The official unveiling of Squamish’s accessibility plan is slated for this fall and will coincide with an accessibility celebration event in September.
On June 27, at a committee of the whole meeting, District of Squamish council members heard an update about the accessibility plan from two of the Squamish Accessibility Committee members, Keely Kidner and Sarah Tipler.
“This plan is very comprehensive,” said Kidner, who also serves as the equity and inclusion co-ordinator for the District. “It spans a lot of different departments and services all over the District. It also spans a lot of different disabilities.”
The report delivered to council members had intricate details of ways to improve accessibility across Squamish. They were developed through engagement with community members through surveys, focus group sessions, feedback sessions, a “rollabout” and “scrollabout,” and more.
The “rollabout” was described in the report as an in-person tour of District facilities to gather information about barriers. The “scrollabout” was described similarly but meant to look at District websites.
Since the engagement, the plan has narrowed to six key domains: built environment and public spaces, transportation, communications and information design, governance and corporate culture, service design and delivery, and employment.
“The plan has been developed. However, the design work hasn't happened yet,” Kidner told council members. “We want to make it look a little bit nicer, but we also want to make sure that it is fully accessible.”
That said, there are over 70 objectives already laid out in the plan that aim to tackle a wide variety of accessibility needs in Squamish.
Some of the more tangible objectives include increased HandyDART service, audible and tactile indicators at crosswalks, retrofitting existing parks with accessible physical objects and added braille and American Sign Language (ASL) illustrations plus including these designs in future parks.
Other abstract objectives include training and awareness campaigns, accessibility advocacy from the District to the province, auditing District operating technology and implementing changes as necessary.
Present council members unanimously endorsed the plan. Coun. Jenna Stoner was absent from the meeting as she was in Zambia for a federally-funded trip to empower local and international female governing leaders.
Coun. Lauren Greenlaw said she was impressed with how the committee engaged with the community and pointed out accessibility flaws.
“It's really difficult to highlight barriers that people experience until you experience them,” said Greenlaw. “So, I really appreciate the way that you're opening the conversation.”
Coun. Chris Pettingill was grateful to see the plan turning into action.
“It's really good to see that we are taking concrete action, and I know there's a huge amount of work to do, but I'm very pleased with the crew that's come together to work on this,” he said.
With the endorsement, Kidner said the full plan could be finalized and presented to the Squamish community later.
“This will coincide with September 10, which is an event that we're planning called the Walk ‘n’ Roll,” said Kidner. “During this event, we will launch the final fully designed version of the plan to the community.”
D’Arcy McCrea, an accessibility advocate who attended the meeting and is helping with the Walk ‘n’ Roll event, later told The Squamish Chief in a phone interview that he was really happy with council’s follow-through.
“We were pumped,” he said. “It was good to see it was unanimous, and there was some thoughtfulness.”
McCrea said he was happy to see the community engagement come full circle and, going forward, he hopes the provincial government will fund parts of the accessible initiatives that are needed.
Details for the September event are still being finalized, but Kidner said the event is all about “destigmatizing disability, celebrating accessibility, and really building up awareness and getting the public educated and having a celebratory atmosphere.”
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” she continued.
The event includes numerous partnerships, including the Squamish Accessibility Commitment, Squamish Climate Action Network, Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association, OurSquamish, and the District.
The Squamish Chief plans to follow up when full details of the event are released.
