The below media release from the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) calls for change in the way the Disability Tax Credit is handled, making it refundable and reimbursable.

September 1, 2015 - The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) urges all federal political parties to promise Canadians with disabilities, who as a group are among the poorest Canadians, to reform the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), making it refundable. A refundable DTC would give $2,000 to all eligible tax filers, whether or not they owe income tax.

On Saturday, February 28th, 2015, AMI, Elections Canada, and AEBC presented a town hall discussion on the accessibility of federal elections. We were joined by Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, who is ultimately responsible to parliament for the operation of the Elections Canada regime.

The purpose of this discussion was primarily to gain an understanding of the issues that continue to face our community, and to gain an understanding of the problem from Elections Canada's perspective. There were more than 50 participants registered for the call, and AEBC was certainly well represented with many of our members having an opportunity to speak and share their point of view.

I am currently involved in a human rights complaint that is now going to Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

A few weeks ago, CNIB released a document which marked the beginning of a consultative strategic planning initiative taking place within CNIB. Entitled, "Your CNIB. Your future. Hearing your views on the future direction of CNIB," this document (which has been posted on the AEBC web site already) outlines what CNIB is planning on doing, how and why they are soliciting opinions from the community as to their future direction.

This week's blog post is on the hot topic of turning right on red.

I was shocked to find out in "La Press", a local montreal paper, that the city is still debating on wether Downtown Montrealers should have the right to turn right on red lights.

A while back I commented on a local CBC station in their news hour, expressing my concern and my opinion on why I thought Montreal was not ready to incorporate the right to turn on a red light in downtown Montreal.

In january 2012, I stated to the reporter that because of the construction happening in Montreal, having the right to turn on red, would cause people in montreal more confusion and more accidents.

For those who may not be aware, a group of former students of the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind (formerly the Ontario School for the Blind) in Brantford, Ontario have organized and are attempting to bring a class action lawsuit against the province of Ontario.

As detailed in this article from the Toronto Star, as many as 1000 former students could be affected, and the group is seeking $200 million in damages for acts of physical and sexual abuse that are said to have taken place from 1951 to the present.

Today I learned I am making a fashion faux pas, but apparently I am in very good company.    Hilary Clinton is one of the most powerful and well known women in the entire world.  Hillary Clinton and I both wear “scrunchies”.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the styling mechanisms of long hair, a scrunchie is a fabric covered elastic used to secure hair into a pony tail, a bun, a knot or any configuration pulled away from the face.  The Globe and Mail posted a blog entry this week about Mrs.

On March 13, the legislative committee considering Bill C11 finished its clause-by-clause review of the bill. Some forty or so amendments were proposed altogether, the majority of which came from the opposition parties. Approximately half a dozen of the amendments were directly related to the ability of people with perceptual disabilities to access copyrighted works. All but one of these amendments—the one put forward by the Conservatives—were defeated by the Conservative members of the committee.

The Federal Liberals have started an online petition regarding Bill C11. The recommendation promoted by the petition matches one of the recommendations the AEBC made in its presentation to the committee considering Bill C11 on February 27.

Here is the link to the petition, which I found very easy to fill out: https://petition.liberal.ca/user-rights-trump-digital-locks/.

And here is the related recommendation from the AEBC presentation to the committee.

Recommendation 1: Technological Protection Measures

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance is calling on interested parties to sign up to have their say to the Pinto Human Rights Code Review by January 23rd.