This newsletter/update is to keep members of CAN, or interested parties, up to date on our monthly meeting, what we discussed, what our plans are for the upcoming month, and any other pertinent information covered during the meeting. We understand that not everyone is able to attend a monthly meeting and hope that this will keep those interested in CAN in the loop. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments concerning our meetings and/or this update by e-mailing us at info@canbc.org, or by phoning (604) 466-8771.
Thank you for you interest. Your ideas, suggestions, and input will help to create positive change in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Together we CAN!
CAN’s April meeting was a field trip to the OCP Visioning Meeting that was held at Thomas Haney Secondary School. This meeting is part of the process to determine what the residents of Maple Ridge like currently, and want and need in the future. It was interesting to hear all the different views as to why people live in Maple Ridge, why they hope to stay in Maple Ridge, or what they feel must be done to improve Maple Ridge so that they will continue to stay here. The meeting was broken up into twenty groups of ten people. Each group discussed a different question, such as "What would you like to change or create in Maple Ridge", "How is Maple Ridge different from Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, or Pitt Meadows?", and "What words do you hope your grandchildren will use to describe Maple Ridge?". Each table was given an hour to discuss an overall theme and then the sub themes.
Accessibility was mentioned at several tables and we hope that the municipality understands the importance of accessibility. If you would like to have your say heard please go to www.mapleridge.org and fill out the questionnaire. There will be a second meeting on Saturday, March 25th from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. CAN hopes to continue to support the municipality in creating a plan for the future, a plan that considers the needs of all residents and which implements barrier-free designs.
CAN was invited to have a tour at Westview Secondary School earlier this month as a member had brought concerns of accessibility to the attention of those attending the January meeting. The tour was conducted by a special needs teacher, and the principal introduced herself and expressed her wish to help in anyway possible. After the tour of the school was completed CAN was satisfied with the accessibility of the school. The accessibility concerns previously brought to CAN were more to do with miscommunication than physical barriers. We, at CAN, are quite impressed with the accessibility of Westview and with the various classroom equipment that they supply to students with special needs. We were happy to see that this issue was not an issue at all.
CAN continues to work on their project with getmenus.ca. CAN is reworking the accessibility checklist for restaurants to streamline the process of reviewing the restaurants. We hope to have the prototype of our accessibility review (which will appear on getmenus.ca) finished within the next two weeks. We will then work with the staff at getmenus.ca to meld our vision with their web site. We are happy to be given the opportunity to review the accessibility of interested restaurants.
The review will be done by a CAN member, using a accessibility checklist that was made with the help of staff at the Canadian National Institute of the Blind, the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the BC Paraplegic Association. Can also conferred with seniors, parents, and a stroke recovery group. After this checklist has been completed we will condense the review into one or two paragraphs for the web site. We hope to have graphics on the site to indicate, at a glance, if the restaurant is accessible for various mobility devices or user groups. In addition to having a review of the restaurant on the web site we will condense the checklist into a list for the restaurant owner and/or manager. We hope that by compiling this list for the restaurant they can see where they are accessible, and where they could use some improvement. Those at CAN believe that one of the main reasons that barriers and inaccessibility continue to occur is because those with mobility difficulties do not consider accessibility because they do not experience the same obstacles that others with mobility difficulties experience. We hope that by offering the checklist to those at the restaurants they will look for ways to make any barriers within their establishment less of an obstacle for their patrons. Part of CAN’s mission is to educate those in the communities who have no, or little, knowledge of what accessibility and barrier-free designs are.
CAN is working to improve CAN’s web site. We have been receiving positive feedback from people who visit our site and we hope to improve upon their experience. The two sections that CAN has been focusing on improving are: Support Groups, and CAN Successes.
We have been contacting various leaders of support groups within our communities to ask their permission to include the information about their groups on our web site. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and we hope to double the listings by the end of the month. We also hope to improve the ease of use for those who visit the support group listings by separating the listings into three categories: Health, Addictions, and Social. These categories would be at the top of the screen and the user would be able to choose the type of support group they are looking for. We will also improve the visibility of the title of the support group. We will continue to contact any new or existing support groups within Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows in the hopes that we can create an easy-to-use, and definitive, listing of support groups. The leaders of the support groups have been very encouraging in our efforts as the support groups have very little, if any, available funds to advertise. If you know of anyone who runs a support group please let us know about them so that we can list them on the site.
The other section that we have been working on, and hope to complete
by the end of the month, is the Success section. CAN is a relatively
new organization but with the help of our dedicated members we have
been able to create some positive change within our communities. We
hope to celebrate these successes by listing them on the site so we are
reminded that our hard work is creating awareness and improvements.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for projects that CAN should work on please contact us by e-mail at info@canbc.org or by phone at (604) 466-8771. We thank everyone for their suggestions, feedback, and positive comments. We hope to continue working with members of the two communities to improve the accessibility of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows and to work towards creating all-inclusive communities.
We welcome any feedback concerning CAN’s goals, projects, and/or this newsletter. If you know of anyone interested in joining CAN, volunteering, or receiving the newsletter please let them know about our web site www.canbc.org, and pass on our contact information: e-mail info@canbc.org, phone number (604) 466-8771.
Thank you for you interest. Your ideas, suggestions, and input will help to create positive change in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Together we CAN!
We hope to see you at our next meeting on April 24th at the Fraser Room in the Maple Ridge Library from 6:30 - 8:30 PM.
Our next meeting will be on the fourth Monday of the month as the library is closed on the third Monday because it is Easter.
Remember together we CAN!
