Uh, good morning everyone. My name is Councelor Jamal Meyers, the chair of the Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee. The clerk has confirmed that we have quorum and I'd like to call meeting 17 of the of the Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee to order. Welcome everyone. This meeting is being held with the committee members and staff participating both by video conference and in person at city hall in committee room 2. Members of the public may also attend in person or observe the meeting on YouTube. I ask everyone for their patience today with any delays and technical issues. We are also providing captioning for this meeting. Max will be our captioner today. I'd like to remind everyone to please speak clearly today to assist the captioner in capturing all of our comments. Reminder about microphones. Everyone, please keep microphones on mute unless you need to speak. Members, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand or unmute your microphone and let me know. I will create a speaker list. Reminders about videos. Members, for qu purposes and participation in the meeting, please keep your cameras on. Staff and public speakers, please keep your videos turned off until you need to speak or answer questions. Reminders about motions. Members, if you have any motions, please submit in writing to the clerk's office. The clerk's staff are available at tac tac toronto.ca to help with motions. Now, I'll begin with the land acknowledgement. Although we are in different locations and meeting remotely today, the committee would like to acknowledge that the land we are meeting on is a traditional territory of many nations, including the Missagas of the Credit, the Anesnab, the Chipoa, the Hodosoni, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Matei peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Missosagas of the credit. Although the Municipal Conference of Interest Act does not apply to the Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee, I urge members out of an abundance of caution declare anything that could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Seeing none, we will move on. May I please have a motion to confirm the meeting minutes of the Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting held on February 27th, 2026. Thank you. Moved by Howard Wax. All those in favor? Opposed? carried. I would like to introduce a new business item, a presentation from Michelle Pang, TWWA housing advocacy coordinator, Nelly's, on breaking barriers, housing access, housing access for women with disabilities, centering lived experiences in Toronto's affordable housing system. I believe the clerk has circulated the presentation last Friday. All in favor of adding the item to the agenda as a new business. Thank you. All oppose. Carried. This will be item DI17.5. We now have five items on the agenda today. Let's consider them according to the order listed. So the first item is I will give a overview of the chair's report. Just give me one second. Just pulling it up. So uh mental May 4th to May 10th is mental health week. Uh mental health week offers an important opportunity to recognize the connection between mental health and accessibility and the role both play in supporting meaningful inclusion. Mental health week encourages us to reflect on accessibility in its fullest sense. True accessibility entails creating spaces where people feel understood, respected, and able to access supports and services without stigma or barriers. As a committee, we remain committed to identifying and removing barriers, and to advancing approaches that are responsive and grounded in equity, supporting a city where everyone can fully participate. and National Accessibility Week. I'm apologies, there's a slight typo on the chair's report. It actually goes from May 30th to June 6th, I believe. Um, and we are looking ahead to National Accessibility Week later this month. Uh, we celebrate its dedication to promoting accessibility and inclusion and recognize the contributions of persons with disabilities in our communities. This week offers an opportunity to highlight the importance of removing barriers and fostering inclusion across all aspects of daily life. As a committee, we remain committed to working collaboratively to strengthen accessibility and support ongoing improvements across systems, services, and community life in Toronto. And finally, there is Access Fest happening on June 6th. And I'm pleased to see Access Fest return to it for its second year, continuing to evolve as a unique accessibility focused event in Toronto. Organized by Access Now with support from the city of Toronto, this one-day festival brings together accessibility, culture, and community through performance, dialogue, and interactive experiences. AccessFest offers opportunities for meaningful engagement and showcases accessibility and action. It also provides a platform to elevate diverse perspectives and foster greater awareness as we continue working towards a more inclusive and barrier-free Toronto. And then there's just a list of upcoming events and opportunities uh coming up. Does anybody have any questions on the item? Seeing none, are there any speakers on this item? Hearing no further speakers, I will move the motion to receive the item for information. All those in favor? Opposed? That carries. Great. Members, today we have Danny Brown, a senior. So now we are on uh DI 17.2. to Tommy Thompson, park visitor experience plan, accessibility feedback members. Today we have Danny Brown, senior project manager, Waterfront Parks and Recreation, City of Toronto, and Mary Anne Young, senior project manager, special projects, Toronto and region Toronto region conservation authority to give a presentation on Tommy Thompson Park visitor experience plan. Danny and Maryanne, I will turn it over to you. Thank you. Just getting our text set up. Wonderful. Uh, good morning, Councelor Myers, members of the committee. Uh, my name is Danny Brown. I'm a senior project manager for parks and recreation on a team called Park Design Strategic Projects. Uh, I'm joined today by Maryanne Young, uh, my colleague at Toronto Region Conservation Authority. She's a senior project manager on the special projects team. We're here today to present an overview of the Tommy Thompson Park visitor experience plan. Uh this is an inprogress project which is a joint collaboration between uh the city of Toronto and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority. Uh and we are working closely with a consultant team comprised of uh Lord Cultural Resources, Third Party Public, DTA and Nasing Consulting. Apologies. Uh Tommy Thompson Park is a very special place in Toronto. It was formed by successes successive years of lake filling at the base of Leslie Street at the intersection of Leslie Street and Unwin Avenue. Uh due to originally conceived of as an extension of Toronto's ports uh uses uh to support expanding industrial development and shipping in Toronto. Uh changing market and societal conditions uh meant that the port uses were no longer needed or envisioned. And after uh decades of citizen advocacy and activism, uh the site was uh converted into a natural area, an urban wilderness so to speak, and allowed to succeed and support uh habitat, ecological systems uh uh and uh disposal of uh further lake filling and dredgate from the Keading Channel, the lower Dawn River, and other waterfront uh spaces in Toronto. Since then, it has grown into a beloved destination for uh the young and the old alike. and we are here today to discuss the visitor experience plan uh to support its evolution into uh a more beautiful and more sustainable space into the future. Tommy Thompson Park uh is a place where Torononians and uh folks from across the greater Toronto region uh come to experience an urban wilderness on Toronto's waterfront, undertake environmental education programs. It's also an important bird sanctuary uh and a globally recognized biodiversity hot spot. uh bird research and other natural heritage research is conducted in Tommy Thompson Park uh and is now a global leader in ecological restoration and stewardship and is a place where folks can come to walk to cycle and to experience greenery on Toronto's waterfront. Importantly, it is a car-free destination as well as a pet-free destination. For a little bit of background, the Tommy Thompson Park Visitor Experience Plan itself is an offshoot or an outcome of a 2021 Toronto uh Tommy Thompson Park update report that was sent to city council in 2021. Uh that report uh directed staff to establish a joint management committee comprised of the city of Toronto, Toronto region conservation authority uh create ports Toronto and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for the management of Tommy Thompson Park itself and the remainder of Leslie Street spit which is the geography the park lands on. Staff were also directed that at that time to develop a coordinated and comprehensive approach to the operations and maintenance across the lands that comprise the Leslie Street spit. More specifically creating a visitor experience plan that strikes the balance between public access and ecological integrity and as part of the development of that plan undertake a community and stakeholder consultation process including engaging with the broader indigenous community uh to inform the visitor experience plan. All of this was under the opices of uh attempting to develop a coordinated policy and enforcement approach uh speaking to things like film permits uh dogs within the park area trail conflicts between users and similar issues as a result of growing visitorship to the sensitive area. More specifically, the visitor experience plan. Uh the goal of that plan when we develop it is to ensure that Tommy Thompson Park's user experience befits its unique and signature status as a regional destination where visitors can experience an urban wilderness on Toronto's waterfront. Tommy Thompson Park is a complicated place uh that is uh divided into a number of different ownerships. Uh there are four distinct areas that comprise the study area of Tommy Thompson Park's visitor experience plan. So the the Leslie Street spit which is the geography on which Tommy Thompson Park sits uh is divided into four uh spaces uh related to their ownership. Number one on this map is the largest component uh that is Tommy Thompson Park proper. It is owned by Toronto Region Conservation Authority but it is jointly managed between the TRCA and the city of Toronto. Uh space number two which is the diagonal hatch u moving from the bottom left to the top right. Uh that is land that is owned by the province currently, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Uh and the lands themselves are still leased to the Toronto Port Authority where there are still continued dredging operations underway in the park. Uh the third space which is the stippled space on close to the mainland that is the baselands and wetwood area that is owned fully by the city of Toronto primarily by Creatio. And then the fourth smallest piece uh is the most recent addition to the land form of the Leslie Street Spit in the top of the map here uh which is owned jointly by the city of Toronto and TRCA and was created as a result of the expansion of the Ash Bridges Bay water treatment facility and will be opening this year to the public including a shoreline trail. It's important to understand the fragmented ownership and accountability for Tommy Thompson Park and the broader Leslie Street spit. Um as uh it will be very important for the implementation outcomes of this plan to understand both the timing and the organization uh to which uh for whom it has responsibility uh to undertake the improvements that may be suggested by the plan. Specifically uh number two on this map the uh portion of the Leslie Street spit that is still owned by the province. The long-term plan is for that land to be transferred to the TRCA upon the completion of lake filling and dredging activity. Uh but we do not yet have a concrete timeline for that transfer. When that transfer is complete, Tommy Thompson Park will be deemed complete and we'll be able to implement uh further outcomes of the visitor experience plan. At this point, I'll pass it on to my colleague Maryanne to speak to you more specifically about the visitor experience plan itself. