's social procurement program I will turn it over to you good morning everyone um hopefully I'm close enough to the microphone um my name is Jenna shy I'm the the chief Brickman officer for the city uh responsible for the purchasing and materials management division uh which we'll be referring to as pmmd uh throughout this presentation um as noted by the chair we are here today joined by uh Hillary kirad our director for uh program support policy and strategy as well as Diana Levy our uh policy development officer and policy lead on the social procurement program um pmmd is the central procurement division for the city of Toronto so we procure on behalf of Divisions and provid policies and procedures to guide divisional procurements so at this point I'm going to hand it off to Hillary who is key in this implementation thank you all right as today we'll be providing an overview of the social procurement policy and program sharing some results from from a review of the program and discussing recommended next steps our first objective is to explain how social procurement Works in practice now we'd like to hear about experiences that committee members and their networks have had with doing business with the city in particular we're interested in learning about opportunities to increase spend with businesses owned by people with disabilities including identifying networks and organizations that we should speak with regarding the social procur urement program and accessible procurement as we plan community and business engagement in 2025 what is social procurement social procurement leverages the city's purchasing power to drive inclusive economic growth through two key components supply chain diversity and Workforce Development supply chain diversity focuses on Contracting and subcontracting to indigenous black and diverse suppliers Workforce development attempts to increase the number of employment apprenticeship and training opportunities leveraged for people experiencing economic disadvantage particularly those from indigenous black and Equity deserving communities the origin of Toronto Social procurement policy starts in community as early as 2006 residents began to challenge City staff to use Municipal Capital spend to create youth employment opportunities work then began on connecting youth with jobs on a project by project basis until a corporate team was established to scope a social procurement program for the city this team established a social procurement framework in 2013 which became the current social procurement policy in 2016 in line with Direction in the poverty reduction strategy in 2017 Council adopted the confronting anti-black racism action plan which included an action to Target blackowned businesses and social social Enterprises for outreach training and vendor networking as part of the social procurement program in 2019 the social procurement program was recognized as a community benefits initiative under the corporate Community benefits framework in 2021 Council requested that the chief procurement officer review the policy and incorporate a 10% Equity Target in construction projects valued over $50 million in 2022 the city adopted the reconciliation action plan which included an action to develop decolonized procurement processes this work is now proceeding apart from the social procurement program and policy review and is being led by an indigenous policy development officer dedicated to the indigenous procurement portfolio and the co-development of an indigenous procurement policy as noted the social procurement program is one of several Community benefits initiatives these initiatives are all administered by different divisions and utilize their own policies processes and tools the Social Development finance and administration division sdfa oversees the community benefits framework and provides guidance and support on the various approaches pmmd manages the social procurement program how does social procurement work in practice the social procurement policy provides direction to City staff who procure goods and services there are three policy mechanisms that apply to supply chain diversity first staff are required to invite at least one indigenous black or diverse supplier to bid on Invitational procurement opportunities valued between 3,000 and $133,800 pmmd maintains a list of certified indigenous black and diverse suppliers that have expressed an interest in doing business with the city which divisions use to select suppliers to invite the city is currently a member of five supplier certification organizations which are nonprofit organizations that certify diverse suppliers in Canada these are listed in appendix one of this presentation the second policy mechanism applies to open competitive procurements valued over $133,800 points are awarded to suppliers that submit proof of diverse supplier certification with their bid additional points are awarded to suppliers with supply chain diversity and employment Equity policies and demonstrated results of those policies the third policy mechanism applies to tied bids in the instance of tied bids if one supplier is indigenous black or diverse and one is not the award is to the indigenous black or diverse supplier in cases where both suppliers are indigenous black or diverse the standard method of a coin toss is used to deter term and award Workforce Development is the second pillar of the social procurement program as noted earlier there is Council mandated intake of all construction projects valued over $50 million Beyond this all projects valued over $5 million must be reviewed by pmmd to determine if Workforce Development is applicable to the procurement projects are assessed based on their potential to create meaningful employment and skills development opportunities for people from indigenous black and Equity deserving communities projects are reviewed based on four principles suitability reach volume and feasibility when a project is selected targets are set based on the solicitation type for construction projects and for any solicitation where award is to the lowest compliant bid targets are set upfront in five activity areas in discussion with