Dear Minister Duncan,

The Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) applauds your government’s decision to seek a long term solution for making materials available to people with print disabilities in alternate formats. Government has given CNIB more than $20 million since the year 2000 to create alternate format materials. The “book famine” experienced by Canadians with Print Disabilities has not been much diminished by those federal dollars.

Our access has improved largely due to increased accessibility of commercial sources, such as iBooks, Kindle, and Audible.com. Much remains to be done to make these commercially produced materials part of public libraries so that those people with print disabilities who have limited funds can read them. Nevertheless, it should be noted that funding the kind of production CNIB has done will continue to have little impact on access.

You are currently experiencing extreme lobbying pressure from CNIB to continue their previous level of funding. We urge you to resist those pressures and redirect any available money toward developing policies and projects to ensure that books born digital are also born accessible. Please do not allow a campaign based on frightening blind people and arousing pity among the sighted to derail your efforts to help people with print disabilities achieve truly equitable access to the printed word. We have lived with tokenism for far too long.

Sincerely yours,

Mary Ellen Gabias, President
Canadian Federation of the Blind

P.S. Books produced by CNIB with federal funding should be publicly owned and available to people with print disabilities through all public libraries. Instead, CNIB retains ownership and licenses them to libraries for a fee. As a result, books paid for by the Canadian government cannot be accessed by all Canadians who need them.

Office of the Prime Minister
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

March 8, 2018
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

The Canadian Federation of the Blind noted with interest that the federal government is extending the Medical Expense Tax Credit to cover those with psychiatric service dogs. This is happening at the same time that funding from Veterans Affairs Canada is being used by the Canadian General Standards Board to create service dog standards that we believe are unnecessary, unreasonable, and antithetical to human rights. We are gravely concerned that the failed CGSB process will be allowed to continue and create devastating problems for blind people who work with guide dogs.

We fear that CGSB’s entirely inappropriate interference in the lives of guide dog users will be justified under the dubious guise of making sure that only “legitimate” psychiatric support dog owners are given a tax benefit.

CGSB is undoubtedly competent in setting standards for physical products. The agency has no experience, understanding, or respect for human rights matters. They have demonstrated unprofessionalism by failing to make their comment process accessible until forced to do so. They have demonstrated a profound lack of understanding of inclusive human rights processes by requiring non-disclosure agreements from participants in their working groups.

Guide dog teams have functioned successfully in Canada for nearly a hundred years without CGSB standards. The industry has policed itself; consumers and the general public overwhelmingly are happy with the results.

More and more individuals with disabilities are discovering ways in which partnering with well-trained dogs can enhance their lives. As is often the case with innovative ideas, time and experimentation will be required for concepts and practices involving these relatively new human/animal partnerships to mature. Unless rights holders who are the handlers of other service dogs demand otherwise, we strongly believe government should not interfere by rushing to create standards before service dog programs are fully developed.

Rolling back the clock on basic human rights for guide dog users because the service dog industry is still in development is unconscionable! Such homogenization represents the worst kind of “one size fits all” thinking. Claims that these standards are “voluntary” and that explanatory language in the form of a “companion document” will accompany them in no way mitigates the harm they will do.

We urge the VAC and Public Works Canada to cease all financial and other support for CGSB’s unwarranted interference in an area where its involvement is not appropriate and its actions have been incompetent and unprofessional.

Sincerely,

Mary Ellen Gabias, President
Canadian Federation of the Blind

Ravi Kahlon
Parliamentary Secretary for Sport & Multiculturalism
November 17, 2017

Dear Mr. Kahlon,

I am the President of the Canadian Federation of the Blind (www.cfb.ca), a membership organization of blind citizens that is committed to the integration of blind people in British Columbia society on the basis of equality. I am writing in response to your request that groups provide public comment regarding the reestablishment of the Human Rights Commission.

The CFB is very supportive of this initiative. The Human Rights Tribunal is set up to adjudicate complaints of discrimination. It is reactive. A correctly constituted Human Rights Commission, provided it is funded adequately, could proactively work for reform in policies that lead to systemic discrimination against blind individuals.