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you, Danny. So Danny gave a good explanation of how the 2021 council direction has um has has pushed TRCA and the city to start this plan. Um, one other important background thing about Tommy Thompson Park is that there is an existing master plan and environmental assessment that was completed in 1992 that really drives the ethos and the and how the park is um managed and um what the park facilities are today. And the four master plan objectives are up on the screen here. and they're really about um enhancing and maintaining the natural environment of Tommy Thompson Park that is so important but also having uh recreational opportunities and enhancing those over time. So the visitor experience plan will work within and further um further realize the objectives of the master plan from 1992. A visitor experience plan in general is about understanding how visitors use a park now or a place now, what is and isn't working and making a plan to improve that in the future. So at Tommy Thompson Park in particular, we're really interested in understanding how the users are using the park currently and where there are conflicts and what we can do to improve that. So, it's really an implementation planning exercise to look at projects and priorities as well as timelines for improving how visitors experience the park. It's not intended to be a major update to the master plan or an invitation to suggest major changes to the park. One of the things that's so special about Tommy Thompson Park right now is the fact that it is very natural and um really gives people an opportunity to experience nature so close to the city. In general, like I said, the visitor experience plan is a framework that guides how people can enjoy, navigate, and connect with the place while protecting the pieces that make it so special, the natural and cultural features. So for the Tommy Thompson Park fear experience plan, we're looking at the environment, activities, interactions between people and between people and nature, learning opportunities, comfort, and access. some areas of focus that um that we've defined and that we are getting input from through engagement um activities that are happening this spring are looking at how people understand and experience the park in terms of its natural environment. How people get to and move through the park. um components of the park that may or may not be accessibility, sorry, accessible. Um people's safety and well-being at the park. Um how operation and maintenance affect people's experience. Branding and communications essentially, you know, is the website. Are the and are the um the signs at the park working? Are the facilities and amenities appropriate? is the park uh inclusive and of course our the programming and the events that we have appropriate and suitable in terms of aspects that we're really looking for feedback on in terms of this project are very concrete things such as the signage. Is the signage working? Do we need to change it? Is the wayfinding working? um in particular relevance to this committee from an accessibility standpoint. How accessible is the park and are there things that we can or should be doing to to update facilities or trails um or signage to improve that? Um and other components again such as you know do we need to update the website? Do staff on site know what they're doing and are they able to assist visitors um when they're on site and um have questions or concerns? We do have a fairly wide-ranging engagement program that we are undertaking and I've got the six engagement SL um objectives up on the slide right now. But to summarize, we are looking to get input from a broad range of perspectives on the visitor experience plan because we have a wide range of people and community groups that use the park right now. Um we have um as as Danny will explain in a moment um a few different types of engagement that have happened and that will be happening in order to get input from different user groups such as runners, cyclists, walkers, um education program participants, burers, other nature enthusiasts. And so we want to be able to bring all of that input in in a fair and um respectful way and be transparent about how that input input is um is driving the recommendations that will be made as part of the plan. In terms of timeline, we're about halfway through the process. So, this project began last August and is intended to or is scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of December with then reporting to the TRCA board of directors and Toronto City Council in Q1 or Q2 of 2027. So, it's a three-phase project. The phase one which started in the summer and went until April of this year was really background research um and the engagement program development. We're now in the phase two which is a first phase where we're doing pretty in-depth engagement with um community groups with the indigenous community um with and with the public at general. that will and that the end of phase two will culminate with the draft visitor experience guidelines in the fall. Then we'll go back to all of the groups to get more input and um have the final visitor experience plan in the fall. I'll hand it back to Danny. >> Thanks, Marian. We've already held two pop-up engagements early in the uh development of the visitor experience plan to understand some baseline feedback from the public. These two pop-ups were held in the fall of last year and they were held in Tommy Thompson Park and we intercepted folks as they were entering the park and asked them some questions about uh the park. We wanted to know what do they like about their the park and it their visitor experience, what don't they like and then what opportunities are there for improvement. Pretty basic, but it's uh a good start to understand the baseline uh feedback from people who are actively using the park. Some of the uh common themes that emerged from that early, let's call it preliminary engagement or pre-engagement include that people loved coming to Tommy Thompson Park to see nature. They really like the park as it is. U we're interpreting that to mean they like its natural state. It's sort of relatively quiet uh space. They like that it's car-free. They like that it's pet free. Uh and they like how close it is to downtown Toronto. It's a place where you can access nature less than a 15-minute uh cycle or transit from downtown Toronto. Some common themes emerged around challenges for the visitor experience at Tommy Thompson Park, specifically around the lack of maintenance and the in unavailability of amenities like garbage bins or washrooms. Uh there was also some concern about trail conflicts which echoes the city council report from 2021 uh where we're seeing a lot of conflicts on the main spine trail specifically between cyclists and pedestrians. And there was concern about uh cyclists accessing uh places in the park that aren't supported uh or supportable by cyclist, specifically the wilderness trails off the main spine. Uh we also heard common opportunities including better signage both uh in terms of behavioral signage but also educational signage so people understood the spaces in Tommy Thompson Park and what they're looking at. And we also heard uh a strong desire specifically for a drinking fountain at the entrance. There's a bottle filling station there right now, but a water fountain specifically is we think lowhanging fruit that folks are looking for at the entrance to the park. So, this starts to highlight some of the things we're thinking about in terms of the visitor experience plan. Really concrete improvements that don't overly change the feeling or the nature of the park, but still make it a more uh pleasant and accessible and uh uh comfortable place to visit. In terms of the engagement program, apologies for the color grading here uh up on screen. It looks okay on my screen, but um apologies. In any case, uh the key participants of the engagement program include the local counselor, which is councelor Fletcher. uh current park advocates and users, so many community groups, uh visitors to the park. Uh we have stakeholder interviews with knowledge experts uh including um Walter Chem who wrote a book on the park, Lorraine Johnson who's a naturalist and a former colonist for the Toronto Star. Uh adjacent land owners including the province and Ports Toronto and create uh and we're undertaking a number of different engagement activities as part of the broader engagement program. These include as I already mentioned the key informant interviews. We have an urban indigenous sharing meeting coming up this week. We are doing further on-site pop-ups as I'll talk about in a minute. We've assembled a community advisory group comprised of user groups that are active in the park as well as an open invitation to indigenous uh people to join that community advisory group. We're having a community openhouse. Uh and there is currently a survey that's running. I'll get into more information in a minute. Uh all of this engagement program is supported by newsletters, social media, uh web pages, web presences, and on-site signage to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of this project and can submit feedback. We are open to feedback at any time. There's a web a website and an email address set up for the project. So, by no means do you have to follow this engagement program. We're always inviting feedback directly on this project. This is my last slide. Uh just a summary of some upcoming engagement opportunities. We're really thrilled to be able to be here today and advertise and share uh these dates and opportunities. Uh and I'm really glad that we had quum today so we didn't miss this opportunity. Um this Saturday will be the Spring Bird Festival at Tommy Thompson Park and there will be a pop-up engagement event uh as part of that festival this weekend. Next week on Tuesday in the evening, we'll be hosting an open house for the public at the Ralph Thornton Community Center. Uh that's at uh Queen and Salter uh on the near east end of downtown just across the Dawn River. We have a mailing list that you can join for further updates that can be accessed from TRCA's website, tommy Thompsonpark.ca. And there's an ongoing digital survey hosted on the city of Toronto's Have Your Say platform, uh, which can be accessed at the link here, and it runs until May 19th. Uh, but there's also uh links to uh that have your say online digital survey on the Tommy Thompson Park website, on posters and newsletters that have gone out, and on the city social media pages as well. Uh you can just Google it by typing in Tommy Thompson Park visitor experience plan have your say. Uh unfortunately uh the link wasn't available when we submitted the presentation. So the online version of this presentation doesn't have that link but as I mentioned it's easily googleable and it's on the city's have your say platform so you can find it fair fairly easily. I hope I want to thank uh the chair and the committee uh for having us here today and we're more than happy to take any questions. Our contact information is here. Please reach out at any time with feedback or further questions. Thank you very much. Thank you. Are there any questions? Uh if you could Sorry, I can't see Nav'i. Uh do you want to go ahead? >> Oh, >> yes. Thank you. >> Oh, sorry. Apologies. Just hold that question. We have public speakers on this. >> Uh and then I'll get and then I'll get to your question. >> So, the