Draft Minutes for Meeting 4 of the
Accessible Information and Communications Standards
Development Committee (IC-SDC)

Monday September 17th and Tuesday September 18th, 2007

Canadian Standards Association
5060 Spectrum Way, Suite 100
Mississauga, ON  L4W 5N6

Members Present

• Laura Talbot, (Chair) Talbotallan Consulting Group
• Kelly MacKenzie,  Canadian Hearing Society
• Karen Taylor,  Canadian National Institute for the Blind
• Rozalyn Werner-Arce, Community Living Ontario
• Tara Jeji,  Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities of Windsor and Essex County
• Diane Wagner,  Learning Disabilities of Ontario
• Sue Morgan,  Independent Living Resource Centre of Waterloo Region
• Geoff Eden,  (Individual) (Consumer)
• Francine Drouin, Regroupement des Parents et Amis des Enfants Sourds et Malentendants Franco-Ontarien (RESO)
• Dan Shire, IBM Canada
• Robert Pearson, Sun Life Financial
• Doug Jure, Bloor-Yorkville BIA
• Michelle Saunders, Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association
• Martha Johnson, TD Bank/Trust Companies
• Bill Munson, Information Technology Association of Canada for Ontario
• Rt. Rev. George Elliott, The Anglican Diocese of Toronto & Provincial Synod of Ontario
• Lari Langford, Ontario Library Association
• Sherrill McCall, Cambrian College of Applied Arts & Technology
• Darren Cooper, Ontario Federation of Labour/ Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario
• Don Halpert, Ontario Hospital Association
• Beth Cooper, Ontario Public School Boards Association
• Jeanette Parsons, Council of Ontario Universities
• Mary Reid, City of Ottawa/ Association of Municipalities of Ontario
• Elizabeth Daly, Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMTCO)
• Patricia McDonell, City of Toronto
• Rose Langhout, Ministry of Government Services
• Eileen Mahood, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
•  Israel Lyon, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade/Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship
•  Stacey Young, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Guests

• Julianne Hay, Self Advocates’ Council of Community Living Ontario
• Patrick Parent KPMG
• Gary Sandor KPMG

Support Unit

• Scot Weers, ADO
• Nelly Tion, ADO
• Sheila Mawji, ADO
• Robert Thomson, ADO
• David Dilks Lura Consulting
• Marsha Cheddi Canadian Standards Association

Format of Committee Minutes and References:
For the purposes of referencing committee documents and items in the minutes, CSA has adopted the reference system used by ISO (International Organization of Standardization):

• N represents documents / presentations; and
• M represents the minute items / sections

IC-SDC Meeting 4 Documents and Presentation Material

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS

ACTION 1:  Support Unit to update Guiding Principles (GPs) and Long Term Objectives (LTOs) to include a preamble that makes clear that the GPs and LTOs are not in rank order. Edit GPs and LTOs into action oriented language.

ACTION 2: SDC Members to email real life case examples that pertain to the provision of accessible information and communications to M. Cheddi for consideration and possible input into the KMPG costing scenario by October 31st.

ACTION 3:  Support Unit to update the Draft Standard in consideration of the feedback and discussions from IC-SDC Meeting 4 and email the updated standard to the committee prior to IC-SDC Meeting 5.

ACTION 4:  Support Unit to update the IC-SDC Members’ Charter to replace the term “disposition comments ” and include a procedure regarding the authorization of guests at meetings.

Day 1 – September 17th, 2007

M4.1 Call to Order

• L. Talbot, IC-SDC Chair convened the IC-SDC Meeting 4 at 9:30 AM.

M4.2 Housekeeping and Facility Safety

• M. Cheddi reviewed the facility safety and housekeeping procedures with the committee.

M4.3 Opening Remarks

• L. Talbot, IC-SDC Chair welcomed committee members to IC-SDC Meeting 4.  The Chair stated that the purpose of this meeting was to make progress on the standard by adding specificity to the requirements and to work on sections of the standard in breakout groups.

M4.4 Approval of the Agenda, Process Overview and Plan for the 2 days

• The Committee approved the draft agenda (N73 R1) without modification.

M4.5 Approval of the Minutes to the Last Meeting

• A committee member noted that the number of members identified as being absent at meeting 3 was documented inaccurately.  The error was noted and the Committee approved the draft minutes from IC-SDC Meeting 3 (N72).

M4.6 Review of Action Items from the Last Meeting

• M. Cheddi reviewed action items (N72) from last meeting.  All actions were complete.
  M4.7 Approve Guiding Principles and Long Term Objectives (N63 R1)
  
• Committee members requested that the Guiding Principles (GPs) and Long Term Objectives (LTOs) be updated to include a preamble that makes clear that the GPs and LTOs are not in rank order. It was also requested that the GPs and LTOs be edited by removing personal pronouns and using action oriented language.
  
