TORONTO – Media Access Canada (MAC) is gathering support from the country’s disability organizations to head up the newly established broadcasting accessibility fund (BAF).
The CRTC mandated the $5.7 million fund earlier this year as part of BCE’s tangible benefits when it purchased CTV. The Commission directed that the fund’s control be in the hands of the accessibility community with two third voting and board positions, and that the remaining third be filled by members of the broadcast industry.
MAC said that both it and the members of the Access 2020 Coalition have sent submissions to the CRTC stressing that voting control must remain in the hands of the accessibility community in order for the BAF to fulfil its mandate.
“The beauty of the MAC structure is that it would put the accessibility community on an equal footing with the broadcast community, said Louise Gillis, national president of Canadian Council of the Blind, in a statement. “Only then is effective collaboration possible.”
“What is essential now is for individual organizations to move beyond their own interests”, added Claudette Laroque of the Canadian Learning Disabilities Association. “We in the accessibility community have come together to speak as one. We would like to see the broadcast community do the same. In the spirit of co-operation we hope that the entire broadcasting community will be represented on the board administering the BAF rather than any one individual broadcaster agenda.”
