Accessibility

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) was passed by the Ontario legislature with the goal of creating a fully accessible Ontario by 2025.

AODA Section 1:

“Recognizing the history of discrimination against persons with disabilities in Ontario, the purpose of this Act is to benefit all Ontarians by,

(a) developing, implementing and enforcing accessibility standards in order to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities with respect to goods, services, facilities, accommodation, employment, buildings, structures and premises on or before January 1, 2025; and

(b) providing for the involvement of persons with disabilities, of the Government of Ontario and of representatives of industries and of various sectors of the economy in the development of the accessibility standards.”

One of the five standards developed, and now law, is the Customer Service Standard. This standard details specific requirements for all organizations with one or more employees. Under the Customer Service Standard, all applicable employees, volunteers, board members, contractors and family members, must be trained on the following areas:

1. Establish policies, practices and procedures on providing goods, services or facilities to people with disabilities.
2. Use reasonable efforts to ensure that your policies, practices and procedures are consistent with the core principles of independence, dignity, integration and equality of opportunity.
3. Set a policy on allowing people to use their own, personal assistive devices to access your goods and use your services and about any other measures your organization offers (assistive devices, services, or methods) to enable them to access your goods and use your services.
4. Communicate with a person with a disability in a manner that takes into account his or her disability.
5. Allow people with disabilities to be accompanied by their guide dog or service animal in those areas of the premises you own or operate that are open to the public, unless the animal is excluded by another law. If a service animal is excluded by law, use other measures to provide services to the person with a disability.
6. Permit people with disabilities who use a support person to bring that person with them while accessing goods or services in premises open to the public or third parties.
7. Where admission fees are charged, provide notice ahead of time on what admission, if any, would be charged for a support person of a person with a disability.
8. Provide notice when facilities or services that people with disabilities rely on to access or use your goods or services are temporarily disrupted.
9. Train all staff, volunteers, contractors and any other people who interact with the public or other third parties on your behalf on a number of topics as outlined in the Customer Service Standard.
10. Train all staff, volunteers, contractors and any other people who are involved in developing your policies, practices and procedures on the provision of goods or services on a number of topics as outlined in the customer service standard.
11. Establish a process for people to provide feedback on how you provide goods or services to people with disabilities and how you will respond to any feedback and take action on any complaints. Make the information about your feedback process readily available to the public.

The Casablanca Hotel is committed to excellence in serving all customers including persons with disabilities.

With certain types of disabilities, an animal may be more of an assistive form of aid rather than a device. These services animals are trained to carry out certain tasks that help people with disabilities. There are three types of assistive animals that have been categorized by the international assistance animal community:

1. Guide Animals: Used to guide the blind
2. Hearing Animals: Used to help signal the hearing impaired
3. Service Animals: Used to do work for persons with disabilities other than blindness or deafness

Under the Customer Service Standard, service animals must be allowed on parts of the workplace premises (excluding certain areas such as a kitchen). Fines for denying a service animal access in areas for the general public can be up to $3000 in Ontario.

The Casablanca Hotel will welcome people with disabilities and their service animals into our workplace when it is readily apparent that the animal is used by the person for reasons relating to his or her disability or, if the person provides a letter from a regulated health care professional, confirming the need for a service animal for reasons relating to a disability.

Under the Customer Service Standard all employees must be trained. The Casablanca Hotel will provide training to all employees, volunteers and others who deal with the public or other third parties on our behalf.

Our training will include:

• An overview of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005
• The requirements for the Customer Service Standard
• How to interact with people with various types of disabilities
• How to interact with people with disabilities who use an assistive device
• How to interact with people who use the assistance of a service animal
• How to interact with people who use a support person
• How to use any equipment or devices available at your workplace to assist with providing goods or services to persons with disabilities
• What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty accessing our organization’s goods or services

New employees will be trained after being hired, within two (2) weeks, and retrained in the event that changes are made to the policy or the AODA legislation.

The Casablanca Hotel is committed to treating all people in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence. We believe in integration and equal opportunity and are committed to meeting the needs of people with disabilities in a timely manner. We will do so by preventing and removing barriers to accessibility and meeting accessibility requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005).

The Casablanca Hotel has developed and made available upon request, this policy and a multi-year accessibility plan which outlines the actions we will put in place to improve opportunities for people with disabilities.

Please refer to the multi-year plan for details about how The Casablanca Hotel will address the following:

Information and Communications Standard:

• Accessible Emergency Information
• Feedback from Customers and Employees
• Accessible Formats and Communication Supports
• Emergency Procedures/Plan or Public Safety Information
• Accessible Websites & Web Content
• Kiosks

Employment Standard:

• Recruitment, assessment and selection
• Accessible formats and communication supports for employees
• Workplace emergency response information
• Documented Individual accommodation plans
• Return to work process
• Performance Management
• Career Development and Advancement
• Redeployment

Design of Public Spaces Standard

• New or redeveloped existing exterior paths
• New or redeveloped existing off-street parking facilities
• Service Counters

The Transportation Standard and some of the requirements under the Design of Public Spaces Standard do not pertain to The Casablanca Hotel at this time. Should this change in the future, The Casablanca Hotel will ensure it meets the requirements of these standards.