Why Every Municipality Needs an Up-to-Date Accessibility Plan

Accessibility isn't just about ramps and automatic doors—it's about ensuring that everyone in the community can fully participate in public life. For municipalities, having an up-to-date accessibility plan is more than a legal requirement—it's a smart, inclusive, and community-building move.

What Is an Accessibility Plan?

An accessibility plan is a document that outlines how a municipality will identify, remove, and prevent barriers for people with disabilities. These barriers can be physical, technological, or even attitudinal in nature. The plan covers everything from public buildings and sidewalks to websites and customer service.

Why Does It Matter?

It Benefits Everyone

Accessibility isn't just for people with long-term disabilities—it makes life easier for many people in the community. Older adults benefit from features such as clear signs, smooth sidewalks, and easy-to-use public washrooms. Parents pushing strollers appreciate ramps and automatic doors. People recovering from an injury or surgery may need temporary support, such as handrails or elevators. Even delivery drivers, service workers, and tourists find accessible spaces more convenient and safer to navigate. When public spaces are designed with everyone in mind, the whole community becomes more welcoming, inclusive, and functional.

When a community is accessible, it becomes easier for everyone to move around, use services, and feel welcome. That’s good for public health, safety, and overall quality of life.

It Builds Trust and Inclusion

When a municipality invests in accessibility, it sends a powerful message: we care about all our residents. This builds trust between the local government and the community. People are more likely to attend public meetings, volunteer, and participate in local events when they feel included and valued.

Inclusion also means listening to people with lived experience. Involving residents with disabilities in planning and decision-making helps ensure that changes are meaningful and effective. It’s not just about meeting standards—it’s about building relationships.

It’s the Law

In Manitoba, municipalities are legally required to have accessibility plans under The Accessibility for Manitobans Act. These plans must be reviewed and updated regularly to stay compliant.

In Saskatchewan, municipalities are required by law to have an accessibility plan in place by December 3, 2025, under The Accessible Saskatchewan Act.

It Supports Economic Development

Accessible communities are good for business. Tourists with mobility challenges will choose destinations where they can move around easily. Families and retirees may decide to settle in towns that offer inclusive public spaces and services.

Businesses also benefit when more people can access their storefronts, restaurants, and offices. Accessibility improvements—like better lighting, wider doorways, and clear signage—can increase foot traffic and customer satisfaction.

Municipalities that prioritize accessibility are more attractive to investors, developers, and new residents. It’s a smart way to grow your local economy.

It Helps with Planning and Budgeting

An up-to-date accessibility plan acts like a roadmap. It helps municipalities identify which barriers need to be addressed first, estimate costs, and set realistic timelines. This makes it easier to apply for grants, coordinate with departments, and avoid last-minute fixes.

Instead of reacting to complaints or emergencies, municipalities can plan and make steady progress. This saves money in the long run and ensures that improvements are thoughtful and sustainable.

Final Thoughts

Accessibility isn’t something a municipality can check off a list and forget. It’s a continuous process of listening, learning, and improving. Communities change, technologies evolve, and residents’ needs shift over time. That’s why keeping your accessibility plan up to date is so important—it ensures your municipality stays responsive and relevant.

By maintaining and updating your plan, your municipality shows:

• Leadership: You’re setting an example for other communities by prioritizing inclusion and equity.

• Compassion: You recognize and value the diverse needs of your residents, including those who are often overlooked.

• Foresight: You’re planning for a future where everyone can participate fully in community life, regardless of ability.

An up-to-date accessibility plan is more than a document—it’s a reflection of your municipality’s values. It’s about creating a place where people feel safe, respected, and empowered. When accessibility is woven into the fabric of your community, everyone benefits.

No Safety Net: How Weak Rules and Poor Training Leave Municipal Administrators in a Tough Spot.

We just got home from the UMAAS conference, and something troubled me on the drive and late into the night. It still bothers me today, and so I write.

I was delighted to see many of the administrators we work with on everything from strategic planning to impromptu phone calls. But I heard a common theme at this conference, that niggles at me.

Being a municipal administrator is one of the most challenging jobs around. Every day, they are in front of the population, expecting to balance community needs, tight budgets, and constant pressure from their Council, who do not understand the difference between their election promises and the legislation. Add in the select few residents who think that paying taxes gives them the right to act like an ass in the municipal office, and you have a lot of pressure on one pair of shoulders.

The legislation and the rules that are supposed to protect the administrators are so weak and vague that they are useless to those who ran for Council based on their egos. When councillors ignore these rules, they make the administrator's job hard. The training administrators get does not equip them to deal with the abuse and harassment that is often viewed as an occupational hazard.

A System That Doesn't Help

A Council can go from a functioning Council to a disaster with one election. All it takes is one loud-mouthed shnook (if you heard that in Foghorn Leghorn's voice, you are my people), and the system goes into chaos. I know of some councils that spend so much time with legal issues that one wonders if they get any actual work done. It costs money, the village knows where its idiot is, and people lose faith in the local government. And when the administrator goes…." hey, waitaminnit…you can't do that!" the Council threatens their jobs, or they are fired.

