City of Brantford staff presented the 2025-2029 Brantford Accessibility Plan to Council for review during the regular Council meeting on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.
The report, submitted by Joelle Daniels, Brantford’s Commissioner of Corporate Services and City Treasurer, highlights the City of Brantford’s initiatives and dedication to creating a more accessible and inclusive environment for residents and visitors alike.
When the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) came into effect in 2005, a set of standards were developed to remove and prevent barriers affecting persons with disabilities in five areas: customer service, information and communication, employment, transportation, and design of public spaces.
Along with the standards, came requirements and deadlines to support the creation of an accessible Ontario by 2025.
Councillor Dan McCreary, when discussing the Brantford Accessibility Education Campaign earlier in the meeting, made reference to the 2025 deadlines and inquired where the Corporation of the City of Brantford was sitting in regards to those targets.
“Originally the date for the AODA was 2025, as written and adopted by the provincial legislation; To date, we have not received an update on those due dates per se, but the City itself has met most of those due dates,” responded Jenny Sawicki, Brantford’s Accessibility Coordinator. “We are actively working on increasing the accessibility for the [City] website, and that is really the only thing that is outstanding for the City of Brantford. Provincially, of course, there’s much more work to be done, and we are just waiting for updates on what those new standard dates look like.”
The 2025 to 2029 Brantford Accessibility Plan outlines and highlights the City’s progress so far, along with the planned accessibility initiatives aimed at achieving full compliance with the legislative requirements of the AODA and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR).
“The City of Branford will continue to implement processes to increase accessibility for its facilities and services. Through the next few years there will be a continued emphasis on creating conversion ready documents and enhanced web services,” reads Daniels’ report. “The Brantford Accessibility Plan outlines the accessibility actions achieved to date, with a focus on those completed in 2024 and the continuing initiatives that will ensure the City’s ongoing compliance with this legislation.”
To help complete various capital priority initiatives, $100,000 is allocated through the budget process annually, and these funds are used for accessibility modifications to City buildings and facilities.
While the priorities initiatives are subject to change for various reasons, the list of funded projects to be completed in 2025 are as follows:
- Branlyn Community Centre – Universal washroom, proposed to be completed by Q2 2025 with joint funding from the school board.
- Doug Snooks Eagle Place Community Centre – Universal washroom, proposed to be completed by Q4 2025.
- Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre – Adult Change Table (arena), proposed to be completed by Q4 2025.
- Woodman Community Centre – Parking upgrades, pool washrooms and change rooms, all of which are proposed to be completed by Q2 2025.
During the meeting, Councillor Linda Hunt said she was glad to see that the universal washroom at the Branlyn Community Centre was added to the list of projects.
“Our Accessibility Plan has a new addition this year, which is the accessible universal washroom at the Branlyn Community Centre; this was not in previous plans and it was also not in the five-year capital plan for the Branlyn Community Centre,” said Hunt. “…This is a shared facility with the City of Brantford and both of the school boards, and we were able to bring forward to the three partners the fact that this is the largest community centre in the city and it does not have a universal washroom.”
She added that while she was originally going to bring the project forward through the budget process, they were able to put it on the list with the funds that were earmarked for accessibility improvements.
“This is certainly a great news story for the Branlyn Community Centre. The current washrooms that were built in 1987 are designed for elementary school children, so this is a very much needed addition to that community centre.”
The vote to receive the report regarding the 2025 to 2029 Brantford Accessibility Plan, and to direct staff to implement the plan, was then carried unanimously.
The final vote to move forward with plan implementation will occur at the next scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
