History
The Committee started in 1998 when Comox Councillor Norm Reynolds approached the Coordinator of Special Needs Recreation, Heather Crites. Special Needs Recreation was a program with the Courtenay Recreational Association created to support people with disabilities, funded primarily through the CVRD with a Valley wide mandate
The goals were to:
- Educate and Raise Awareness about accessibility issues;
- Be a resource for accessibility information; and
- Advocate for improved accessibility, primarily at the local level.
The CV Accessibility Committee was never formally constituted with terms of reference but had a dedicated group of community members.
Activities included:
- developing a wide base of disability information regarding the built environment and accessibility grants
- working with local government, businesses, and organizations to help make the Comox Valley a barrier-free community.
- making presentations, information displays and promotional material; and
- consulting with numerous organizations.
Accessibility Committee 2013
This was important work – for example, the Building Code did not then require visual as well as auditory fire alarms or that all exits be accessible and did not consider medical scooters to be assistive devices for indoor locations. The current BC Building Code still does not consider medical scooters in the design of indoor spaces and does not require all multi story public buildings to be accessible.
In 2017/18 Courtenay Recreational Association programming was transitioned to the City of Courtenay and retirement of volunteers and staff left a gap in both energy and expertise. This resulted in no formal arrangement between the Accessibility Committee and local governments, except for Cumberland where a separate smaller committee of the Cumberland Council is in place.
Between 2018 and 2020 the Accessibility Committee acted as an ad hoc committee without funding or staff support.
In 2020 the Accessibility Committee and the Comox Valley Social Planning Society formed a collaborative relationship to further their mutual work and received joint funding from CVRD to provide administrative support for both groups
In 2021 guidelines were developed for the Accessibility Committee and its name became the Comox Valley Accessibility and Inclusion Committee.