• Pending these changes, the committee approved the GPs and LTOs for submission to the Minister as Deliverable 2.  Geoff Eden abstained from voting.

M4.8 ADO Lessons Learned: Transforming the Customer Service Standard to Regulation (N75)

• The Committee received a presentation from S. Weeres of the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (ADO).  The Committee discussed how the Information and Communications Standard can build on the experience of the Customer Service (CS) regulation by: defining accessibility measures that complement the CS regulation; specifying requirements that enable organizations to know if they are in compliance; and identifying phased-in and realistic timelines that are consistent with the CS regulation where possible. The Customer Service accessibility regulation will to take effect on January 1st 2008 for public sector and government organizations and 2012 for private sector with one or more employees.
  
• The presentation also re-enforced  the notion that the IC Standard needs to:
  o specify clear outcomes, establish measurable requirements for 2025, and set staged, realistic timelines in up to 5 year increments; and
  o be technically and economically feasible.

M4.9 Process Overview – Evolving the Seed Document and Developing the Proposed IC Standard (N74)

• The committee discussed methods for enriching the early working draft of the proposed information and communications standard.

M4.10 Review of Committee Comments on the Draft Seed Document (N61 R1)

• The committee reviewed and discussed comments that were submitted by committee members between Meetings 3 and 4.

M4.11 Breakout Session on Information Classes

• Breakout groups were formed and each breakout group was asked to answer the following question and report their answers back to the IC-SDC:  “Given that this standard will be implemented in phases, what type of information should be made accessible in the short term (i.e., consider what information is already accessible and types of information that is critical to daily living) and in the long term”.

M4.12 Leading Practices Presentation #1

• The committee received a presentation by Committee member Sue Morgan of the Independent Living Centre of Waterloo Region, highlighting the Centre’s work to support people with disabilities. The Centre hosted and celebrated the 9th Annual Independent Living Awards this past June.

M4.13 Communiqué Preparation

• The committee began work on the preparation of the IC-SDC Meeting 5 Communiqué.

Day 2 – September 18th, 2007

M3.14 Leading Practices Presentation #2
Plain Language

• The committee received a presentation from Julianne Hay of the Self Advocates’ Council of Community Living Ontario, stressing the importance of using plain language in making documents accessible for all.  Hay challenged Committee members to “expect more from disabled people” and “when you write something, write it so everybody can read it.”

Technology Demonstration

• The committee received a demonstration of two of IBM's accessibility software solutions from committee member Dan Shire. The first was the laboratory prototype of "Say It, Sign It" (SiSi) which is a program that converts spoken word to text and then to British Sign Language, through the use of an animated avatar as the sign language interpreter.
  The second program -  Easy Web Browser - is a plug-in facility for Microsoft Internet Explorer that allows a user with low vision to hear the contents of a web page be spoken, to view the magnified page in the browser, and to adjust the colours and contrast of the Web page to compensate for a variety of low-vision conditions

M4.15 Report / Debrief on Information Classes Breakout Session

• Each breakout group reported back to the IC-SDC with recommendations on how information classes should be approached in the standard.

M4.16 Breakout Session on Organizational Classes

• Each breakout group reconvened and was asked to answer the following question and to report their answers back to the committee:  “Using the Information Classes you identified, determine what types of organizations develop this type of information”.

M4.17 KPMG Presentation on Readiness (N76)

• The committee received a progress report from KPMG on their assessment of the readiness of Ontario organizations to provide accessible information and communications. 

M4.18 KPMG Presentation on Costing (N77 and N79)

• KPMG provided preliminary examples of costing methods that will be used to assist the Committee with estimating the costs of various accessibility solutions.  KPMG requested committee members to submit any costing information they had related to providing accessible information and communications for consideration and input into KPMGs costing scenarios.
  
• At the request of SDC members, the readiness survey was reopened and will remain open until Friday November 9th, 2007.

M4.19 Report / Debrief on Organizational Classes Breakout Session

• Each breakout group reported back to the IC-SDC with recommendations on how organizational classes should be approached in the standard.

M4.20 Seed Document Modifications and Next Steps

• The committee agreed to the following next steps for advancing the Draft IC Seed Document:
  • Update document based on feedback received over the course of IC-SDC Meeting 4;
  • Insert sections on Information Classes and Organizational Classes; and
  • Consider incorporating acceptable solutions and performance criteria within the standard.

M4.21 Work Plan Review and Update (N55 R1)

• The committee reviewed the work plan. No modifications were required.

M4.22 Communiqué Completion (N70)

• D. Dilks and the SDC finalized the IC-SDC Meeting 4 Communiqué.

M4.23 Other Business

• The following updates to the IC-SDC Members’ Charter were requested:
  • Replace the term “disposition comments ” with “comments to consider”; and
  • Include a procedure regarding the authorization of guests at meetings.

Adjourn

• IC-SDC Meeting 4 was adjourned at 4:00 PM.

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