They reach out for help. They call everyone they can think of, even me. The administrators are told that councils are autonomous and encouraged to get a lawyer at their own expense and to duke it out in the courts. Most often, administrators don't. Because in our small population communities, everyone knows your business, some councillors have no class and blurt only their side of the story on Coffee Row, and lots of those administrators need their jobs. There is nowhere to go because they get the same BS answer everywhere. There is legislation, but little you can do with a Council that won't follow it.

Autonomous Should Not Mean Above the Law

Where did we get the idea that having rules means you cannot be autonomous within your scope? I am autonomous, but I still get a ticket if I speed. (ask me how I know). Yet nobody who writes the legislation is interested in adding enforcement, leaving it up to Councils to police themselves. They all have a Code of Conduct, Ethics policy, and bylaws. They don't care to enforce it. If they don't police themselves, the administrator bears the brunt. (To those councils who follow the rules, your administrator loves you, and I do too.)

Having a standard that doesn't get pitched around every time there is an election means administrators are free to do their jobs.

Oh, But if We Make the Councillors Accountable, They Won't Run Again

Say that again, slowly. Now show me why that is a problem. So what if they don't? Is our only alternative crap leadership over no leadership? How do we know that will happen? A 2022 study from MIT's Sloan School of Management demonstrated that people leave their jobs due to toxic workplace culture. Isn't it possible that if Councils resumed their once prestigious roles, people who care about the community might be interested in running?

Will those people run if we make training mandatory? I'm not saying that all Councillors need it; many are capable, love their community, and do a better job than I ever could. But making training mandatory would weed out the ones whose sole purpose for running for election was to fire the foreman. And who needs him? (or her?).

Better training doesn't hurt anyone. I'll go one step further. Being a Councillor should be a paid position requiring qualifications like those found everywhere in government, except "municipal." At the very least, councillors should understand that their authority comes from the province, not the people who elected them. They can serve those who elected them better if they know and follow the legislation.

Moving Forward

Our communities need better laws that protect administrators and hold councillors accountable. Enforceable laws that don't depend on the person being abused to come up with the funds for the lawyer are needed.

If local governments adopted strong, clear policies and offered the appropriate training, municipal administrators might be easier to find and certainly easier to keep.

Final Thoughts

I would love to hear from anyone with ideas about how we can support the administrators in pushing for change or how we can change this system. Our economic well-being is at stake when small populations are at risk. Their best chance at survival is not to deal with things that could easily be prevented if we just figured it out.

The Council is NOT the Town--It’s just the people who showed up to take care of it.

“The Town should have known, the Town should have taken care of it….isn’t that the Town’s job?? Why doesn’t the Town do this…or the Town do that?” 

I hear something like that almost every day. Mostly the question is rhetorical. They don’t want an answer, what they are really saying is “the Town messed up,” “our Council sucks” and other equally derogatory things. I noticed too, that much of what the regular, non-Council affiliated folk think and say, is often based on not having any idea about how Councils work. It’s like this:  

1. The Council sets policies—they don’t run day to day operations. Council’s job is creating policy and strategic direction, and it is the Administration (CAO) and staff who implement those plans within the parameters of that policy. Council has only one employee under the legislation and that is the CAO.  

2. Municipal staff are professionals, not politicians. They are hired for their expertise, and qualifications, and work within the established policies set by the Council.  

3. The Town’s Identity comes from its people, businesses and organizations. A municipality is more than its government—the municipality is defined by its residents, businesses and community groups. Altogether, you ARE the town.  

4. The Town’s authority comes from the province. Local governments are not the same as a volunteer committee. They are government. As such, they are expected to exercise their authority within the legislation, specifically through policy, bylaw and resolution.  

5. Funding comes from limited resources. Municipalities rely on property taxes, grants and fees, and there is never enough money to do all the things municipalities would like to do. Asset management plans are legislated, and the community and the government expect municipal government to prioritize those projects in a way that results in a sustainable financial future.  

6. Not everything is up to the municipal government, the Town office, or the Council. Healthcare, highways and education fall under provincial or federal jurisdiction, not the municipality.  

7. Municipalities work alongside community partners, nonprofits, volunteers and businesses. It is their responsibility to foster growth rather than directly manage all of it. When you say “the Town should…” - who exactly are you referring to? And why do you think they should know? Why do you think the rest of us should want to pay for your thing with our tax dollars?  

8. Your opinion matters. Residents of a community influence decisions by participating in consultations, town halls, and committee work, not just by voting.  Spreading gossip about your elected officials is just rude, and you should stop. Your opinion matters. Your temper tantrum doesn’t.  

9. Decision making is a balancing act. The Council must weigh the financial constraints, the current and future needs of every citizen that lives in your municipality, and regulatory requirements. They cannot respond to only public pressure.  

10. Municipal government must follow provincial and federal laws. They operate within legal frameworks that dictate how they can govern, budget and plan.  

    
    

Municipal Councils are made up of ordinary people who care about their community enough to run for election. Their authority comes from provincial legislation, not personal power, and their job is to set policy—not to handle every complaint or request directly. 

Despite their efforts, Council members often become the target of frustration from residents who misunderstand how local government works. Many assume the Council controls everything, when municipal operations are bound by laws, budgets, and shared responsibilities with provincial and federal governments. 

The truth is that the community isn’t just the Council—it’s the people, businesses, and organizations that shape it every day. A thriving community depends on engagement, collaboration, and informed discussion—not just blaming the people who stepped up to do the work.