Whereas a substantial number of blind and vision impaired Canadians rely on braille or machine readable text as their preferred format for reviewing documents; and

Whereas most Canadians use telephones to communicate with one another; and

Whereas all telephone companies render accounts to their customers on a monthly basis; and

Whereas many blind and vision impaired Canadians cannot read the accounts provided by telephone companies in their current form without the assistance of access technology and/or sighted readers:

Be it resolved that:

1. The National Federation of the Blind: Advocates for Equality calls on all telephone companies that provide local and long distance telephone services to the public, to provide telephone bills in braille, machine readable, cassette, large print or other formats to any blind and vision impaired Canadians who may request this service;
2. That the board of directors is authorized, if funds permit, to commence legal proceedings under the Canadian Human Rights Act or the courts against any telephone company which refuses to implement this resolution;
3. That the board of directors shall advise all of the affected telephone companies of the substance of this resolution.