first public speaker we have is Nicole Curado. Nicole, are you there? >> Yes, I am here. >> Okay, Nicole, go ahead. You have five minutes, please. >> What I was going to say is uh I find parks to be very, very relaxing. I absolutely love going to wooded areas and areas along the waterfront and that I'm on the autism spectrum and find it very calming because there's not too much sensory overload. So I think in your design you need to look at sensory accessibility and neuro affirming trails. So that those are things that you need to keep in mind and also please keep in mind the needs of wildlife and and trees because they've been here first. So please make sure everybody has uh you know a safe and and feels feels welcome there that everyone feels safe and calm. And also I think that there I noticed that there needs to be proof bins to keep animals out and to keep the placed clean. So that's those are all things to to bear in mind that you know that it's the animal's home and that we're visiting it. That's all I'm going to say that in terms of accessibility make look at neuroacility. That's all I'm saying. >> Thank you Nicole. Uh does anybody have any questions for the deputent? No. Seeing none, thank you very much for joining us. Uh and with that I will go to Nav'i and Nav'i go ahead. >> Hi good morning. Thanks Danny and Maryanne for your presentation. Um I know that you were see seeking some very specific access uh feedback. I I I hope this is within your purview or maybe you don't if you would have the information about I'm thinking about how people access Tommy Thompson. So one is are there access from um seating? Are there opportunities for that throughout the park? And also washroom access. I know that there is one at the beginning of the park. Is that considered that people would take um despite the park being like relatively small in nature, people take multiple it could take longer or need more opportunities for those breaks and those washrooms being accessible, not just portable. Are those uh things being considered at this point or is there a plan for that within the larger plan? Thank you Nav'i uh for the question. Yes, both seating, access to the park, uh seating and washrooms are all components of visitor experience that we are hoping to uh issue recommendations for as part of the development of this plan. Uh there are challenges with introducing uh some services deep within Tommy Thompson Park. Uh as I mentioned, it is a lakefill site and so uh extending site infrastructure like water or electricity deep into the park is quite a challenge. Moreover, the ownership of the site currently makes it difficult because of the uh province's ownership of the outer portions of the park currently. Um we are it is difficult to introduce further amenities deeper into the park until that ownership is resolved. That being said, there is uh seating and washrooms available right now uh on the nearer side of the park. And as I mentioned, as part of the development of this plan, we will be recommending and exploring further accessibility features like additional washrooms, potentially uh seating, and uh improvements to the gateway or access experience. We've heard a lot from folks that the trip to Tommy Thompson Park is quite challenging. Uh Leslie Street is a pretty active street, lots of trucks on that street. Uh and so we're also considering the moments outside the park proper um as part of that accessibility journey as well and thinking about how do we actually get folks into the park in a safe and comfortable way. Uh one thing that I should mention that we've been directed by city council to explore is bringing back a shuttle service to Tommy Thompson Park which may in part support uh getting folks with uh mobility challenges deeper into the park. Uh it is a fairly extensive journey. I just want to be uh honest about that. It's about a it's a 5 kmter one-way trip to the end of Tommy Thompson Park, which is a 10 km round trip if you're on the way back as well. Um, and so that is a it's a very challenging environment to get all the way out to the end of the spit or the end of the park. Um, and then to have to make the journey all the way back um without uh a ton of rest areas or shade. And so we're certainly looking at that full journey as part of the accessibility spectrum um and access spectrum for Tommy Thompson Park. So, thank you very much for the feedback. We'd love to hear more. or maybe you can reach out uh by email and we can chat further. Thank you. >> Thank you, Nav'i. Does anybody else have questions? >> No. No. Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Are there any would anyone like to speak on the item? No. Okay. Thank you. Hearing no further speakers, I move to receive the item for information. All those in favor? Oppose? Carried. Great. Thank you. Our next item is DI17.3 FIFA World Cup 2026 Accessibility Update. members. Today we have Sharon Bullenback, executive director, and Michael Brewer, project manager, games at and events, FIFA World Cup 2026 secretariat to give an update on how accessibility has been integrated into venue and mobility planning for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Toronto. Sharon and Michael, I will turn it over to you. Good morning everyone. We will just get our technology set up here. >> Okay, thank you everyone. Uh so going to walk through the the plans for accessibility so far for the FIFA World Cup this summer. Uh and we're going to start with the the transportation elements. So right from the the start of the journey, how folks get to the venues and then diving into a little bit uh what sort of accommodations will be available at the venues. So for those who uh haven't seen the mobility plan yet, just to set the context a little bit, uh there's an extensive footprint around the what we currently refer to as Beimo Field and the Fort York Bentway area where we'll be establishing the Toronto Stadium and FIFA fan festival this summer. Uh, one thing that I'll call attention to is just the footprint of Toronto Stadium there in the the purple is much larger than just the stadium alone. Um, there's a number of elements of broadcast compounds and hospitality spaces and other supporting elements. So, the the footprint of the venue will actually take up significantly more space than just the stadium alone. and to support the operations and get the the tens of thousands of people that we need to in and out of the area. Uh there's going to be a number of road closures and we're promoting a transit first approach to move the large numbers of people. So I'll walk through the road closures quickly so folks are aware. The longest term one is the the small black line on Fleet Street where we'll be closing the roadway but maintaining the street car tracks and building out temporary TTC platforms which will be uh designed to allow the ramps to be able to deploy and and to an AODDA standard so that we can use that fleet area as the main hub for TTC drop offs for folks going to Fan Festival and for anybody uh going to Toronto Stadium who is able to make the walk from that point. Uh beyond that, the exhibition loop will remain open only for uh people who have accessibility requirements. The next longest road closure is uh the yellow portion of Fort York Boulevard where the road will be closed and pedestrianized when the FanFest is active uh just to accommodate that connection to the fleet hub and the the large numbers of people entering the venue. Then on the match days are the the largest impacts and so all of the red lines. though Springhurst south of or Duffren south of Springhurst Strong south of East Liberty and Lakeshore from Baurst to British Columbia will be closed to general traffic. Um and the orange dash lines represent within the local areas of Liberty Village and Fort York where we'll be enforcing local access only during those road closure periods. The match day closures will be in effect from about 5 hours before kickoff until three hours after the final whistle. So about a 10-hour window on match days. So it's a bit of a challenging environment that we're operating within. And that's why we're recommending the transit first approach to everyone. Uh and so moving on to the accessible uh components. I'm sorry. There we go. So, obviously, GO trains, TTC buses, and street cars do provide uh access for those with mobility uh challenges. And as I mentioned, we'll be maintaining the exhibition loop for folks coming on the TTC that need to be able to get uh closer to the venue. and exhibition go will be the the main point for anybody coming on the go network. uh the fan festival area, that fleet hub area I mentioned would be the the main point for uh folks coming on the TTC. And if folks come on the exhibition go side of things, uh we will offer uh courtesy shuttles, which we're just finalizing arrangements for uh within the exhibition place grounds. Um, one thing to call attention to, uh, primarily for the folks in the Fort York neighborhood is that on egress after matches or or after FanFest, there is potential for uh, crowding on street cars. And so in that instance, there would be uh customer service personnel deployed to redirect folks uh to the fleet hub because local stops uh between fleet and king uh would be closed so that the street cars can uh move express beyond that point. And for anyone who has uh concerns, mobility concerns in that Fort York neighborhood, the TTC will be expanding Wheel Trans uh eligibility for the the time of the tournament. Uh and then one other measure just to ensure accessibility on the go side is within exhibition GO station there will be uh technicians on hand should there be any issues with elevators so they can be uh addressed immediately on site. Uh moving on beyond uh the conventional transit, uh we are going to be at Toronto Stadium in lot 851. And I can show the location on the next slide of where that is. It's just outside the main entrance. Uh providing wheelr drop off as close as we can get vehicles to the the entrance to the venue. and FIFA will be providing uh accessible parking in the same space that can be uh pre-booked for accessible ticket holders for Fan Festival. The accessible drop off they were looking is on Gazowski Street uh which is just across the road from just across Fort York Boulevard from where the entrances to the venue are. Uh, and this map just quickly shows just to the southeast there where the the wheel trans and uh accessible parking are for the stadium. Once people arrive at one of these uh transportation nodes or hubs, uh they enter what's called our last mile. So the walking routes that then connect them to the stadium or the fan festival itself. And so within our our hosting requirements, we've been working closely with FIFA on a number of things here. The first one being ensuring minimum widths of uh and and quality of the paved surfaces connecting to the venue. Um, Exhibition Place already has fairly wide sidewalks in most places and where there are any issues, we'll be temporarily closing the roadways so that we have uh additional width to accommodate um the folks passing through. There's also requirements around lighting. So, we're working through ensuring that uh because some of our games are 7:00 p.m. matches, they'll let out uh around 9:00 p.m. or later. making sure that at the end of the night the the walking routes back to the transit points are well lit. Uh curbs are required uh in circulation areas. So have been reviewing across exhibition place to ensure that we meet this requirement. And then tactile paving is required at crossings to uh live traffic. Um, and so also working through this, although I'll note that within that exhibition footprint, uh, most of the the roads would be closed and pedestrianized at that point. And that would bring folks to the gates of the venue. So, I'll pass it over to Sharon to speak a little bit about what, uh, they'll find at the venues. >> Great. Thank