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S2 #14 The Accessible Peninsula w/ Heather Gartshore
This week we sat down with Heather Gartshore, Councillor with the District of North Saanich to talk about accessibility on the Saanich Peninsula, and what sparked the new Saanich Peninsula Accessibility Advisory Committee.
Previous to the pandemic, there had been an annual Access Awareness Day held in Sidney. Last year, Councillor Terri O'Keeffe from the Town of Sidney, reached out to others on ways to move forward.
The group that formed, Councillor O’Keeffe, Councillor Gartshore, Councillor Gord Newton from the Municipality of Central Saanich, North Saanich resident Charlene Froom, Central Saanich resident Dave Willows, and Jennifer Van Es from Beacon Community Services, met informally. Recognising that people with disabilities experience barriers that limit their participation in our communities, and that their needs are not always understood by local governments, the group hammered out a framework on how to work together to improve conditions for people on the Peninsula.
In October of last year, the three Councillors involved, took a Notice of Motion forward to their respective Councils. All three Councils supported the initiative, staff reports were prepared, Terms of Reference were written, and staff reported back in March of this year, with applications now open for this tri-municipal advisory committee.
The focus for SPAAC will be on improving livability, accessibility, and inclusion; with the purpose of providing comments and recommendations on policies, infrastructure, programmes, services, built environments, and outdoor spaces.
As Heather points out, it’s about ongoing awareness of people with disabilities in our communities, and “changing the culture”.
The provincial Accessible BC Act was brought in, June 2021. This new Act establishes a legal framework to identify, remove, and prevent barriers for people with disabilities. (plain language version)
Heather notes that although the regulatory piece of legislation is not yet in place, it appears the regulations will require municipalities to do this work, so then the 3 Peninsula local governments are actually ahead of the curve. This, combined with the co-operation between 3 government bodies, is pretty amazing in itself!
The Advisory Committee citizen representative positions are open to those living with a disability or supporting someone with a disability. The deadline is April 9th, at 4pm. Applications can be found on the individual municipal websites.
We met on a gloriously sunny day, on a gravel patio at a busy local cafe in North Saanich near the airport - hence the background noise from happy customers, birds, planes, crunchy footfalls on gravel, etc. It didn't seem noisy to us at the time, but apparently our super-mics picked up everything. We hope it doesn't distract you too much, but you can check out Fickle Fig for yourself! Thanks for listening.
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By Michele SealeyThis week we sat down with Heather Gartshore, Councillor with the District of North Saanich to talk about accessibility on the Saanich Peninsula, and what sparked the new Saanich Peninsula Accessibility Advisory Committee.
Previous to the pandemic, there had been an annual Access Awareness Day held in Sidney. Last year, Councillor Terri O'Keeffe from the Town of Sidney, reached out to others on ways to move forward.
The group that formed, Councillor O’Keeffe, Councillor Gartshore, Councillor Gord Newton from the Municipality of Central Saanich, North Saanich resident Charlene Froom, Central Saanich resident Dave Willows, and Jennifer Van Es from Beacon Community Services, met informally. Recognising that people with disabilities experience barriers that limit their participation in our communities, and that their needs are not always understood by local governments, the group hammered out a framework on how to work together to improve conditions for people on the Peninsula.
In October of last year, the three Councillors involved, took a Notice of Motion forward to their respective Councils. All three Councils supported the initiative, staff reports were prepared, Terms of Reference were written, and staff reported back in March of this year, with applications now open for this tri-municipal advisory committee.
The focus for SPAAC will be on improving livability, accessibility, and inclusion; with the purpose of providing comments and recommendations on policies, infrastructure, programmes, services, built environments, and outdoor spaces.
As Heather points out, it’s about ongoing awareness of people with disabilities in our communities, and “changing the culture”.
The provincial Accessible BC Act was brought in, June 2021. This new Act establishes a legal framework to identify, remove, and prevent barriers for people with disabilities. (plain language version)
Heather notes that although the regulatory piece of legislation is not yet in place, it appears the regulations will require municipalities to do this work, so then the 3 Peninsula local governments are actually ahead of the curve. This, combined with the co-operation between 3 government bodies, is pretty amazing in itself!
The Advisory Committee citizen representative positions are open to those living with a disability or supporting someone with a disability. The deadline is April 9th, at 4pm. Applications can be found on the individual municipal websites.
We met on a gloriously sunny day, on a gravel patio at a busy local cafe in North Saanich near the airport - hence the background noise from happy customers, birds, planes, crunchy footfalls on gravel, etc. It didn't seem noisy to us at the time, but apparently our super-mics picked up everything. We hope it doesn't distract you too much, but you can check out Fickle Fig for yourself! Thanks for listening.