On February 1, 2011, the Ontario government published its proposed Integrated Accessibility Regulation (“IAR”) under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (“AODA”) for final public review and commentary. This draft regulation reflects public input received on the initial draft Integrated Accessibility Standard summary of proposed regulatory requirements released in September 2010.

Among the proposed amendments, the IAR would:

• provide greater detail, including the definition of key terms;
• require accessibility plans to address both prevention and removal of barriers;
• increase accessibility requirements for websites; and
• increase alignment across requirements to facilitate the achievement of accessibility.

The government is also seeking comment on a proposed change to section 10 (Compliance) of O. Reg. 429/07, Accessibility Standards for Customer Service, and on the proposed amendments to O. Reg. 629, Vehicles for the Transportation of Physically Disabled Passengers.

Stakeholders and interested parties are invited to comment upon the proposed IAR and the proposed amendments to the Customer Service Regulation and O. Reg. 629 before March 18, 2011.

Hicks Morley is reviewing these proposals and will publish an FTR Now shortly.

More information about the AODA standards is available in our FTR Now of November 3, 2009, “AODA Update: Final Proposed Employment Accessibility Standard Released”.