you, Michael. Um, so I'm going to cover off just as Michael said, what uh what is going to be in place at our our two key venues uh primarily the Toronto Stadium as well as our fan festival site at Fort York and the Bentway. So, first of all, the stadium here is um so here's a list of elements um that will be incorporated into our accessibility plan for the Toronto stadium which will include the following and that are listed here. Uh as Michael talked about the accessible parking, uh accessible pickup and drop off areas for wheel trans. Uh there will be support through customer service, accessible seating allocations um within the stadium itself um as well as sensory services and there was an email that was submitted specifically around sensit uh sensory services. So I will touch on this for a bit. The intention is to provide um a sensory trailer uh which would be design a designated space um that is that it will be soundproofed and allow for uh low lighting, textural items on the walls, bean bag chairs or other soft seating to allow a space for folks to uh get away from noise and and sensory overload. Um as well there is intention to provide sensory kits um which could include a variety of things. I I don't have the specifics on on what they will include as of yet, but um typically they would include noiseancelling headphones, fidget toys, weighted blankets, and textural items. So there is intention um to provide these items at Toronto Stadium during the event. The audio descriptive commentary just to uh let everyone know that it is our requirement to provide uh that in both official languages. So it will be provided in English and French. Uh and um closed captioning um closed and open captioning, sorry. Uh adult changing rooms, signed language commentary, family accessible restrooms, uh elevators and service animal relief areas, and of course um other elements that exist uh full-time in the building of Toronto Stadium. that these elements have been uh incorporated into our stadium readiness work and will be implemented by FIFA as they manage uh the stadium during the specific tournament dates. And then just to speak to uh accessibility at Fort York and the Bentway. So there's a number of elements uh that already exist um in order to provide access for visitors to this site um and they obviously will remain in place and as a historic site there certainly are some limitations um to providing accessibility and we do recognize that. Um so while there are some challenges at this historic site there are many areas and elements that do allow for accessibility. So all the walkways within the 7 acre uh walled site are ashvalt surfaced and are accessible for visitors using mobility aids. Seating can be found in many of the exhibit areas outside of the structures and there will be picnic table areas available as well. All washrooms currently on site are accessible. Uh and they are located in the visitor center, the south soldiers barracks on the lower floor of the blue barracks uh which is accessible by an via an elevator. We do want to add that our our secretariat team are working very closely with access now to review um accessibility plans and ensure compliance and as a legacy and we will continue that work. We we've built a great relationship with Access Now and and uh are grateful for our our our um collaboration with them to continue to review our plans and make sure that we have as many things in place as possible. As one of our legacy initiatives, um we have provided funding through the FIFA World Cup budget for an accessibility in events playbook and we're thrilled to be working with our colleagues in EDC and providing uh $100,000 in legacy funding to support the development of this event's playbook um that will incorporate lessons learned from the World Cup, experiences that have been um that have been uh realized through the World Cup that we can create a resource um for other event organizers across the city. So it would be a guide that provides tools and checklists uh as well as training elements to help organizers of other city events um deliver fully inclusive and accessible events across Toronto. So, we're we're thrilled to be not only thinking about what we need to do for the tournament and during the tournament, but providing a lens to the future and support for other event organizers uh in the city as part of our legacy work. And just one final note uh around sorry around fan festival um some other elements that we are working on uh in terms of added elements that we want to add to the site. So all of our general admission guest entrances um will be accessible uh as will our premium guests and media entrances. Uh we will also feature live programming on site. So part of FanFest is really to be the central sort of celebration location for all things football um during the World Cup. And so we're welcoming guests to come and view uh live match broadcasts on large screens to come and experience uh food and beverages and activations and onstage programming and entertainment. So, our onstage programming, our live programming on this on the stage will have closed captioning. There'll be sign language interpretation and there'll be designated areas for accessible viewing. We will be adding additional portable uh toilets and washrooms on site that will be accessible. Food and beverage bar counters will have accessible heights and we'll be working with our partners who are activating on the site um for their activation spaces whether that's uh physical uh structures and or just space in like our familyfriendly space. um to make sure that uh these structures and these activations are accessible, including accessible ramps, non-slip flooring, um and other elements that we want to ensure are all incorporated into the final design. >> And then finally, just a note about uh accessibility requirements in our contract. So, it is noted here um that the city of Toronto includes uh the provisions that are listed here on this slide in our contracts to ensure that suppliers conform um to the requirements that are in place, that they comply with the city's accessibility standards, policies, practices, and procedures, and that suppliers require their personnel to be fully trained. And so these have all been built into our FIFA World Cup 2026 contracts um which allow us to sort of have some leverage uh with our suppliers to make sure that what they are implementing what they are responsible for delivering as part of our um delivery of the World Cup are accessible uh that they're being mindful of the accessibility requirements of the city and of the province of Ontario and our work that we're doing uh to deliver an accessible event. And one last note uh just on our host city ambassador volunteer training, we are including accessibility training uh for all of our volunteers that will be part of the event as well. >> Thank you very much. Um we have three we have four speakers on this item. I will ask the clerk to confirm that our first speaker, Peter Aensopoulos, Athensopoulos is ready to proceed. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. Peter, go ahead. >> Excellent. Uh, thank you. Thank you to the FIFA accessibility team for providing a presentation on accessibility. Um, thank you for reflecting and ensuring that uh people are inclusive. Um, I work for Spinal Cord Injury Ontario as the director of public policy and I can tell you that there are many people from across the country and around the world that are that have disabilities and are interested in uh participating in this tournament. Um, and we are interested in where people can access information. Um you can imagine people will be coming from airports to hotels, from hotels to venues to fan festivals and and and of the like. Um there's a concern about how people are going to be accessing transportation when they're not residents. You mentioned in your presentation uh many examples of wheel trans and pickup and drop offs, but I haven't heard any partnerships or integration with uh ride sharing companies or taxi brokerages. um how are our visitors across our global stage going to be able to get around um during the busiest time of of this global event and what contingencies and readinesses have been put in place to ensure that people with disabilities are fully included in the tournament. Hopefully we can get some of those questions answered uh throughout the question period. Um but those are those are the top of mind things um when thinking about FIFA how people with disabilities will be fully included. >> Thank you Peter. Is that the end of your deputation? >> Yes. >> Great. Thank you very much. Uh does anyone have any questions for Peter? >> No. Okay. Seeing none. Thank you very much. Uh, next we have Christine Hubard, Beck Paxi. >> Hi, Christine. >> Hi. >> Morning. Uh, you have five minutes. Go ahead. >> Thank you. I just I'm just here to >> Sorry, you need to turn your mic on. Oh, I've never had to do that before. There you go. Okay. Um I'm just here to um just say a few words. I think um we do have a real challenge. I'm obviously again with Beck Taxi, uh we have been providing or have been able to provide ondemand wheelchair accessible service in the city since 2015 when um the plan for accessibility here was created. Um, you know, we saw red flags early on and the alarms were uh sounded at that time. In 2019, the city started to collect funds to support the drivers who are offering the service to ensure the viability of this service to continue. Um, we've seen now that relatively speaking, all of the vehicles have disappeared. Um, the city now has $20 million of industry money. That is money collected from the accessibility fund uh for all ride trips and for all licensing renewals in the taxi industry. And again, this was supposed to be a collaborative effort to ensure again that we would be able to provide ondemand wheelchair accessible service um for the disabled community. Um and now as we approach FIFA, those vehicles are gone. the money is in the bank account and people and not only just FIFA and this isn't hyperbol or hyperbole pardon me um that people are stuck at home and you know as important as FIFA is and such a wonderful amazing very exciting time for our city we are seeing that um people are just unable to get around period and with the money that is in the hands of the city um as we approach FIFA as we consider things like the AODDA. Um I just would like to acknowledge that Becktaxi that I am, you know, willing and ready to participate in whatever can be done to rectify this situation. Um I think that there has been some negligence. I think that there has been some lack of consultation, complete lack of communication, and this is to the detriment of the people again who were providing the service and of course for those who who now cannot access it. Um, and I just think it's something that needs to be, you know, put on the record that as we approach FIFA, the ondemand wheelchair accessible ground transportation service in the city is all but gone. Thank you. >> Thank you, Christine. Uh, does anyone have any questions for Christine? Uh, Nav'i, I think I see your hand up. Go ahead. >> So, Christine, I'm wondering, and I don't know if you would have this, but I'm wondering if we could uh if you could provide some more context or numbers related to this. you said that um like how many like going into FIFA World Cup there's been um a decrease in the number of accessible vehicles that Beck has as compared to 2019. I I think I'm sorry I hope I understand that correctly. But could we could you provide some context for that so we have more information about it? >> I'm so glad you asked. Thank you. Um actually I have all the numbers in my head and they can be checked against what I'm about to say. In 2015, there were 594 wheelchair accessible licenses issued in the city. Each one of those licenses had uh wheelchair accessible vehicle that was purchased by a taxi driver. Um, and they were