Reports

This report covers the period from December 2, 2000 through to February 22, 2001.

I have been appointed as an individual to serve on the aforementioned counsel. I have been advised by the National Librarian and his staff that appointments to this counsel are currently made to individuals and not to members of consumer groups. To that end, the NFB: AE has written correspondence to the National Librarian to request a seat on the Counsel for NFB: AE itself. The National Librarian recently responded to this letter indicating that at this stage, he would leave it up to the Counsel in part to determine its own membership. He has also raised a number of concerns about the costs of adding new members to the Counsel. It is therefore too early to tell precisely what will happen in so far as future additions to the Counsel are concerned.

The purpose of the Counsel mentioned above is to develop strategies for implementing the recommendations from the "Fulfilling the Promise" report. This report was generated by the task force established by the National Librarian, Roch Carrier and Euclid Herie of the CNIB. This task force held hearings throughout Canada this past summer and fall. If any members have any views that they would like to share regarding the recommendations, I would be pleased to present them to the Counsel in my individual capacity. I will also be consulting with other consumer groups and individuals to obtain a broad input on the issues raised in the recommendations.

The Conference Committee has been very busy putting together the agenda for the upcoming conference. Betty Nobel's report summarizes the steps that have been taken to date. Please review this report carefully since it does provide information concerning registration, accommodations and the like.

The next issue of the Canadian Blind Monitor will be going to the printers shortly. This is an exciting issue dealing primarily with educational matters. The issue is one of the strongest I have seen this organization produce. Special thanks are extended to John Rae, Kelly Boychuk and the rest of the Publications Committee and advertising staff who have spent considerable time putting this issue together.

NFB: AE has been approached to provide a member to serve on this Counsel. The Board has requested that anyone who resides in southern Ontario who is interested in serving on this Counsel should contact John Rae to make their wishes known. The Board will then make a decision as to the identity of the representative.

At this time, I wish to advise the membership that I will not be seeking reelection as President of this organization at the Annual Conference in May 2001. I do not propose to give reasons for my decision at this time. Instead, I would like thank all of the members and staff who have provided assistance to me in carrying out my responsibilities to date. Without your contributions, this organization would not have advanced as much as it has over the past few years.

I will be moving to Calgary to take a new position with the Calgary Police Service. Accordingly, if anybody wishes to reach me in the next two weeks, please contact National Office. They will direct your calls appropriately. I will provide the membership with my new contact information once it is available.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert J. Fenton

President,

National Federation of the Blind:

Advocates for Equality

This report will cover some of the activities I have been working on since my last report in December of 2000. Hopefully everyone's year is off to a good start. I expect that this year will be an exciting odyssey for our organization.

Since my last report the CNIB Audible signals committee has met once by teleconference. At this meeting we divided the work of the project into some sub-committees. The committee I chair is charged with looking at draft standards from the International Standards Organization, the US Access Board, and the standard from the Traffic Association of Canada. What will result from this work are recommendations to the main Committee on what issues we feel should be part of a Canadian standard. The other sub-committee will be looking at a method that traffic engineers and community decision makers can use to priories the installation of accessible signals. Of course, the ultimate goal of any system to priories intersections is to ensure that all controlled intersections have some form of accessible signal. This work looks to be quite promising and there will be opportunity for individuals to comment on any draft documents that come out of the work of the committee.

Betty Nobel and I held a very successful membership meeting in Vancouver on January 17, 2001. Over 25 people attended and there was lots of discussion about our organization and its work on issues including access to information. We were able to recruit 6 new members out of this meeting and are looking forward to the skills they will bring to the work of the organization. Also, we are looking at holding a similar meeting in Victoria on March 17, 2001. Contact Ken or Kelly at the office if you have any questions about the Victoria meeting.

As I stated in my last report, there will be an election in British Columbia this spring. I have been working on letters to send to the registered provincial parties to let them know that they should ensure that their election campaign literature is available in multiple formats. In addition, I would like to work with any interested individuals to develop a series of questions we should be asking the political parties about programs and services for people who are blind, vision impaired and deaf/blind. Since it is very likely we will be going to the polls in April or early May, this should be done as quickly as possible.

I have written a letter to Air Canada about their flight safety video. In this letter I outlined the importance of ensuring that blind and vision-impaired passengers receive the same benefit from the video as sighted passengers. It is hoped that this will be the first step in ensuring that we have access to the same on board information as sighted passengers.

