Accessibility

People with disabilities represent a significant and growing part of our population. According to Statistics Canada, more than 1.5 million Ontarians have disabilities — about 13.5% of the population. It is estimated that 20% of the population will have disabilities in two decades.

The City of Orillia is committed to providing its goods and services in a way that respects the dignity, independence, integration, and equality of all people.

In 2001, the Province of Ontario introduced the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA), which, among other things, mandated the public sector to create an annual accessibility plan to identify, remove or prevent barriers to its goods and services. It also required that an Accessibility Advisory Committee be created in municipalities with populations greater than 10,000.

Accessibility Advisory Committee

2012 City of Orillia Accessibility Plan

In June 2005, the Province introduced the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) to benefit all Ontarians by developing, implementing, and enforcing a number of accessibility standards in order to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities by the year 2025. The AODA mandates both the public and private sectors.

There are five accessibility standards in various stages of development and implementation:

• Customer Service - Establishing accessibility standards around customer service

View the City of Orillia Accessibility Standards for Customer Service Policy

Download the City of Orillia Customer Service Feedback Form

• Transportation - Making it easier for people with disabilities to get to where they need to go
• Employment - Expanding Ontario's labour pool and welcoming people with disabilities into more workplaces
• Information and Communications - Giving people with disabilities access to more of the information we all depend on
• Built Environmental Standard - Helping remove barriers in buildings and outdoor spaces for people with disabilities. Work continues on this fifth and final standard

The City of Orillia is working toward 100% compliance on our website to meet the 2012 Accessibility Legislation.  Your patience during this process is appreciated. If you discover a page or a file that is not compliant, please let us know so that we can correct the issue.  Please forward the name of the page and/or file by e-mail or call 705-325-1311.

For more information about the Province's accessibility legislation and these standards, please visit the website link below.

Making Ontario Accessible