Inclusion and Accessibility in Chilliwack

The City of Chilliwack is pleased to announce that the Cheam Leisure Centre has achieved a Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certified Gold rating under the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification™ (RHFAC) program

RHFAC helps improve accessibility in the places people live, work, learn, and play. The rating and Gold certification covers the entire 45,000 square-foot building, including the gymnasium, weight room, squash courts, change rooms, washrooms, meeting room, child minding room, swimming pools, and reception area. The outside area, including the entrances, parking lots, pathways, transit stops, and outdoor play area are also covered.

In order to receive Gold level rating, several accessibility improvements needed to happen, including:

• The addition of four new automatic door openers
• Added proximity sensors on existing door openers
• Exterior large facility signage on side entrances
• New concrete wheelchair letdown
• The creation of two new fully accessible washrooms in the basement, with emergency assistance systems
• Braille wayfinding signage
• Creation of area of refuge, complete with communications in the gym area

The Mayor’s Task Force on Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Accessibility (MTFIDA) was established in the spring of 2020 to provide advice to Council on strategies to reduce social, physical and psychological barriers that prevent people from fully participating in all aspects of community life. In February 2021, the MTFIDA Action Plan was released with goals and action items to move towards those goals.

“One of the goals of the MTFIDA Action Plan is to improve the City’s facilities, services, parks, and public spaces for persons with disabilities,” said Mayor Popove. “This certification is a small step in the direction we want to go to make our facilities more accessible.”

“Congratulations to the City of Chilliwack for achieving our Foundation’s Accessibility Certified Gold rating for the Cheam Leisure Centre. By committing to ensuring all municipal spaces are accessible, the 1 in 5 Canadians living with a disability will feel included in all aspects of their communities. I know Chilliwack’s leadership will inspire others to better understand how inclusive their buildings are and I look forward to the day when all municipalities make this a standard policy for all buildings.” Rick Hansen, Founder, Rick Hansen Foundation.

“I would like to thank the City of Chilliwack for their efforts in upgrading the Cheam Centre to the gold standard,” said Jim Ryan, the local Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Professional who completed the grading assessment of the leisure centre over the summer. “Actively working towards creating greater accessibility in our community is very important to me. Next, I hope to work with residential developers on making apartments and condos more accessible. Finding accessible housing can be a huge barrier for people with access needs.” More information about Jim and his work in the community can be found at rollingthrough.life.

City staff will continue to investigate opportunities to make additional City facilities more accessible. To learn more about the Mayor’s Task Force on Inclusion, Diversity, and Accessibility Action Plan, please visit chilliwack.com/inclusion.

Download the PDF Progress Report to learn more about what has been accomplished since the Plan was adopted.

City Council is committed to supporting an inclusive, diverse, and accessible community. The actions outlined in the Mayor’s Task Force on Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Accessibility’s (MTFIDA) Action Plan guide us in that process. As part of Council’s commitment, the City has prioritized relationship building with our Indigenous neighbours.

As we move forward, we plan on implementing positive changes to reflect our learnings. One change we have made is to include the following land acknowledgment in staff email signature blocks and to start Council meetings.

The City of Chilliwack acknowledges that we are honoured to live, work, and play on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Stó:lō Coast Salish peoples.

We recognize that land acknowledgements are a first step towards the larger process of reconciliation between non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples in Canada. This practice is inspired by the 94 calls to action contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report, and helps Canadians recognize and respect Indigenous peoples’ inherent kinship beliefs when it comes to the land. It serves as a starting place to change how the land is seen and talked about.

As land acknowledgements should always be done with Indigenous consultation, the City would like to thank our First Nations neighbours that helped us develop an inclusive land acknowledgement, including representatives from Stó:lō Nation, Ts’elxwéyeqw Tribe, Skwah First Nation, MTFIDA and the Stó:lō Service Agency.

Thanks to community feedback during the development of the Mayor’s Task Force on Inclusiveness, Diversity and Accessibility (MTFIDA), the City has made chilliwack.com more available and accessible to people with disabilities.

After a review of the City’s website, which included feedback from the Accessibility Advisory Panel, a new interface has been added to chilliwack.com that can make accessibility modifications based on a person’s individual needs. These adjustments are compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which are considered the standard for website accessibility.

Click here to learn more.

The City of Chilliwack is launching a new six-month program called Open Door Fridays, which empowers community members to share their needs and opportunities around inclusion, diversity and accessibility directly with Mayor Ken Popove over Zoom.

From April to September 2021, Mayor Popove has set aside two Fridays a month to meet virtually with residents. These meetings will help the City of Chilliwack understand how it can better support inclusion, diversity and accessibility in the community.

Please note, these are private one-on-one meetings with Mayor Popove via Zoom, with one staff member in attendance. The staff member will be there to take notes, so that in the fall, we can provide Council and the community with a final, anonymous summary report, to protect the privacy of participants.

An online booking form is now available online at chilliwack.com/opendoor for residents that would like to bring forward their thoughts and experiences about inclusiveness, diversity and accessibility in Chilliwack.

Open Door Fridays is an initiative of the Action Plan for the Mayor's Task Force on Inclusiveness, Diversity and Accessibility. It aligns with Goal #5 in the Plan, "Create opportunities for marginalized voices and identities to have access to City of Chilliwack decision-makers."

On February 16, 2021, Chilliwack City Council endorsed the Mayor's Task Force on Inclusiveness, Diversity and Accessibility Action Plan. The vision of the Action Plan is to support an inclusive, diverse, and accessible community where all residents have opportunity to thrive. The plan outlines six main goals:

• Improve the City’s facilities, services, parks, and public spaces for persons with disabilities.
• Prioritize the well-being of marginalized community members.
• Prioritize relationship building with our Indigenous neighbours.
• Prioritize opportunities for equitable and inclusive education for City staff.
• Create opportunities for marginalized voices and identities to have access to City of Chilliwack decision-makers.
• Explore and identify funding opportunities to support inclusion, diversity, and accessibility.

Check out an infographic overview of the Action Plan goals here, or read the Action Plan in full here.