supposed to join any existing brokerage like Beck because of course, um, people need to be able to plan their days, uh, the people who are accessing the service. Um, so there had to be a phone number or an app or or some sort of way for people to get in touch. So in partnership with the city, you know, we were very very excited to see this happen. Beck Taxi um invested about a million dollars to attract the vehicles to our brokerage and to ensure that the service was being promoted to potential riders. And we at that time, as of 2016, were able to offer equitable ondemand wheelchair accessible service. We saw that by 2019 um no plans for the continuation of the service really had been discussed and these vehicles were already starting to age out. They were about 5 years old at that time and we started to you know have conversations with the city with our regulator about how are we going to ensure that these drivers are making enough money to be able to replace the vehicles as they start to age out. um the city started to collect money and I know this is probably more information than you are looking for but I think it does help um bring us to the numbers that I'm about to share with you um they collected the money from the rest of the industry so all taxi drivers who are driving standard vehicles um companies like ours and of course from every ride hail uh trip the money was being collected and from that point there was a plan to distribute some of it annually to these drivers. it was clear that that the math didn't work that it wasn't going to be enough. And basically what we've seen that by 2024 when I sat I think in this chair um concerned about what we were seeing that number had dwindled to 100 in Beck. So relatively speaking the the entire fleet had been reduced by half. And the warning there was that the same vehicles that were on the road in 2015 that we started having concerns about the safety of in 2019 are still the vehicles by and large that are on the road today. But I will tell you that at Mech Taxi we have 30 vehicles. Four of which are viable. The rest are 10 years old and are falling down daily. And I'm not familiar with any other company or resource where people can call to get licensed ondemand wheelchair accessible service. Uber andyft were supposed to offer that. They've been able to, you know, work without it with impunity. Every fleet with over 500 vehicles is supposed to offer ondemand wheelchair accessible service. They've never been required to do it. None have been challenged. And now we find that as the only company that I'm familiar with that truly was able to do it, there are none. And it's it's something that um is terrifying actually to consider. I you know, a lot of things have happened over the years in our industry that have been sort of gobsmacking, but this is one that's left me truly stunned. So again, I guess the number is relatively speaking, there are zero Nav'i, do you have any other follow-up questions? >> Thank you for that context of your deputation. Yep. No. >> Okay. Thank you. Does anybody else from the committee have any other questions for Christine? >> No. Okay. I just have a few quick questions. So Christine, you said um in your fleet as of 2024, there are four viable licensed accessible taxis on the road currently. >> Uh as of 2026, yes. So 2024 we had 98. 2026 and when I say viable, I mean four that have been replaced. The the balance of those 26 are 10 years old now and are falling down daily. And I I think that when people hear the number 30, the expectation is that those 30 vehicles are on the road 24 hours a day. Of course, they're not. This is the um most labor intensive work a lot of these drivers have done. And I think when the licenses were given out, the average age of the drivers was about 55. Now they're in their 60s. Um so again, the vehicles are 10 years old, way too old than they should have ever have been allowed to stay um on the road. And so I would say at any given time, we might have a few. >> Okay. And that's why I say viable. >> And do you know, and I don't expect you to know this, but do you know what the other uh taxi companies might have in their viable accessible fleet? >> No, because uh I mean, I guess what the best way to tell is through the city's own um website. What we can see is that uh I think there were to my understanding based on MLS's um feedback 180 vehicles were eligible for the 2024 um funds for accessibility and and that might even be 2025. But the the the plain fact is that I think probably 120 of those have expired as of March 31st. Um, and then the rest have just organically or inorganically fallen down. So, if I was going to say in the entire city, my guess would be 50, 40. Um, it's hard to say. I'm not familiar with any other company that is licensed. So, I know there are private companies offering wheelchair accessible service, but they can make up their own rates and charge someone $50 to go around the block, which is terrifying as well. >> Okay. So you say your estimate is between 50 to 40 uh accessible taxis for that are available for on demand service in >> Yeah. And I don't even know if they're available. They may or may not be connected with brokerages in the city. I know that when the program was created uh there was also the ability for three or four drivers to get together and create a brokerage of their own uh without actually having any sort of way to market how to contact them and ended up operating as standard cabs. So that would be something I think for municipal licensing and standard staff to answer. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Uh seeing no further questions. Okay. Thank you. Uh next we have Louise Hidinger. Uh Clean Indoor Air Toronto. Louise, are you there? >> I am here. Can you hear me? >> Uh can you speak up a bit louder, please? >> Uh is this better? >> Yeah, that's much better. Uh thank you for joining us. Go ahead. You have five minutes. >> All right. Thank you. Um, I am a science communicator and lead for science communication for Clean Indoor Air Toronto. As a local grassroots advocacy group dedicated to pro promoting the health and well-being of Toronto residents and visitors, Clean Indoor Air Toronto was eager to review the FIFA World Cup 2026 accessibility update presentation. We thank this committee for creating an opportunity for us to review the plan, which we understand has been prepared by the FIFA World Cup 2026 Secretariat. While we're all affected by the quality of the air we breathe, some members of our society are more impacted by poor air quality than others. This group includes ch children, seniors, the imunompromised people with chronic health conditions, and people with disabilities. We were hopeful that the city of Toronto, with its growing understanding around the importance of air quality, would incorporate into the FIFA World Cup 2026 accessibility plan meaningful actions that would result in participants having at a minimum improved access to air that we know is clean and safe to breathe. This approach would have resulted in this worldclass event being more inclusive and accessible for thousands of Torononians and safer and healthier for all. Unfortunately, based on the presentation associated with this item, it appears that air quality has not been factored in as an accessibility issue. This is unfortunate given the situation ahead for Toronto. The World Cup will see thousands of visitors from around the globe visiting our city. And while they will bring with them energy, enthusiasm, and hopefully plenty of spending dollars, they may also bring with them contagious diseases that can be readily transmitted through the air. We're hardly alone in our concern around this topic. Toronto Public Health has also noted that the crowds attracted by World Cup events have the potential to spread infectious airborne diseases. With climate change, the incidence of extreme heat and wildfires has increased along with their severity. By June, there will be a significant risk of hot weather and wildfires. As a result, outdoor air quality can be incredibly poor. And that means outside activities, while generally considered safer than indoor ones when it comes to air quality concerns, may no longer be accessible during heat and poor air quality advisories. Together, these factors create a World Cup event that cannot be safely and comfortably accessed by those conscious of these elevated risks, including some healthy people who are simply cautious when it comes to the air they breathe. To remedy this, we encourage the FIFA World Cup 2026 Secretariat to revise its plan for accessibility and incorporate actions related to both outdoor and indoor air quality. This would include implementing IEQ protective measures such as using air filtration and mechanical ventilation best practices, creating contingency plans for outdoor city sponsored events in case of a poor air quality advisory. It would also include track tracking and publicly sharing existing outdoor air quality measurements as well as monitoring and sharing indoor air quality measurements for key locations. An essential aspect of this updated plan would be clear, consistent information for eventgoers, including steps they can take to protect themselves from air pollution and airborne diseases. There should also be training for event staff on how they can quickly improve indoor air quality with readily accessible tools and how they can protect themselves from airborne hazards. We recognize that we're mere weeks away from the World Cup. However, we strongly believe that the efforts a revision to this accessibility plan would require would pay off in healthier, more engaged attendees who require less medical attention and are better able to support both the celebrations and local businesses. Again, thank you to this committee for creating this opportunity to allow us to express our concerns around this topic. Thanks. >> Thank you, Louise. Uh, does anybody have any questions for Louise? >> No. Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, next we have Nicole Curado. Nicole, uh, would you like to go ahead? You have five minutes. Okay. Is this this >> this is the FIFA item? >> Oh, yes. Um, I would like to say thank you for for considering uh neuro affirming accessibility and sensory accessibility in this item. That's what I was going to say. I was going to ask if that was uh considered because it wasn't listed in the in the list, but thank you for for addressing that. I you answered my question and I thank you for including everybody in the FIFA World Cup to make cup to make it a to make it uh accessible and enjoyable for all. >> Thank you. Uh, does anybody have any questions for Nicole? Seeing none, thank you very much, Nicole. Um, members, do you have any questions for staff on this item? I see Nav'i and then uh Kate. Hard >> and then Howard. Okay, so Nav'i, Kate, Howard. So, first uh let's go with Nav'i. Go ahead. >> Hi. Hi. Thanks so much, Sharon and Michael. I'm hoping you could give me a little bit more information because I'm so excited about this idea of creating an accessibility playbook for the city. When I think about accessible washrooms, while the standard can be great for big events like this, in my work in accessibility, I see things like Hoyer lifts, having a Hoyer lift available in one of these. Um, and so a Hoyer lift would support someone who had a little bit more access needs and I'm wondering if that's being consider and I'm thinking about projecting about having people visiting the city and what that would look like in the future. Is that something that's considered about accessibility like various need beyond that? Is there is there varying access availabilities at the washrooms that are coming up at the FIFA World Cup >> through the chair? Thanks for the question. Uh I don't think specifically what you've referenced around Hoyer lists is part of the plans. Um but we're certainly looking where we have to supplement