RECAP: The AAC Attempts to Rebuild with First Meeting of New Committee

When we last left the Accessibility Advisory Committee in April, there was no more Accessibility Advisory Committee. In the middle of the meeting, the majority of members resigned in protest after feeling that that they were not getting the requisite autonomy they needed from the City. Now, a new committee will try and rebuild, not just under the new framework, but under the controversy stirred by their predecessors. So how’s it going so far? Continue reading “RECAP: The AAC Attempts to Rebuild with First Meeting of New Committee”

MEETING PREVIEW: Accessibility Advisory Committee for April 15, 2025

Of all the shake-ups at the Advisory Committees of Council, this might be the most shook up. Although the Accessibility Advisory Committee is perhaps the least altered, it was the subject of controversy last April when most of the committee, including the chair, vice-chair, and former vice-chair, all resigned after staff refused to grant the AAC the increased autonomy they were seeking. Now, they will start again. Build back better? I guess we will see… Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Accessibility Advisory Committee for April 15, 2025”

GUELPH POLITICAST #461 – Dispatches From a Quixotic Legislative Quest (feat. Mike Morrice)

When we talk about the affordability crisis, you sometimes hear the term “legislated poverty”, meaning the state of social assistance rates like Ontario Works and ODSP that assure people can never get ahead because the amounts paid never cover all the real costs of daily life. That’s why Mike Morrice decided to act when he was elected to the House of Commons in 2021, but like all great quests, it hasn’t ended up the way he envisioned. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #461 – Dispatches From a Quixotic Legislative Quest (feat. Mike Morrice)”

GUELPH POLITICAST #444 – The Ongoing Struggle at Community Living (feat. Cindy Kinnon)

Community Living Guelph Wellington has been around since 1955 providing support and services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families in the communities in which they live, and for the last few years they’ve faced some serious financial issues. 2024 is no exception, but might the important services of Community Living get lost in the shuffle of all the crushing need out there. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #444 – The Ongoing Struggle at Community Living (feat. Cindy Kinnon)”

GUELPH POLITICAST #441 – The AAC Spills the Tea (feat. Lorelei Root)

Watching the Accessibility Advisory Committee meetings over the last several months there’s a particular undercurrent that some members of the committee feel like they’re not being listened to, and that there was a disconnect between their expectations and what City of Guelph staff wanted them to do. And then came the Public Space Use Bylaw and the waters got even choppier. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #441 – The AAC Spills the Tea (feat. Lorelei Root)”

GUELPH POLITICAST #342 – A Conversation About Systemic Ableism

There was a Guelph man named Matthew Wozenilek who passed away in 2016. He was well-known for his “Stop Ableism” campaign, a one-man effort to make Guelph more accessible one fight at a time, including a case against Elections Canada at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The awareness raised did make people more mindful of barriers to physical accessibility. So we all lived happily ever after, right? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #342 – A Conversation About Systemic Ableism”