The NDP opposition has put forward a bill in the legislature looking to have accessibility standards in place for people with disabilities.
Marie Renaud, the Shadow Minister for Community and Social Services, says the bill is about identify, removing and preventing barriers.
“Most other provinces have already started, Alberta finds itself far far behind. The human rights commission of Alberta in 2020-21 clearly called for accessibility legislation. The government’s own disability advocate also, in a report that the government hid, actually specifically called for this legislation.”
The Alberta Chambers of Commerce and some local chambers have also supported having accessibility standards to strengthen the workforce and grow the economy.
“The disability community in Alberta is huge with about a million people. There’s only about 80,000 that we always talk about, that smaller group that’s on AISH, but all of these other folks have buying power. When you start to remove barriers, they’re gonna spend their money. This is about creating a larger pool of people buying and then supporting entrepreneurs, business owners and job creators that are disabled.”
Alberta is one of two provinces, PEI the other one, that does not have accessibility legislation.
You can listen to the full interview below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