the divisional project manager in evaluated solicitations without a construction agreement suppliers are asked to include a Workforce Development plan in their bid that considers the five activity areas and which is assessed during the evaluation process the plan and targets are finalized post Award with the successful supplier the activity areas are non-construction employment which involves customized recruitment approaches for professional administ administrative and Technical opportunities opportunities for registered apprenticeships training and work-based learning opportunities subcontracting opportunities for indigenous black and diverse suppliers and other employment related activities such as participation in job fairs in 2021 city council directed the chief procurement officer to conduct a 5-year review of the social procurement policy to identify success es and improvements needed in the policy the review focused on opportunities to maximize impact and consisted of data validation and Analysis of program outputs and achievements a jurisdictional scan of emerging best practice an online public survey of indigenous black and diverse suppliers preliminary community and divisional engagement discussion with suppliers that have Workforce Development contract terms and a feasibility assessment of options to enhance the program's performance from 2017 to 2023 the city's direct spend with indigenous black and diverse suppliers through the Invitational procurement process is over $9.6 million in 2023 5.3% of Invitational solicitations processed by divisions and 5.9% of Invitational solicitations processed by pmmd were awarded to indigenous black and diverse suppliers while these statistics are not currently published on the city's website we do plan to create a public dashboard in 2025 from 2017 to 2023 78 projects have included Workforce Development requirements resulting in 100 employment opportunities filled by candidates from indigenous black and Equity deserving communities 194 subcontracting opportunities with over $10.4 million in spend with certified indigenous black and diverse suppliers and 188 other employment related activities such as participation in job fairs in October 2022 pmmd released a social procurement business survey to understand the barriers indigenous black and diverse suppliers face when doing business with the city we had 368 respondents 92% of the businesses being small businesses 78% of respondents had never been awarded a city contract in many ways the survey validated what we have heard through regular training Outreach and supplier meetings the procurement process is complex and difficult to understand small businesses in particular face challenges with not only not only navigating the process but also with certain solicitation requirements for example requirements around number of years of previous experience in addition the requirement in the social procurement policy for suppliers to obtain certification excludes some businesses from registering on the social procurement supplier list opportunities for the city to better support indigenous black and diverse suppliers particularly small business include more training in different formats for example workshops on how to write and submit bids better communication was also a key recommendation including dedicated staff for outreach and system navigation and an easierto navigate website staff also talked with the community benefits Advisory Group convened by sdfa with key City divisions and with suppliers who have Workforce Development in their contracts these conversations solidify what we had heard through the rest of the review process the social procurement policy and how it fits within the procurement process is not well understood in particular questions were raised around how the Invitational procurement process works and how hard targets are set for Workforce Development in discussions around barriers both internal and external factors were identified that limit program success there were concerns around the size and breadth of the social procurement supplier list in in addition labor shortages in specific job categories were identified as a potential challenge to achieve employment outcomes enhanced collaboration is needed relating to both supply chain diversity and Workforce Development this includes continuing discussions with indigenous black and diverse suppliers job Seekers from indigenous black and diverse and Equity deserving communities Community organizations and labor trade unions so what's next overall the review demonstrated program achievements that are low in terms of volume and value of contracts awarded to indigenous black and diverse suppliers and successful employment outcomes we will be recommending a series of next steps at executive committee on December 10 2024 the most important recommendation will be more divisional business and Community engagement in 2025 the engagement is intended to inform a second phase of recommendations and a report to Council in 2026 implementation of second phase program enhancements will proceed in 2027 following which we'll move to a regular 5-year evaluation cycle this road map slide is focused on reporting to city council administrative and procedural improvements which the chief procurement officer has the authority to make will proceed throughout our first priority is continuing engagement to do this an advisory committee with representation from community and business will be formed in 2025 Community engagement sessions will also be planned in discussion with this advisory committee in advance of Engagement in 2025 we know that there are program enhancements that can be made under the chief procurement officer's Authority in particular to address challenges with Workforce Development in the short term we are proceeding with updating solicitation templates to clarify requirements around Target setting I'll speak to the proposed policy enhancements on the following two slides the most consistent feedback we heard from the business survey was that the city's Reliance on certification is creating barriers for many suppliers cost is a significant barrier but not the only one we