City of St. John's Accessibility Plan

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Consultation has concluded

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The City of St. John's is creating an Accessibility Plan. The plan will outline what we currently do to ensure accessibility and how we will work to remove barriers that prevent persons with visible and invisible disabilities from fully accessing City-operated programs, services, and public spaces.

The City's Inclusion Advisory Committee formed an Accessibility Working Group to support the development of the plan.

To learn more about the Accessibility Plan, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions.

You Can Help

Let us know what the City is doing well, what barriers exist, and what is needed to make City programs, services, and public places more accessible. We want to learn from people in our community who live with a disability, care, or advocate for, people with disabilities. Since accessibility benefits everyone, anyone who has experiences or ideas can also participate.

City staff and the Accessibility Working Group will review and consider your feedback to develop the plan.

Focus Areas

Consider accessibility of the programs, services, and public spaces that the City of St. John's operates, such as:

  • Recreation programs, aquatics programs, and special events
  • Access Centre, permits, and property taxes
  • Fire services, humane services, garbage and recycling, snow clearing
  • Recreation and community centres, City Hall, streets, sport fields, parks, playgrounds, and trails
  • City website(s), social media and City Guide magazine
  • Employment processes such as recruitment and hiring

The City does not have authority to improve accessibility in areas regulated by provincial or federal governments, such as:

  • Businesses
  • Schools, colleges, or universities
  • Medical centres
  • Airports, ferries, or province-wide bus services
  • Financial institutions

Goals for Engaging

  • To determine if current accessibility considerations are valued and should be continued
  • To determine the types of barriers that people with disabilities experience in accessing City-operated programs, services, and public places
  • To determine what people would like the City to do to improve accessibility
  • To determine priority or focus areas from these recommendations

Engagement Tools

A variety of tools are available to help you provide feedback such as:

  • Share your ideas and tell us about your experiences in the Ideas section of this page
  • Online survey
  • Register for an upcoming virtual or in-person public meeting - if accommodations are required, please register seven days in advance
  • E-mail engage@stjohns.ca
  • Call 311 and ask to speak to a member of the project team

Accommodations

The City recognizes that some people may need alternate ways to provide feedback. If you require accommodations to provide feedback, please email inclusion@stjohns.ca or call us at 709 576 4550 to tell us what you need. Your feedback is important and we are happy to help!

The City of St. John's is creating an Accessibility Plan. The plan will outline what we currently do to ensure accessibility and how we will work to remove barriers that prevent persons with visible and invisible disabilities from fully accessing City-operated programs, services, and public spaces.

The City's Inclusion Advisory Committee formed an Accessibility Working Group to support the development of the plan.

To learn more about the Accessibility Plan, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions.

You Can Help

Let us know what the City is doing well, what barriers exist, and what is needed to make City programs, services, and public places more accessible. We want to learn from people in our community who live with a disability, care, or advocate for, people with disabilities. Since accessibility benefits everyone, anyone who has experiences or ideas can also participate.

City staff and the Accessibility Working Group will review and consider your feedback to develop the plan.

Focus Areas

Consider accessibility of the programs, services, and public spaces that the City of St. John's operates, such as:

  • Recreation programs, aquatics programs, and special events
  • Access Centre, permits, and property taxes
  • Fire services, humane services, garbage and recycling, snow clearing
  • Recreation and community centres, City Hall, streets, sport fields, parks, playgrounds, and trails
  • City website(s), social media and City Guide magazine
  • Employment processes such as recruitment and hiring

The City does not have authority to improve accessibility in areas regulated by provincial or federal governments, such as:

  • Businesses
  • Schools, colleges, or universities
  • Medical centres
  • Airports, ferries, or province-wide bus services
  • Financial institutions

Goals for Engaging

  • To determine if current accessibility considerations are valued and should be continued
  • To determine the types of barriers that people with disabilities experience in accessing City-operated programs, services, and public places
  • To determine what people would like the City to do to improve accessibility
  • To determine priority or focus areas from these recommendations

Engagement Tools

A variety of tools are available to help you provide feedback such as:

  • Share your ideas and tell us about your experiences in the Ideas section of this page
  • Online survey
  • Register for an upcoming virtual or in-person public meeting - if accommodations are required, please register seven days in advance
  • E-mail engage@stjohns.ca
  • Call 311 and ask to speak to a member of the project team

Accommodations

The City recognizes that some people may need alternate ways to provide feedback. If you require accommodations to provide feedback, please email inclusion@stjohns.ca or call us at 709 576 4550 to tell us what you need. Your feedback is important and we are happy to help!

Consultation has concluded

  • Accessibility Plan going to Committee of the Whole Dec. 5

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    CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

    Today, the City of St. John’s released its new Accessibility Plan designed to enhance access to its programs, services and public spaces.  The plan will be reviewed by Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, December 5, 2023.

    “Our Accessibility Plan sets a path for continual improvement to ensure our City is more accessible and welcoming for everyone," said Councillor Ophelia Ravencroft. “It’s fitting that we release this plan today as December 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which is an opportunity to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. We hope the release of this plan signals a meaningful step towards fostering a more accessible and empathetic community for all."

    The Accessibility Plan will focus on actions to improve accessibility and remove barriers, building upon and improving existing measures previously implemented by the City of St. John’s. It identifies barriers and actions that will improve accessibility in key focus areas including:

    • The Design and Delivery of Programs and Services

    • The Built Environment and Transportation

    • Information and Communication

    • Accommodations

    • Procurement

    • Employment

    The plan will be reviewed annually and updated every three years.

    The Accessibility Plan is built on a strong foundation of public engagement and consultation with stakeholders. The City provided various opportunities for residents to provide feedback in September and October, and presented a What We Heard document to Council on November 7, 2023. To assist with the development of the plan, the City’s Inclusion Advisory Committee formed an Accessibility Working Group.

    "It has been a pleasure to work with the members of the Inclusion Advisory Committee Working Group and the city officials in assisting in the development of this accessibility plan” said Joby Fleming, Co-Chair of the Inclusion Advisory Committee. “This plan will guide the City of St. John's in our continued efforts to make the city more accessible for all. The Inclusion Advisory Committee looks forward to continuing to work towards an inclusive city.”

    The City of St. John’s has a strategic direction to be a Connected City, one where people feel connected, have a sense of belonging and are actively engaged in community life. This new Accessibility Plan will advance this direction by improving access to programs, services and public spaces that build safe, healthy and vibrant communities.


  • What We Heard Released

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    CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

    The City of St. John’s released the summary of What We Heard (WWH) during public engagement.

    Highlights of What We Heard:

    • Concerns about accessible parking and infrastructure, including the need for more accessible parking throughout the City.
    • Barriers related to sidewalks, including placement of curb cuts, obstacles, maintenance and snow clearing.
    • Importance of ensuring availability of alternate accessible routes in construction zones.
    • Comments related to needing more inclusion workers for City programs and more flexibility in programming.
    • Noted additional or improved accessible measures and equipment are needed in parks, playgrounds, City owned housing and facilities, such as accessible public washrooms and automatic doors.
    • Ideas provided around improving the accessibility of public transit, including placement of curb cuts near bus stops, use of benches and bus shelters, proximity to crosswalks and scheduling.
    • Importance of consulting with persons with disabilities or subject matter experts in all phases of a project to ensure current barriers are addressed and no new barriers are created.

    For more details on what we heard, read the full report.

    What We Heard will be shared with Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Meetings are broadcast live on the City's website.