the existing washrooms with temporary ones making sure that those uh there is a number of accessible units available. I would love to see and if this is more a commentary or an addition to your work there maybe a little bit more work about exp because we're thinking about a playbook and projecting into the future of recommendations that what a great opportunity for the city to to make um a best practice here on that on what accessibility means. Yeah, >> thank you Nav'i. Uh next we have Kate. Yeah, thank you for the presentation. I'm especially excited to hear about having on-site elevator repair technicians. I think that's a great forwardthinking approach and allowing people with accessibility need to enter the stadium early. Um, my question is around, you know, a lot of these plans fall apart in practice when the people on the ground don't have the training or uh ways of identifying who qualifies for early entry. So, I'm wondering if um like folks when they're applying for tickets or if it's related to their being in the accessible parking like how will they actually know who is eligible for early entry uh or not? Is that going to be dependent on uh the folks who are um allowing entry into the stadium and will they have the training and the background and the knowledge to be able to do that effectively? Yeah. So, as as we mentioned in terms of training, it's something that we require of all our vendors that they have the accessibility standards training and it's also something that we are building into our uh volunteer training program. So, there will be approximately 3,000 volunteers across the stadium through the public realm and at Fan Festival. uh and a portion of those would work in what um what FIFA refers to as their fan operations team where they are supporting some of the accessibility measures that we noted in the presentation. So um I think the short answer to your question is yes there will be training um for for staff >> and any visible identifiers. So like on people's tickets or if you've ever heard of the Sunflower disability program where people have a lanyard, will there be a way for those volunteers and staff to identify who has accessibility needs without the individual having to selfidentify? >> I think that's something that I'd have to take away. I I'm definitely familiar with the Sunflower program and and we could include that in the the training. Um I'm not sure what other um visible identifiers FIFA would be uh looking for. Okay, thank you. I appreciate you taking that wave for consideration. I myself have a sunflower lanyard and I think it also just need to be made if that's something that's going to be available for this. It just the public needs to be aware of visitors and everything that that's something that they can um use to identify without having to you know on the spot say I have a disability and this is what I need. Thank you. Thank you, Kate. Uh, next we have Howard. Thank you for your presentation. The question I have are shelters and uh benches going to be provided uh for will trans stops throughout the grounds uh through through the chair. Yes, absolutely. Um there's plans throughout the the entire last mile area to make sure that there are uh benches and uh things like shade structures and and misting stations where we can provide them. >> Thank you. >> That's it. Howard? Okay, great. Thank you. Anybody else have questions? No. Okay, thank you. I just have a few. Um, regarding the accessible taxis. Um, so we heard one estimate of 50 to 40. Do staff have an estimate or can staff verify that that number sounds accurate? So through you chair uh I am not sure of the accuracy of the number but I will give you the numbers that that we have. Uh currently there are 524 uh total accessibil accessible taxi cabs licensed in the city of which we are estimating about 394 of those are under contract to wheel trans and about 130 of those which are available uh on demand uh service throughout the city. uh at any given point, how many of those are uh actively on the road is not data that we can collect or that we have access to. >> Thank you. And of the 130, how many are back door loading versus side door loading? >> Uh through your chair, I think we're looking at those numbers now. I might not have those numbers uh exactly with me here, but I'm uh happy to provide them to you. >> Okay. Um and could you just give an update as to what the requirements are of ride share to provide accessible taxis for people who need uh ride shares? >> Uh through you chair. Uh part of the requirement for uh ride share uh companies to provide accessible um service is also that they need to uh provide that service within the same uh reasonable amount of time that a a a taxi would also be um able to provide that service. a regular taxi. >> Uh again, part of the issue that we run into repeatedly is our access to data from uh existing brokerages and taxi companies. In order for us to impose uh conditions on um private transportation companies that required that data from brokerages, we've had uh difficulty in getting that data. So are you saying there's no standard right now for ride share, Uber, Lift to provide accessible taxis? >> Uh through your chair, my understanding is that they are providing that uh service. Uh but as far as the the time requirement of how long that service how long it would take for a vehicle to arrive, uh that is dependent on um other data that we do not have access to at the moment. Although we have uh made recommendations uh for things like um digital meters which would allow us to have more uh direct and more updated data. Do >> you have an estimate of how many um accessible vehicles from Uber, Lift or other ride share companies are on the road? >> Uh through you chair I do not have that data. >> Okay. And is that you don't have that data or MLS does not have that data? Uh MLS does not have that data. >> Thank you. Um is anyone from TTC here >> through the chair? Dean Milton, manager of strategic initiatives at Wheel Trans. >> Thank you very much. Uh could you please just give an overview of what the plan is uh to help uh people with disabilities who might need accessible vehicles who can't uh find them during World Cup or any of the other summer events we have going on this summer in terms of the visitors to the city? >> Absolutely. So currently um currently we have in place visitor uh visitor registration uh for wheel trans service. That's an ongoing service that we offer. So anybody coming from out of town uh who's registered with a paratransit agency uh can uh access wheel transfer up to 30 days uh without having to actually file uh complete an application. This will be very similar uh for the FIFA tournament. We ha we are asking customers, this is on the website, to register as far in advance as they can just to cut down on potential delays if they are going to require wheelr service. Um so we will be sending up temporary wheelrs numbers for all visitors uh for the FIFA games. >> Thank you. And how are visitors getting this information? >> Um, currently through the TTC website. Um, as well as I believe uh the FIFA official website also uh provides a link to for accessibility and that that was that would be where they would get that information as well. >> Thank you very much. And can you please confirm uh that the uh the visitor registry or the visitors using wheelchairs will not affect service for regular wheel trans customers. >> That is correct. Um we have a fairly recent example with uh the Panama games that were held a number of years ago uh where we experienced quite a few visitors coming in for both Pan Panam games and the parapan games and it didn't impact service at all. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um, about that I'm over time. Would anyone like to speak on this item? Sorry. >> Nope. Okay. Okay. So, we we don't have any speakers. Um Okay. Thank you very much. And with that, I will uh move a motion to receive the item information. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried. Thank you very much. Next, we have DI17.4, four, a review of AC of accessible parking permit exemptions. Members today we have Michael Cud uh project manager operational policy and Nazarino uh Capano, acting director, street permits transportation services to give a presentation on a review of accessible parking permit exemptions. Michael and Naz, I will turn it over to you. >> Thank you, chair. Just wait a few seconds for the people to leave. That's okay. Thank you, chair and esteemed TAC members. My name is Michael Coupe, project manager with operational policy, data, and strategic initiatives with the transportation division. I'm honored to provide you all with a short presentation regarding ongoing work that we're doing with regards to accessible parking, namely a review of accessible parking exemptions. The following slides will briefly summarize the history of exemptions, the request to speak here today. I will then show work we've done so far, a review of neighboring cities, what the current exemptions are, and their impacts on city programs as well as enforcement. The presentation will conclude with an update on the next steps. In the mid and late 1990s, accessible permit users reached out to city councilors and city staff with concerns. Having an a mobility is typically an issue. Getting in and out of the car, feeding the parking meter, especially in Toronto winters, is not ideal. At the time, there weren't many dedicated parking spaces or loading zones in the city. Curb space was almost exclusively used for parking. Providing exemptions from paying the meter was seen as a win-win. It would accommodate the accessibility community from going back and forth from the meter to their car, as well as solve an issue that didn't really affect a lot of people. At the time, Toronto had 1 million dedicated passenger vehicles registered and the province had 40,000 accessible permits issued. The background now, well, city staff again in permit parking in 311 as well as counselors predominantly in the Toronto and East York district received complaints related to accessible permits. The array of complaints vary and span both city and provincial jurisdiction. It's important to note that the variety of complaints stem from overuse, misuse, and the impacts that they have on city programs. Additionally, transportation staff received concerns regards to um what can be done. So while staff are reviewing all accessible related initiatives, we received a directive at the February 25th infrastructure and environment committee requesting that staff for find equitable solutions to the exemptions. So before looking at the exemptions, we had to identify what the problem was. What is the problem? There's just a growing number of accessible permits. The province of Ontario currently has, as of 2025 or the end of 2025, just over 834,000 accessible permits. The Greater Toronto area has just over 360,000 accessible permits and the city of Toronto has just over 141,000 accessible permits. So with more accessible permit holders, new policy guidelines, standards, and a review of exemptions are required to meet the demand and regain the balance on city streets. I note the provincial and greater Toronto areas simply because the exemptions offered don't just apply to city residents, they apply to all that have a valid accessible permit. Currently, the city of Toronto has just over 1,200 dedicated accessible parking spaces. These accessible spaces are located on residential streets or collector streets that have a residential component. We have over 200 dedicated accessible loading zones. These are predominantly on main streets. In both cases, they are requestdriven, either resident request driven or in the cases of loading zones, it could be a business or a business improvement association. As part of the city's ongoing initiatives with accessibility, we are planning proactive guidelines to increase the number of dedicated