To site just one of many examples, some provincial job recruitment announcements include a requirement that successful applicants must hold a valid driver’s license. This requirement is completely appropriate when the operation of a motor vehicle is a primary job duty. It is discriminatory when the purpose of a driver’s license requirement is to ensure that employees can travel outside their office to do their jobs. Blind employees can use a number of alternative techniques. They can take public transportation or taxis, ride with colleagues, or hire drivers. A robust Human Rights Commission could examine broader issues like this one; it need not be limited to responding to specific complaints.

An adequately funded Human Rights Commission would ensure that expertise in blindness and other disabilities, not merely expertise in human rights law, could be brought to bear in the disposition of individual complaints as well as in the examination of systemic issues.

Our support of a Human Rights Commission also stems from deep disappointment in the performance and rulings of the Human Rights Tribunal. In particular, we believe that an October 2015 ruling represents a significant setback in the access right of people with guide dogs. Sadly, this is not the first time the Tribunal has issued decisions that completely fail to comprehend the purpose of laws protecting the rights of blind individuals to travel freely using the mobility aid of their choice. I think that the unpleasant history of the BCHRT and its treatment of taxi discrimination against people who travel with guide dogs illustrates why British Columbia needs an organization that focuses on defending human rights rather than one that pushes for compromises to resolve complaints.

I have enclosed a synopsis of the October, 2015 case and our associated concerns. I would be happy to discuss these matters further with you, or with members of the Human Rights Commission, if so desired.

We hope that the new Commission will provide a better and more robust defender of access rights for blind people.

Yours truly,

Mary Ellen Gabias
President
Canadian Federation of the Blind

Presented October 13, 2017

The Canadian Federation of the Blind (www.cfb.ca) is a membership organization of blind people committed to the complete integration of blind people into British Columbian society on the basis of equality. We believe that blindness need not be the characteristic that defines us and that, if training and opportunity is available, blind British Columbians can live the lives we want. CFB is not a service provider organization. We are not seeking money from the province to offer rehabilitation programs. We are considering applying for gaming funds in the same manner as a local civic or service club would apply. It is important that you understand that our suggestions relate to a pattern of thinking and strategies of funding that matter to us as advocates, but the Canadian Federation of the Blind in no way seeks to benefit financially from the changes we propose.

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Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Qualtrough, and CGSB,

The Canadian Federation of the Blind is an organization composed of blind individuals, including many who work with guide dogs. We in the Canadian Federation of the Blind believe the approach taken by the Canadian General Standards Board in developing service dog standards is in direct conflict with the push for equal access implicit in the development of a new Canadian accessibility law. The underlying premise of this process also conflicts with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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Please help us reach our goal by donating your Aeroplan miles here: https://beyondmiles.aeroplan.com/eng/charity/546

This piece originally appeared in Volume 11 of The Blind Canadian, July 2016.

by Sam Margolis

As it presently stands, Canada’s 42,000 blind citizens of working age are viewed by the vast majority of government officials as charity cases and not capable, contributing members of society. Nine out of ten blind Canadians are not gainfully employed. With no income and forced to live off of benefits, many live in poverty, unable to fulfill their potential, unable to lead a full and dignified life. Read the rest of this entry »

From the CFB President: “Anne Malone is a blind woman who, until recently, lived in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She contacted CFB several years ago, and, as you can tell from the talk she gave at a TEDX conference in St. John’s, she’s been thinking about what blindness means, and, more significantly, what it doesn’t mean.

I thank Anne for telling her story, and ours, in a forum where our voice can be heard around the country and around the world. Anne says, ‘It is all seed–opportunities to germinate new discourse and ways of thinking about blindness, and the vast potential that is resident in all of us, regardless of how we experience the world.’”

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A speech presented by Mary Ellen Gabias, CFB President at the CFB “Vote of Confidence” Convention on May 6, 2017, Harbour Towers, Victoria, B.C.,

Welcome all of you to the convention of the Canadian Federation of the Blind. This is the 25th anniversary of Federationism in Canada, as well as the 150th anniversary of our country. We deserve to give ourselves a round of applause because it really is a milestone year for us. And with all the energy in this group, it’s going to be a milestone future for us as well.

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April 13, 2017

Dear legislators and librarians interested in services to blind Canadians:

Canada currently has two library services for blind people and others with print disabilities. The publicly owned system is called National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS). The privately owned system is the old CNIB library, now called Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA).

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