On August 23, 2021 Council adopted the Accessibility Policy pursuant to Council Motion #0134‐21. As part of that motion, Council also directed Administration to create an Accessibility Advisory Committee.
On October 4, 2021 Council accepted for information Accessibility Advisory Committee Terms of Reference.
The Accessibility Advisory Committee (the “Committee”) provides advice to the City on identifying, preventing, and eliminating barriers to people with disabilities in municipal programs, services, initiatives, and facilities. The Committee plays a pivotal role in helping the city become an accessible community.
The purpose of the Committee is to provide policy recommendations, expertise and experiential knowledge to Council on accessibility issues with the aim of making City of Yellowknife programs, services, infrastructure and facilities more accessible for all by:
- Identifying barriers for persons with disabilities created by current City of Yellowknife infrastructure;
- Making recommendations as to how to remove these barriers;
- Establishing criteria by which barrier removal can be prioritized and the allocating of funding can be determined; and
- Working with the City of Yellowknife to draft policies and procedures to prevent the creation of barriers in the future.
The Committee will be comprised of:
Up to seven (7) members of the public that reflect a diversity of the types of accessibility issues faced by members of the community. Membership will be limited to people with lived experience or accessibility challenges and may also include individuals representing a broad range of under-served and equity seeking groups such as, but not limited to:
- Indigenous peoples;
- Faith based groups;
- LGBTQ2S+;
- Newcomers, new Canadians;
- Persons living in poverty;
- Racialized people, people of diverse ethnic or cultural origin;
- Seniors;
- Women;
- Youth.
Four members from City Administration:
- City Manager;
- Director, Economic Development and Strategy;
- Director, Planning and Development; and
- Director, Community Services.
Any additional representation as deemed appropriate.
The next meeting date for the Accessibility Advisory Committee is to be determined.