spaces. Reaching out to the accessibility community, we provided uh a survey and the results found that in general they are supportive of proactively increasing the number of dedicated spaces. We are supportive of potentially paying for spaces provided that more dedicated spaces are available. The province of Ontario being Canada's largest province has over 444 municipalities which approximately 50 have some sort of accessible parking exemption. These exemptions vary from free parking to just grace periods or additional levies with regards to parking times. The key takeaway from a review of municipalities in and around Toronto and the uh entire province of Ontario is that none match the volume of vehicles and the population and the exemptions of the city of Toronto. So now the pest resistance is what are the exemptions that the city of Toronto provides? There are four main accessible exemptions offered to accessible permit holders. If we look at the top left, it's no parking. A valid accessible permit holder is able to park in no parking signed locations legally. If we look at the top right, temporal parking, a valid accessible permit holder can park in those temporally timed locations such as 1 hour or 2 hours and exceed those time limits. If we look at the bottom left, the residential permit parking program allows accessible permit holders to park overnight without the need of a residential permit. And the bottom left, sorry, bottom right, the Toronto Parking Authority Greenpe on Street paid parking spaces. A valid accessible permit holder can park in these locations without feeding the meter. Let's look at the individual impacts. Considered by many to be North America's most comprehensive and largest residential permit parking program, it's gained its reputation by its ability to provide detailed statistics and data. The data helps with day-to-day operation issues, but also it helps with larger projects. city planning, construction, bike lanes, cafe TTO, water mane and electrical work all consult the residential parking program to see what kind of impact their project may have and quite frankly accommodations that need to be made. For example, with a growing number of accessible permits uh used in the city, we have inaccurate data. Complaints from counselor's offices as well as the public are consistent. The question is what can be done to ensure that the residential inventory counts are accurate. When we look at the Toronto Parking Authority Green P on street parking spaces, it's a similar story. Their inventory numbers are skewed by accessible permits parking on the street. Through one of their innovation studies, the TPA installed sensors at various on street parking locations in the downtown core. In a span of 5 months, 48,000 vehicles were observed parking in these locations. Of the studied locations, it was reported that up to 12% of the spaces were being occupied by accessible permits. That's just under 6,000 vehicles. A less scientific study is simply to walk down Elizabeth Street between city hall and Dundas. It's not uncommon to see approximately 50 plus% of the vehicle spaces being used by accessible permits. Now the question is does this mean we need to provide greater dedicated accessible parking spaces or is this a case of mis misuse or abuse of permits as we've heard from both the accessibility community and counselor's offices. When we look at no parking zones, two items come to mind. Bottlenecks on narrow streets, especially in the downtown core. Corner setbacks are major issues. An accessible permit in the picture on the left here is parked right next to an intersection. This impedes both pedestrian safety or vehicles trying to turn. On a residential street, if parking is affixed to one side and an accessible permit holder is parked on the opposite side, it creates a bottleneck and could impact on emergency vehicles. Not to mention in the wintertime. And lastly, temporal parking. You may notice 1 hour or twohour parking restrictions across the street across the city, predominantly on streets off of main routes. So, let's say Blure Street. The spirit of these temporal restrictions is to deter non-residents from parking too long and to kind of protect those residents that have residential permits. Unfortunately, it's also too common for our neighbors from the far west of Missaga, far east of, let's say, Pickering or north in Vaughn using these spaces with their accessible permits and then parking near let's say their work or place of entertainment. Unfortunately, with the accessibility community, mobility is an issue and these restrictions or the exemptions of the restrictions are needed because obviously they might be slower to get to their destination. And lastly, enforcement. Toronto Police Services parking enforcement are supportive of our review and potential reviews and changes to exemptions. Equitable treatment of all parked vehicles provides greater consistency which improves enforcement especially with future initiatives such as ALPR technology. The automation of enforcement which will happen at some point in the future relies on reading license plates to determine whether a vehicle is parked legally. Accessible permits are placards that go onto the dashboard of a vehicle and aren't affiliated with a license plate. So, it's something that we need to review. When it comes to enforcement of abuse or misuse, the Toronto Police Parking Enforcement has uh quite a bit of of information with that. And in 2025, over 8,000 related offenses were issued. There was a bunch of confiscations and cautions. So, what are the next steps? Transportation staff are uh prepared to submit a report to the June 10th infrastructure and environment committee with recommendations going forward. We're going to continue re-examining the existing accessible parking exemptions. We're going to continue with the proactive approach of increasing the number of dedicated accessible parking spaces and creating a dedicated dedicated accessible parking space guideline. We also want to improve communication on dedicated accessible parking locations uh potentially through an app or a city website and engage with the accessibility community. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you, Michael. Uh does anybody have any questions for Michael? >> I see Kate and then I see Nav'i. So Kate, go ahead. >> Um thank you for that presentation. I just had a question about those 8,000 cases of misuse in 2025, I think you said it was. Um, were those all validated cases of misuse where, you know, the person using the parking spot was definitely determined to not be the holder of the permit or were they just self-reported where, you know, sometimes people see an ambulatory wheelchair user not, you know, and make assumptions about that person not being a valid permit holder. So, just curious if those 8,000 were all like validated infractions. >> Thank you. Uh, through the chair. Thank you so much for asking that, Kate. That's um a fantastic question. So 8,000 was the reported number of complaints that the Toronto Police Parking Enforcement had to investigate. Um that doesn't necessarily mean that they found misuse or abuse, but it was something that they had to investigate. That speaks to a larger issue. I know this isn't what you're asking, but kind of add to it. That speaks to a larger issue when it comes to accessible permits. Um while there are so many need uh required individuals that require these permits, there are cases of questionable usage and a lot of the complaints stem from the uh eligibility uh criteria from the province and the renewal process at the province. So, a lot of the complaints that the Toronto Police Parking Enforcement have received is where perhaps an elderly person passes away and their family member continues using their permit. Um, so it's it's an ongoing issue and it's something that's obviously very sensitive and we have to treat with caution. >> Yeah, thank you for that. So, it sounds like 8,000 is not the absolute number of validated um infractions. >> Correct. >> Correct. Okay, thank you. >> Thank you, Kate. Uh, next we have Nav'i. >> Hi, Michael. Thank you so much. I'm just taking a note. Um, I think I I wanted a little if a moment for you to elucidate for me because I I'm I think in my mind I'm conflating the issue of misuse of uh of these permits and then the issue of changing changes to eligibility. How is the city negotiating changing changes to eligibility without removing people who were previously considered eligible? How is that being negotiated with the issue of misuse, eligibility and misuse? I see those as two separate considerations and and and yeah, I'm hoping to get a little bit more information there because of course my concern is who is considered eligible today won't be tomorrow for fear of misuse. What are those >> uh what are the credentials of like what are the what are the areas of disability that's considered eligible today that tomorrow we're thinking yeah I think I've said that enough. Thanks. >> Yeah. No, completely appreciate the complexity. Um, it's it's something that we're obviously struggling with as well, but it's the feedback that we're receiving um from everyone from the accessibility community, but then also from the general public when it comes to the fact that there's just a lot more accessible permits in the city and in around the city. We can't help but look at the eligibility and the impact that the province has on accessible permits. So, for example, while there are individuals that absolutely require um a permanent accessible permit, there are individuals that receive temporary accessible permits because they they had some kind of procedure and will be temporarily um impacted mobility-wise. What we found is that a lot of individuals are somehow extending those um and then receiving a permanent permit. So, it's more so just a review of um right now the renewal process with the province is essentially just confirming that your address is still your address and that you're still with us. We want to review that to ensure that anyone that maybe just should have had a temporary one isn't continually uh using the the perks of an accessible permit. >> Okay, that's much clearer for me. Thank you. And and just confirming there that then the eligibility itself in terms of functional limitation and medical consideration is not being is not being reviewed in the issues of changes to eligibility. >> Exactly. Exactly. