The Rick Hansen Foundation is receiving $5 million in provincial funding so it can give out even more grants to cities to make them more accessible.
The City of Richmond is already working with the foundation on accessibility initiatives – as are seven other B.C. municipalities – and this funding will allow the expansion of these grants, including to Indigenous communities.
The Rick Hansen Foundation BC Accessibility Grants program will be used throughout B.C. to evaluate how accessible facilities are, upgrade three sites and train city staff on accessibility.
The funding will also be used for accessibility training, development of digital tools, an annual conference on accessibility, awareness campaigns and accessibility research.
“Ensuring our community are accessible to people of all ages and abailities is critical to an equitable and inclusive society,” said Rick Hansen, founder and namesake of the organization.
Accessibility initiatives are meant to benefit people with temporary and permanent disabilities, seniors and parents with strollers.
There are 926,000 people in B.C. with disabilities.
As of Sept. 1, 2022, 750 public-sector organizations were required to have an accessibility committee, plan and a feedback tool on their accessibility.
