The new Accessible Canada Act C-81 received royal assent on July 21. A film crew followed and interviewed key people on the day, including the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Senator Jim Munson, James van Raalte, Sinead Tuite, Bill Adair and Frank Folino.
Two and a half hours of raw footage from the July 21 proceedings are archived at Carleton University’s MacOdrum Library. The footage takes viewers behind-the-scenes with the people whose determination brought the Act to reality.
The Carleton University Disability Studies research group is particularly excited about having this in our Library’s Special Collections. People collect what we deem important from a moment in time. But, people with disabilities are often excluded from the historical record.
If you’re interested in what’s being done so far with the footage, there are a couple 5-minute videos here and also a documentary coming out December 3, the UN International Day of Disabled Persons.
We would like to thank BDO Canada for their active involvement in this project, demonstrating their commitment to identifying disability issues in Canada and providing strategic solutions to address them. Their support helped to give this project legs, paving the way for more exciting developments in the promotion of accessibility.