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. We're still respecting that there's there's causes for uh criteria for eligibility. It's more so kind of differentiating between um you know the temporary one and the permanent one and and then the renewal process cuz in some cases I'll give you I'll give you a personal example. Um I had multiple knee surgeries and was it was suggested that I get an accessible permit. Uh I refused but it was in my purview to get one. I could have had one for multiple years. Um, thankfully I'm able-bodied now. >> Thank you. Uh, are there any other questions on this item? No. See, no. Seeing none. Thank you very much, Michael. >> Thank you. Um, are there any speakers on this item? >> No. Uh hearing no further speakers, I will move the motion to receive the item for information. All those in favor? Opposed? Motion carried. Thank you. And now we are on to our final item, DI17.5, Breaking Barriers, Housing Access for Women with Disabilities, Centering Lived Experiences in Toronto's affordable housing system. members. Today we have Michelle Pang, Toronto Women in Action Housing Advocacy Coordinator, Nelly's to give a presentation on breaking barriers, housing access for women with disabilities, centering lived experiences in Toronto's affordable housing system. Michelle, I will turn it over to you. Thank you for joining us. Good morning members of the committee and thank you for the opportunity to present today. My name is Cen Pan Michelle Toronto women in action housing advocacy coordinator from NIS and I'm joined by my colleagues Antonia. Today we will be sharing key findings and recommendations from Ner's position paper breaking barriers centering the voices of women and gender diverse people in assessing the affordable housing system. We had the opportunity to present the border findings of this position paper to the housing rights advisory committee in April and for today's presentation we will be focused on more specifically on the experiences of women with disabilities and take a deeper look at the accessibility related barriers they face when trying to assess safe affordable housing in Toronto. Our goal is to highlight these key barriers and to identify areas where municipal action can help improve accessibility, equity, and accountability within the housing system. So, we all know that Toronto is currently facing a deepening housing crisis where access to safe and affordable housing is becoming more difficult. We are seeing raising rents across the city with many rentists spending more than 30% of the income of housing and at the same time there are over a 100,000 households who are waiting for LGI units with weight times can be stretched beyond 15 years. There is also a significant shortage of supportive and transitional housing which is critical for people who need additional supports including people with disabilities. On top of this, risks like eviction, displacement, and limited access to legal supports are further pushing people into unstable housing situations. For women and gender diverse people with disabilities, these challenges can be even more compressed as they are navigating both affordability barriers and a lack of accessibility and appropriate housing options. Last year we conducted several trauma informed focus groups with participants who have life experience of housing instability along with frontal line staff and also legal and set research. For today's presentation, we draw specifically from insights shared through Nar's women on the move program. This program is designed to address service gaps for women with physical disabilities who have experienced abuse and provides a safe place for them to share their experiences, challenges and recommendations. These insights are also supported by border research and statistic to help contextualize and strengthen our findings. Women with disabilities are not just facing housing barriers. They are navigating systems that were never designed for them. One woman who spoke to us said that she lives in a so-called accessible affordable housing. She uses a power wheelchair. However, the doorways in her unit are too narrow and shared spaces in the buildings are often being locked. When she raises those maintenance issues like a toilet cannot be functioned properly, the superintendent are ignored and redirected her to the personal support worker, which we all know that that's not their role. Over time, she stopped asking for help, not because the issues were soft, but because she was afraid of retaliation. and she shared with us, "It feels like that he just doesn't care about me because I'm disabled and I have no power." Another woman also told us about being tied to a mandated PSUP agency through her affordable housing. Even when she experienced poor treatment, she had no option to change providers. She felt disrespected and associated in her own home. She described it simply. I feel invisible in my own home. We also heard from a woman with a visual disability trying to apply for LGI housing. The online system didn't work with her screen readers at that moment and staff couldn't assist her in the community center. Years later, she still have no idea whether she stands on the weight list or not. And when living in the private market, she felt she had to hide her disability just to consider for for a unit. She told us that I worry that I will be homeless before I ever get an RGI unit. What we heard from participants is not just a series of individual experiences. It refresh a broader patterns of systemic exclusion. For example, when housing is labeled as accessible, up to 40% of units still remain inaccessible in practice. And at the same time, many online housing systems are not fully compatible with assessive technologies, creating additionals barriers just to apply. These gaps have real consequence. Women and gender diverse people with disabilities are significantly more likely to struggle to find suitable housing and many experiences hidden homelessness. They are living in unsafe or unstable situations that are often not captured in the official data. Besides for people with disabilities, there is currently no no formal priority pathway within the LGI housing. This means that even when their housing needs are really urgent, they are placed in the same system as everyone else often facing weight list that can stretch for decades. And during that time, many of them are forced to remain in unsafe, inaccessible or unaffordable housing. At the same time, the shelter system is not fully accessible either. While some shelters may have basic wheelchair assets, many of them still lack of comprehensive accessibility and very few provide supports such as braille materials or other inclusive features. As a result, for many women with disabilities, the system does not provide a clear or safe pathway forward. It reinforces exclusion rather than addressing it. As one focus group participant mentioned, this not just hot, it's degrading. Based on these findings, our recommendations focus on moving beyond surface level accessibility towards meaningful and system level change. First, we recommend strengthening accountability and tenants protection. Many participants shared experiences where maintenance issues were being ignored or where they felt unsafe raising those concerns. This highlights the need for clear accountability for housing providers, superintendent and PSD agencies along with transparent complaint process that can protect tenants and ensure real consequences for neglect or discrimination. Second, we need to rethink how housing and service are designed. This includes expanding the supply of physically accessible and affordable housing, but also ensuring accessibility standards are consistently applied across shelters, transitional housing, and community spaces. Importantly, staff must be trained in disability informed and anti-abless practices so that services are not just only accessible in design but also in how they are being delivered. Third, we need to make housing system truly accessible and creates clear pathways into housing. This includes ensuring application platforms are compatible with assessive assisted assistive technologies available in multiple languages and support by inperson assistance. There is also an urgent need to establish a formal disability priority pathway within LGI housing so women with disabilities are not just waiting for years without a clear path forward. Finally, we recommend investing in community empowerment. Participants highlighted the importance of peer support and in navigating the system. Funding rights based peer lead programs can help women with disabilities better understand their rights, access resources, and advocate for themselves. To conclude, women and gender diverse people with disabilities face not only a lack of affordable housing, that's also a lack of housing that is truly accessible, safe, and dignified. These barriers are interconnected from inaccessible buildings and systems to long way and limited accountability in housing services. Also, accessibility is not an option. It is essential to safety, independence, and housing stability. Moving forward, municipal action is critical in strengthening accessibility standards, improving accountability, and creating clear pathway into housing. Accessibility must be treated not as an add-on, but as a core part of housing equity and a human rights to housing. And finally, if you are interested in learning more, we have include a link to the full position paper here. Thank you so much for your time and attention. Thank you, Michelle. Uh, does anybody have any questions for Michelle? >> No. Okay. Thank you very much, Michelle, for presenting at the committee today. >> Thank you. Would anyone Oh, sorry. We have a speaker on the item. Uh Nicole Curado. Nicole, are you there? Um, I would like to say that one of the things you need to bear in mind is that a lot of women who are going to be living at what one of the things that hasn't been looked at is neuroaccessibility and sensory friendliness in these homes. Um, as an autistic woman, I recognize that I need to have a quiet place. I need to have somewhere that that isn't being bombarded with outside noise, isn't having a lot of people talking at once. So, a lot of the women's shelters would not be suitable and autistic women because of the, you know, the high masking and because of that, social skill challenges are sometimes going to be more likely to be taken advantage of by men. So, oh, obviously, uh, autistic women can have very healthy relationships, but you know, what I need for a home is I need to have a quiet environment, an environment that, you know, where I I can have basically a safe sanctuary. I I want somewhere that that has, you know, good sound management and is also going to be respecting my need for for quiet and my need for an environment that where I can have my own space and where I can get away from sensory overload. So that's that's something to to bear in mind. But also another thing is if it's an apartment, you want to be feeling safe in the elevators. You know, it might not I might not feel safe if I'm the only person in the elevator with a man. You know, there's these are things to think about. having not having, you know, dark corridors where you have to walk into, you know, having the areas be well lit outside, having, you know, not having long hallways where where Ben could, you know, abuse you or or laundry that, you know, might be, you know, alone with with somebody. You want everywhere to be th those areas that the hallways and the elevators to be communal areas. So you want them to, you know, woman to feel like, you know, I would I would want any woman would want something where she feels safe, where she's not going to feel like she's alone with a man. you know that that that's the kind of thing you know it's all things to think about and especially for women who are like myself who are neurode divergent and often ADHD as well and we'll sometimes be talking to people and you know so that those are all things to to consider neuroccessibility and sensory friendliness but also safety especially for for neurode divergent women like myself who are distractable and autistic and and very small. >> Thank you, Nicole. Uh, does anybody have any questions for Nicole? No. Seeing none. Thank you very much. Um, would anyone like to speak on this item? No. Okay. I will just say very very insightful presentation and thank you for coming to present to TAC. We appreciated having you. Um and so hearing no further speakers, I will move the motion to receive the item for information. All those in favor? Any opposed? That is carried. Uh before we end the meeting today, I will move a motion to excuse the absentees of TAC members who were not able to attend today's meeting. Thank you. I'll ask the clerk to display the motion and I will read it aloud. that the Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee excuse the absence of Anika Abdullah, Richard Francis, Dana Francis, Miranda Frey, Liv Mendelson, and Hannah Clark Andrews from the May 4th, 2026 Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting. All those in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Uh, that concludes our business. Uh, thank you very much, members and staff. Our next meeting, our meeting is now adjourned. Our next meeting is on June 15th, 2026. Thank you and have a good rest of your day.