The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) today released its "What We Heard" report summarizing the input received during its consultations on Phase II of its Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR).
On June 25, 2020, the CTA's new ATPDR came into force. They establish modern legally binding requirements for accessible services, technical standards for equipment, communications, training, and security and border screening.
Building on these new regulations, the CTA launched public consultations on a second phase of the ATPDR, relating to requirements for small transportation service providers (TSPs), One Person, One Fare (1P1F) for international travel, emotional support animals (ESAs) and planning and reporting frameworks for TSPs under the Accessible Canada Act (ACA).
The CTA received 108 written submissions, including 67 from the public, 16 from the community of persons with disabilities, 21 from TSPs and four from government entities. The CTA also held a meeting with its Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) and had nine bilateral discussions with community representatives and TSPs. All written feedback received is available on our website.
Next steps
In December, the CTA will be launching follow-up consultations on new accessible transportation guidelines for medium and small TSPs. These guidelines will set out what is expected of TSPs in meeting their human rights obligations to travellers with disabilities under Part V of the Canada Transportation Act (the Act). These guidelines will then be used to develop legally binding regulations. The CTA expects to publish guidelines in 2021 that will help inform proposed new regulations in 2022.
The CTA is also moving ahead with the new planning and reporting regulations under the ACA. The new regulations will require transportation service providers to develop accessibility plans for transportation, provide feedback opportunities for persons with disabilities, and report on their progress in meeting their accessibility plans. The CTA plans to have draft regulations pre-published in the Canada Gazette in early 2021, and complete final regulations by summer 2021.
About the CTA
The Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator that has, with respect to all matters necessary for the exercise of its jurisdiction, all the powers of a superior court. The CTA has three core mandates: helping to keep the national transportation system running efficiently and smoothly, protecting the fundamental right of persons with disabilities to accessible transportation services, and providing consumer protection for air passengers. To help advance these mandates, the CTA makes and enforces ground rules that establish the rights and responsibilities of transportation service providers and users and level the playing field among competitors, resolves disputes using a range of tools from facilitation and mediation to arbitration and adjudication, and ensures that transportation service providers and users are aware of their rights and responsibilities and how the CTA can help them.
