Honourable senators, this week is National AccessAbility Week.

It’s an opportunity to celebrate the invaluable contributions of persons with disabilities in Canada and the work of allies and organizations that are trying to make Canada a more accessible and inclusive place.

Eight million Canadians aged 15 and over have a disability. These Canadians include professionals, colleagues, family members, friends and athletes.

During this National AccessAbility Week, it is fitting that we recognize the efforts being made in our workplace to ensure that each and every one of us is able to fully participate in the democratic process.

I would like to thank Julia Zayed, the Senate’s Accessibility Officer, and the many employees who lead initiatives to achieve the plan’s objectives. Each year, these efforts are summarized in a report that is presented to the Internal Economy Committee and submitted to the Accessibility Commissioner of Canada.

I’d also like to highlight the important work of our parliamentary reporters who provide live captioning of our proceedings in French and English. Thanks to closed captioning of Senate broadcasts and live transcription via our simultaneous transcription communication service, our proceedings are accessible to a greater number of Canadians.

We want to improve accessibility by listening to people with disabilities. To do this, we hold annual consultations, which were launched this week.

During last year’s consultations, we heard from many people and organizations, including Inclusion Canada, the Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility, Specialisterne Canada and Indigenous Disability Canada.

A link to this year’s survey was emailed out this week. I encourage you to fill it out if you have experiences that can help us determine how to eliminate barriers. By doing so, you will help make the Senate a barrier-free environment.

As senators, we must be accessibility leaders in the Senate and in our regions to show that we care about representing all Canadians.

Senators can contribute to these efforts by taking the accessibility awareness course that is part of the Senate’s accessibility plan.

This training, which is available via IntraSen, outlines steps that we can all take to improve accessibility and inclusion in the Senate.

As we mark National AccessAbility Week, let’s recognize that we can all help make our workplace one that is free from barriers and obstacles.

Thank you for your attention.