Ontario’s Main Street Public Spaces to Become More Accessible for Everyone
The Accessibility on Main Street Project aimed to identify the built environment accessibility challenges experienced by OBIAA’s 300 BIAs and their more than 60,000 business members and to offer a range of possible solutions.
This project provided the following:
- Clarified the obligations of businesses and BIAs under the AODA’s Accessibility Standard for the Design of Public Spaces (DOPS);
- Identified the ways in which businesses and BIAs influence the accessibility of their public spaces;
- Showcased real examples of how businesses in Ontario and elsewhere have made their built environments more accessible to their communities and customers;
- Identified invisible barriers businesses customers may be experiencing and how to reduce/remove/prevent them.
The project was guided by an Advisory Committee and we would like to thank them for their commitment and time, they are:
Lisa Kelly, Advisor, c/o St. Thomas Downtown Development Board
William Barnes Jr.
Debbie Kirwin, Chair Huntsville, Accessibility Advisory Committee, Huntsville & District of Muskoka
Frank Giannone, President FRAM Building Group Ltd.
Sam McFarlane, Accessibility Coordinator Elgin County
Cathy Quinton, Coordinator, Leslieville BIA
Rachel Braithwaite, Executive Director, Barton Village
Matt Zawada, Accessibility Advisor. Town of Aurora
Kay Matthews, Executive Director OBIAA
OBIAA would like to thank Constance Exley, Project Manager, Accessibility Ontario for her continued guidance and wisdom!
To all of our Webinar Presenters and Moderators, Thank You, they are:
Councillor Andrew Marks, Timmins (OBIAA Board Member)
Anne Dubois, Savon Dubois, Uxbridge
Brent Kittmer,Town of St. Mary’s
Cathy Quinton, Coordinator, Leslieville BIA
John Kiru, Executive Director, Toronto Association of BIAs (TABIA) (OBIAA Board Member)
Julie Johnson, The Flower Shoppe and More, St. Mary’s, ON
Matt Zawada, Accessibility Advisor. Town of Aurora
Meg Dunning, Guelph BIA
Sam McFarlane, Accessibility Coordinator Elgin County
Sue Nicholson, Collingwood Downtown BIAA
Terry Guiel, Downtown Peterborough BIA
See all webinars and resources on the OBIAA Accessibility Resources Page 