During White Cane Week, 2 officials from the CNIB and I participated in a web cast dealing with issues facing people who are blind or vision impaired. The web cast was quite successful and lasted for about an hour. The archive of the program is on our website and is also available as an audio recording from the national office for the usual cost. Please contact Ken Westlake to order.

From January 19-21, 2001 the board of directors had a face-to-face strategic planning meeting. I will not be giving a detailed report on the entire meeting. The next few sentences will only focus on the discussion we had about how to finance the work of the organization. The areas that we talked about regarding fundraising included government funding, private foundation grant writing, public fundraising, gaming, corporate fundraising, membership based fundraising and contests. In the area of public fundraising, we talked about doing our own telemarketing. As a result, over the next 6 months, I will be preparing a business plan, which will explore all related costs, benefits and risks associated with doing this activity in-house. We will also be looking at ways to convey our message through videos and public service announcements.

Membership fundraising is very important to an organization like ours. We would like to find a way to make members feel like our organization is worthy of their charitable donation. As part of this process, the membership pledge contest that started last year will now be made an annual event. Over the next year, we will be more aggressive with our corporate fundraising program, this is an area of fundraising that we have not explored in great detail. In doing so, we will ensure that we retain ethical standards when making agreements with companies who will make donations to our organization. Finally, in the area of Government projects and foundation grant writing, we felt that it was necessary to continue the process of building contacts in these areas. We also felt we needed to have a clearer sense of what projects can be funded and will still allow us to achieve our objectives. This is only a summary of the discussion in this area. Many of the points I have raised relate to the other agenda items of the board meeting.

This concludes my report. If any one has any questions, please contact me by e-mail at rmarion@telus.net or by phone through the National Office.

Respectfully submitted by

Richard Marion

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 1. However, it does have implications in terms of availability of resources.

The NFB:AE Board was against recommendation 2 as the Board felt these services should be provided by the N L C in conjunction with community libraries - not left up to not for profit charities.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendations 3 and 4 which go hand in hand. It is essential for people with disabilities to be able to use the new technologies. Implementation could be a shorter term goal as well. It is slated as medium term.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of this recommendation. However, concern was expressed that this type of exemption takes the burden off the publishers to produce alternate formats themselves.

The NFB:AE Board deferred any decision on recommendation 6 until additional information is obtained.

The NFB:AE Board is against recommendation 7 as it establishes the library system as the only means to obtain e-text. Further more, it is only available to not for profit alternate format producers. It is also a means for the publishers to avoid producing alternate formats themselves. However, it was pointed out that this clearing house could or might be a step toward something better.

The NFB:AE Board is against recommendation 8 because it does not put pressure on publishers to provide the e-text to individuals who want to purchase a copy, and it goes against the Board's position in recommendation 7. However, there was concern that an opportunity to at least make a step toward something better could be missed by not establishing a clearing house.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 9, and notes the phrase "all alternate format producers" (private and not for profit).

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 10 only if it includes the following:

The money must be open for tender to all alternate format producers, and publishers should receive money to produce their own alternate formats, including Braille, audio formats and large print.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 11.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 12.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 13. One question related to this recommendation was discussed: why does this agreement need to be made when Canadians can already access material from RFB&D?

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 14.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 15.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 16.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 17.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 18.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 19.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 20.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 21. But, the Board is only in support of this recommendation if the following criteria is part of eligibility for funds:

Consult with consumers when making this money available to ensure that the equipment is appropriate to meet local consumers needs, and local libraries make it publically known that the equipment and technology is available.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 22. It is essential to ensure the equipment and technology purchased under recommendation 21 can work for local library users.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 23.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 24.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 25, and it strongly promotes the inclusion of Aof advocacy organizations@ being on the Council.

The NFB:AE Board is in favour of recommendation 26. However, one note was made that the promotion should not be oriented to any one organization other than the Government itself.

Conference Committee Chair and Member at Large,

This month, my report will be devoted entirely to the conference. We have had two committee meetings so far, and we are putting together an exciting conference agenda. The conference will be held at the University of British Columbia. There will be a reception hosted by the Lower Mainland Chapter on Thursday evening, May 24th. All scheduled activities will take place in the Gage Towers where the single room accommodation is located.

Single rooms are $35 per night. There are six single rooms to a suite which includes a shared livingroom, kitchen and bathroom. The single rooms are not equipped with cooking utensils or dishes, but you are welcome to supply your own.