recommend expanding beyond the current certification process to include organizations associations and Chambers of Commerce that represent indigenous black and diverse suppliers community- based organizations have a relationship with the communities they represent and know their members best this will allow the city to meet suppliers within their current networks rather than asking them to incur cost to become part of a new organization the city will still recognize the current certification organizations and the indigenous black and diverse suppliers currently registered with the city making this change is critical for staff to fulfill the 2021 Council directive to achieve an annual 10% increase in the the number of suppliers on the city's social procurement supplier list the advisory committee will consider additional questions around business ownership definitions and alternative approaches for the city to expand the list of black and diverse suppliers as they relate to indigenous businesses these questions will be discussed at a separate advisory Circle for the co-development of an indigenous procurement strategy the current and finally the current definition of social Enterprise in the social procurement policy is based on the social Enterprise landscape in Toronto in 2016 and is similar to what is now considered an employment social Enterprise staff conducted a jurisdictional and literature review to explore the various business models aimed at creating social impact including social Enterprises based on This research and discussions with Community organizations we recommend adopting the definition of social Enterprise used by biso Canada and recognizing B social Canada certified social Enterprises this definition encompasses employment social Enterprises but is broader and includes businesses that embed a social cultural or environmental purpose into the business and reinvest 51% of or more of profits into a social cultural or environmental Mission as with the previous recommendation we would want to keep the process open to other organizations and associations representing social Enterprises in addition as part of Engagement in 2025 and ongoing review staff will consider other social business models such as employee owned or worker Collective models thank you for your attention we'd be happy to answer any questions and would appreciate hearing your feedback thank you uh questions uh Liv five minutes please thank you thank you for this great overview um and um some of my uh remarks may be just about um your mandate and what is and is not uh included in your mandate um first off I'll just note you know the and then I'll dive into the conversation about procurement itself uh in terms of diverse suppliers but when it comes to accessibility it's not just about buying from um disability-owned businesses or people with disability owned businesses it's what you buy and whether you buy accessible products makes an enormous difference and I know that's something you know certainly there c81 federally has guidelines there are lots of guidelines but we have seen uh the city Miss on a number of of these large contracts that are you know ongoing where we didn't choose the most accessible product platform Etc so I don't know if that's outside the Mandate of of your work but I want to name that that that's a key element of procurement it's not just who you buy from uh but what you buy and what the impact of those products uh Services Etc are in the long term um I think it's fantastic um the focus the includ specific focus on bipac communities and now the you know deeper focus on indigenous communities within that um underemployment is a huge issue in disability Community one in four Canadians have uh a disability but your numbers for disability owned businesses are much much lower um than than that uh in the slides that we saw so I think there's a big opportunity here to name specifically disability uh as a a target for this um this type of uh social procurement um there are lots of folks you know um I'm wondering how that how we make that happen if that's a recommendation from this committee maybe you can speak to to that um maybe that's part of my question here um and additionally um there are a number of um organizations that may be able to help you identify more disability suppliers in including the um including Odin um which is the Ontario Disability employment Network um they do some work around procurement um a much larger with you know all the toolkits and policies you you might want to explore comes from disability in in the US from their procure access um program which is a very well-developed program um I haven't seen its equivalent here uh in Canada yet uh but uh I think given the rates uh of disability uh population wise and then the the uptake of of social procurement I think um I I will put it you as a question how uh can we get disability specifically included in this mandate when looking at Social procurement thank you for the question um through the chair I'll speak to two components of what you discussed first was um what we buy and buying accessible products and I think how we buy as well and we recognize as part of the upcoming policy review work that we have to do an accessibility audit of the procurement process is one of those things start to finish with respect to um businesses owned by people with disabilities in the current model where we we are required in policy to work through supplier certification organizations the only organization right now that is certifying indigenous sorry that is certifying businesses owned by people with disabilities is the inclusive workplace and Supply Council of Canada so we are certainly looking to build our relationship with new organizations and networks to expand the number of businesses that we can work with um in the definition definition which was not in the slide of diverse supplier businesses owned by people with disabilities is there um and part of the conversation that we want to have in 2025 is the thorough thorough review of that definition potentially breaking out multiple definitions so that we can more appropriately strategize for um different business different