Capital West Accessibility Advisory Committee

Seven municipalities in the West Shore Capital Regional District – Colwood, Esquimalt, Highlands, Langford, Metchosin, Sooke, and View Royal partnered together in November 2023 to form the Capital West Accessibility Advisory Committee.

The Committee has produced the first Accessibility Plan in accordance with the Accessible BC Act. This Plan includes an overarching framework as well as individualized plans specific to the municipality’s needs and initiatives. Each member municipality will be receiving their specific Plan from the Committee before the end of the year 2024.

The Accessible BC Act sets out a series of areas that an Accessibility Plan should consider. In consultation with the Province, it was determined that the focus of the inaugural Accessibility Plan would focus on service delivery and employment, the same two issues focused on by the Province. Prior to commencing work on the Accessibility Plan, the Committee undertook two surveys – the first to seek input as to how people wanted to be engaged, which ran from December 8, 2023, to January 31, 2024, and the second to identify barriers to municipal service delivery and employment that individuals may face, which ran from March 1, 2024, to April 7, 2024. This work then informed the basis for the Committee’s next steps of facilitated public engagement through a consultancy with lived experience. This firm, Changing Paces, led three in-person and four online engagement sessions in July 2024.

The Plan and comments received will then be presented to Council for consideration at a future meeting so that a final Accessibility Plan can be put in place, as set out in the Accessible BC Act. This Plan will serve as the tool for accessibility-related service delivery and employment improvements in the City of Langford as we work towards becoming a barrier-free community.

At its Regular Meeting held Monday, January 13, 2025, the City of Langford Council approved the Joint Accessibility Plan as presented by the Capital West Accessibility Advisory Committee. Next steps include:

• Awaiting approval from partner municipalities' individual sections.
• Designing an accessible document that incorporates all sections of the plan.
• Publishing the completed plan on each member municipality's website.

If you have any questions about the Plan, process, or Committee, please email accessibility@langford.ca