Double rooms are located in a building nearby. They are $96 per night and have a double bed and kitchen and bathroom facilities. They are most suitable for couples.

There are rooms that accommodate four people or a family of four for $106 per night. There is a murphy wall bed in the livingroom and two single beds in a bedroom. Kitchen and bathroom facilities are also in the suite.

Both the double and suite rooms are equipped with cooking utensils, dishes, etc. There is a little store in the Gage Towers building that sells eggs, muffins, bread, yoghurt, etc. The student union building is a short walk and has a cafeteria where you can get breakfast. Coupons for breakfast can be purchased with your convention fees for $6.50 each. UBC may have other food service facilities open as well. We will have to walk to one of the campus restaurants for dinners, or one can order in. Volunteers will be available to help you find a restaurant in the evening.

The registration fee is $50 for each adult. For families attending, the registration fee will be $85 for both parents and $15 for each child over the age of six years. The registration fee includes lunch on Friday and Saturday.

The revenue from registration will pay for the lunches, coffee break snacks and the meeting room space.

The registration fee and the money for accommodation should be sent in as soon as possible so that we know how many people we may expect to be coming to the conference. We have booked six double, six single and 3 large 4-person suites, and that is all we can be guaranteed, so the sooner we book rooms, the better. A registration form is attached for your convenience. Registration and accommodation must be paid in full by April 15 at the latest, but if you are certain you are coming you must let Kelly Boychuk at the national office know so that enough rooms can be booked. Please contact Kelly by faxing your registration form into the National Office by phone at 1-800-561-4774.

The theme for this year's convention is "AIMS for the Future". The acronym "AIMS" stands for Action, Information, Motivation and Self-help. There are several impressive speakers lined up, most of whom are blind persons. There will be a mixture of plenary sessions, individual workshops, and business meetings. Topics include:

• access to information
• dog guide legislation
• human rights issues
• adaptive technology presentations
• Education of blind children: How it should be
• written and oral advocacy
• Moping, coping and hoping
• building a strong and cohesive organization
• motivation, goal-setting and focus

Note: Topics are subject to confirmation of speakers.

We are working on developing a special program for blind and sighted children who are coming with their parents. Please let us know as soon as possible if you will be attending the convention and tell us the ages of the children who will be coming and whether they are sighted or blind. Thanks for your co-operation.

Scholarship winners will be fully funded. There will be limited funds available for chapters and for some members at large to attend. Subsidies will only cover travel costs and ground transportation. Chapters will be notified about their funding allotment this month. Members at large who require a subsidy can let the office know and a subcommittee of the conference committee will allocate the funds available.

A draft agenda for the convention will be circulated soon, and will also be put up on our website. Please come and join us out on the west coast for the convention.

Ken Westlake

Dear Members:

As some of you may already know if you have tried telephoning us, the office is still busy.

It is now tax time and we are fielding requests for receipts. Kelly has been sending out receipts daily for people who have not received them from the fund-raisers. I have been collecting information from as many as a dozen people a day in some cases. There has also been some changes to our web pages. There are now links to the two parts of a program that Richard Marion did with "What's up with Men?" related to the White Cane Week in an audio format listed off of the "New Items." section. When you click on the links with your browser, your machine will automatically load and play the interview parts. The Winter 2000 BCYPA magazine and Ross Eadie's letter regarding the situation of lack of translation at the Task Force's meetings is also on the web site.

There has been an increase in information requests from people wanting to know about the Federation. One of these requests has started me trying to find a method of getting the Canadian Blind Monitor and other items translated into French. So far, I have not been able to find a method of doing this that is not several times as expensive as the equivalent English text.

There has been quite a bit of activity on the listserves, mainly nfbcan-l, with many people removing and adding addresses as their situations change. We also received a CD in the office recently of the "Best Practises" manual that I posted the HTML file of a while ago. Three new persons requiring assistance with problems have been put in touch with people to assist them.

As well as the information kit that we put together for Vancouver, we have now also sent kits for Montreal and for Susan Wolak who will be using it to help make the group more well known and hopefully, increase members.

I have also added new tapes to the collection of listings that we have of the Blind Line interviews. I have added the table of current listings to the end of this report.

As usual, this doesn't cover all of the activities that have been going on in the office, but I hope that it tells enough for you to understand that things are running along quite well.

Respectfully submitted by,

Ken Westlake