businesses and uh different business needs to engage with the city thank you um I I note though that certain groups rightly have been pulled out with specific targets and specific Focus I would I would say Disability should be in that group I would also um ask if as you're setting up um your advisor committee uh it would make sense to have uh people with lived experience of disability business owners um Etc on that advisory committee that that uh part of that makeup um um I think it would make sense to do some explicit Outreach to make sure that that voice is represented on your advisory committee um I guess uh my question uh expands to be also to the chair but it you know looking at the process these decisions were made at the executive committee to specifically highlight um uh blackowned businesses rightly so indigenous owned businesses rightly so is there a way to add disability um to that uh specific targeting um for the future through the chair there absolutely is uh we don't have targets right now specific targets for any business type and that is part of the work that we know that we need to do next year okay um so I'll I'll leave that with um the chair and the city staff to to consider if there's a if there's um some recommendation that can come from this committee um and I'll I'll uh I'll let uh others have an opportunity to ask questions but but thank you for your your very very uh valuable work um thus far thank you Liv uh are there any other questions on this no okay um I had a couple questions so I guess the first question is I know that um some organ ganizations for example York University and we've discussed this use self-certification as a a a way to ease the barriers for a lot of uh diverse owned business including businesses that are uh owned by people with disabilities to get some sort of certification to certify that they are a diverse owned business is this something that the uh committee or the the division is looking at yes absolutely uh as a precursor to that we need to discuss the definition because part of of self attestation process would include having a question on uh on the registration process of are you a diverse supplier this is what the city considers a diverse supplier and so that's that's the key part of the conversation that will happen next year but certainly we're on a path to self attestation okay and sort of picking up where Liv was uh going um are there is there any thought being given to having specific accessibility improvements specifically aimed at people with disabilities because they have unique barriers to accessing procurement so for example it might be that the documentations uh for an abled-bodied person it might be easier to read through a 200 Page procurement requirement for someone who is blind uh who are or is perhaps neurod Divergent that might not be as uh straightforward are we looking at simplifying that process specifically for people with disabilities yes that would be part of the accessibility audit uh with respect to the the policy work around accessible procurement thank you and are we tracking the number of business of businesses that are owned by people people with disabilities and the number of contracts that are going to businesses owned by people with disabilities who are specifically participating in this program yes um we and are we publicly reporting that PO yes we are not publicly reporting that at the moment we do track it our tracking right now is based on certification so we would receive a list from IWC we reach out to those businesses and ask if they're interested in doing business with the city if they are they register in arba we have a process to support businesses to do that I can tell you that from 2017 to 20123 specifically for Invitational procurements under the social procurement policy we only spent around $200,000 uh with businesses owned by people with disabilities which was only 2% of the spend with diverse suppliers however and how many businesses was that uh that was with one business we have 10 businesses on the list right now that are owned by people with disabilities um and I did just want to add that number represents only the spend under the scope of the social procument policy but there is quite a bit more with businesses owned by people with disabilities we know that one business that uh was awarded 200,000 under the policy they've been awarded almost $10 million in contracts through open competitive procurements over the same period but we have quite significant challenges with identifying and tracking this spend at the moment and that's something that we know it's why it's not included here and that's something that we'll be working on so is it a matter of there just are not a lot of businesses owned by people with disabilities or they are not participating in the program as to why the number is so low yeah under the current policy there are not a lot of businesses that are owned by people with disabilities and interested in doing business with the city so we have 10 on the list right now and that's part of why we want to expand the policy to include other business organizations um we also do track bid response rates so when an invitation is sent to a business do they respond and um then how successful are they and businesses owned by people with disabilities are um at the moment not invited as much but when they are invited are more successful than other businesses and so I'm just looking at the city's website so under the social procurement program the city of Toronto Social procurement program aims to create jobs and drive inclusive economic growth in the city there's actually no requirement that these businesses are located in the city or even in Ontario no that's correct they just have to be able to do business in the city so of the 10 businesses are they located in the city that I don't know but we can Circle back please do um I'm so I'm just interested in what are we doing to actually increase the number like what specific actions are we taking to increase the number of diversely owned businesses specifically by people with disabilities in the city of Toronto to either get them to participate in this program like why are they not participating there has to be a barrier yeah uh we actually have two Ara registration sessions planned in October with iwcc and um we are hoping to have all of their members come out and learn how to register in in the system Ariba is the city's electronic tendering system following that um we so we do offer monthly doing business with the city sessions that explain the procurement process uh we also offer quarterly sessions through the small business Enterprise Center uh on the same cont content and businesses can email social procurement at toronto.ca for one-on-one meetings and support uh to understand and uh participate in the procurement process so what should the city be doing to improve this program because I look at other cities La Chicago and they have social procurement policies that are quite robust uh very strong targets um and they've been doing this for decades now and I know know Toronto we just started our program back I think in 2017 is when we It's relatively new but it the uptake is low so what should the city of Toronto be doing to increase participation in this program well the recommendations in this presentation are two first steps and we do really want to build out the policy with community and business moving forward and that was the the focus of 2025 engagement there are a lot of opportunities there are a lot of administrative opportunities and policy opportunities um they just will take some time to work through the process uh and resources as well for us to be able to support businesses particularly I think with system navigation okay thank you um so I'm just working on a motion right now sort of based on Liv's comments uh we'll shoot it to you to make sure you're comfortable with it um are there any other questions on this item no um can I just hold the item open until we yeah yeah I'll hold it down um I'm just going to move to di 8.6 in the meantime okay oh perfect uh Liv sorry you have a question um not a question I'm not sure if we're taking comments but I I'd like to make oh you would you like to speak yeah just to make um I'm I'm I'm pleased to see uh the work going on behind the scenes to to create a motion thank you um I would I would just also like to really um note that it's important to reach out to disability community and not to wait for disability Community to discover you and discover the program um people who have been multip multiply barriered and multiply marginalized may not even know that this is an option so I would encourage some Outreach sessions some conversations with um groups like Odin some real um active work um beyond having um sort of general info sessions some real targeted work to connect with disability Community uh because I I I think uh there's a one of the reasons you may have lower numbers is that there simply isn't enough awareness and that uh that relationship has to be built um and I think um some targeted efforts there will will go uh a long way in helping you identify new suppliers um they may not even know about the certification process let alone the city's procurement process uh especially if they are smaller businesses um and they may not realize that uh being disability owned uh can be an advantage in this way um so I I think some some Outreach work some education some public awareness uh would be very important thank you uh thank you Liv uh do we have any other speakers on this item seeing none okay okay so we're just working on the uh motion right now and I'll so I'll hold my speaking uh until I until we do the motion um and in the meantime we will just go to item di 8.6 uh so this is an information item uh the meeting schedules for 2025 uh does anyone have any questions or comments on this item no seeing none uh can I please have a motion to receive the item for information uh thank you move by Liv um all those in favor any opposed uh motion carried great thank you sure uh I can well we can do the excuse the absence okay yeah okay so we're just going to move to the next item so I will move a motion to excuse the absence of TAC members who were not able to um attend today's meeting I'll ask the clerk to display the motion and I will read it aloud uh that the Toronto accessibility advisory committee excuse the absence of Dana Franc Dana Francis Miranda Frey uh Kate k kovich and Howard wax from the September 6 2024 Toronto accessibility advisory committee uh all those in favor any opposed that item is carried and we're just going to take a quick five minute break we're just working on some motions that respond to some of the comments that Liv uh brought up and then we will wrap it up so 5 minute break please thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e could I please ask staff to display the motion so I want to thank staff for working on this um and I want to thank Liv for her great thinking okay so the motion states that the torono accessibility advisory committee recommend that the executive committee recommends that city council direct that the chief procurement officer to include business is owned by people with disabilities specifically in the Mandate of the social procurement program and policy develop certification and procurement policies that will make it easier for businesses owned by people with disabilities track the number of businesses owned by uh people with disabilities participating in the social procurement program track the number of contracts awarded to businesses owned by uh people with disabilities participating in the social procurement program and investigate and report on the feasibility of collecting disagre disaggregated business ownership data for City suppliers included including businesses owned by people with disabilities to improve tracking and Reporting um are there any questions on the motion no okay thank you Liv for your hard work um and can I please have a mo I will make a motion to uh move the recommendation all those in favor opposed carried thank you um and that concludes the business of our meeting thank you members and staff our meeting is now adjourned our next meeting is on October 17 2024 have a great day everyone thanks great thank you thank you everyone have a good day for e for