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August 18, 2010

The Harper government is moving to eliminate the Canada census long form questionnaire and replace it with a voluntary survey. The long form was sent to 20% of households and is a critical source of information about diversity, employment, income, education and other characteristics of Canadians. It is essential to business, research, planning and good public policies and programs. Stakeholders ranging from the business community, to university researchers to social justice advocates are raising their voices to oppose this move.
 

We call on the Canadian government to reverse its decision to eliminate the mandatory long form Canada census questionnaire. The information collected through this form is critical to understanding the character and diversity of Canada. The long form questionnaire is an essential tool to enable business and social planning, research, and development of programs for the well-being of Canadians.

 Sign the Petition

News Stories

Danish Hearing Aid Manufacturer Helps Newfoundland and Labrador Families - read the story here

USA Today - Hearing Loss Hits 1 in 5 teens.  Read the article here

American Medical Association - Change of Prevalence of Hearing Loss in US Adolescents.

Healthy Hearing - Coping with Hearing Loss: Hearing Problems Affect Entire Family

May 19, 2010

Canadian Hard of Hearing Association - Reference Document Canadian Hearing Aid Subsidies

May 13, 2010

The Canadian Hard of Hearing Association - Newfoundland and Labrador introduces an Audiology Scholarship for residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.

For more information, please see the Scholarship and Bursary section of our Web site.

The Lions Club of Gander making a presentation of $1000.00 to the Gander Branch of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association.

CHHA Gander Branch making a presentation of Hushh-ups to Gander Academy.

INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM CHHA MEMBERS

Captioning and Court Reporting Program

NAIT has recently proposed program cuts, and the Captioning and Court Reporting program is one of the 13 programs identified. The proposal was presented to Advanced Education and then to NAIT’s Academic Council, which met on Friday, April 9.  At the meeting on Friday, both the NAIT Academic Staff Association (NASA) and the NAIT Student Association (NAITSA) requested further information from the programs before proceeding. The issue of program cuts was tabled, and the program has been asked to provide relevant additional information for the re-scheduled meeting on Friday, April 16.  

As part of this submission, we are requesting input from stakeholders to clarify and counter some information that has been provided to the government. This is a critical time for the program, the reporting profession, and consumers of CART and broadcast captioning. Without a strong response from all stakeholders, the result will be permanent damage to the profession and consumers of its services. Accordingly, we are requesting individual CHHA member’s feedback and support. SEND YOUR RESPONSE BY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14.

1.       Please send your response in the form of an email to the Program Chair at anneh@nait.ca - do not provide an attachment. Insert the following subject line: Stakeholder Feedback on NAIT’s Proposed Suspension of the Captioning and Court Reporting Program.

2.       Your email will be included with feedback from other stakeholders and used to provide information to decision-makers with respect to the program suspension.

3.       The body of the letter should open with the following list of decision-makers, and the email will be sent by the Program Chair to the appropriate areas during the review process.

         NAIT Academic Council

NAITSA (NAIT Student Association)

NASA (NAIT Academic Staff Association)

NAIT Academic Management Team

NAIT Board of Governors

Government of Alberta, Advanced Education

Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities

Please reference the following issues from your perspective in the body of your email:

1.       How have you benefitted from the skills of graduates of the Captioning and Court Reporting program, who work as CART Providers, broadcast captioners, and legal reporters?

2.       How does having the Captioning and Court Reporting program at NAIT contribute to NAIT’s reputation and brand – i.e. meeting the communication needs of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities.

3.       Outline the potential negative impacts that would result from the suspension of the Captioning and Court Reporting program – i.e. lack of CART providers and impacts on the deaf and hard of hearing community, including education of students; fewer broadcast captioners and reduced communication access for the deaf and hard of hearing community; increased difficulty for multi-stakeholders in meeting targets of human rights legislation, etc.

4.       Any additional information that you deem important to this issue.

We understand that this is an emotional issue, but please balance your feelings with relevant facts and evidence in your email. We thank you for your quick response to this urgent matter.

Please direct any questions to:

Anne Henderson, Program Chair

Captioning and Court Reporting

780-471-8351

anneh@nait.ca

From CHHA Ontario Chapter

The following message was sent to the CRTC on their online complaint form. Please feel free to voice your concerns as well.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/RapidsCCM/Register.asp?lang=e

The Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association is concerned about the Closed Captioning appearing on HDTV TVs with a digital transmission via Rogers Cable in Ottawa. We have noted that Channels 5, 6, 9, 21, and several others are all displaying a new format for captioning that is extremely hard to read. They are providing captions but our association believes that the accessibility is being compromised with the new format. 

What is CRTC doing to standardize captions for all broadcasters? Currently the format for captioning can be very different from channel to channel. However the captioning provided on HDTVs with digital cables is horrendous. We dot want this to become the norm in Canada.

March 29, 2010

http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2010/99.aspx

(No. 99 - March 11, 2010 - 11:15 a.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, today announced that, with the support of all provinces and territories, the Government of Canada has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at United Nations headquarters in New York City.

“Canada is committed to promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and enabling their full participation in society,” said Minister Cannon. “Ratification of this convention underscores the Government of Canada’s strong commitment to this goal.”

“Canada is proud to have been one of the first countries to originally sign the Convention in 2007,” said Minister Finley. “The ratification of this agreement is just further acknowledgement that Canada is a world leader in providing persons with disabilities the same opportunities in life as all Canadians.”

“Today is a momentous day for Canadians with disabilities and their families,” said Bendina Miller, President of the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL). “CACL is thrilled that Canada has ratified the Convention. Canada has been an international leader on disability and human rights, and through ratification can continue to play this important role. CACL looks forward to working with the Government of Canada on implementing and monitoring compliance with the Convention.”

“The Government of Canada’s ratification today of the Convention is a historic event for Canadians with disabilities,” said Marie White, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities. “It signals the end of an era where people with disabilities were seen as objects of charity. Ratification of the Convention makes real our goal of recognition as full and equal citizens of Canada.

“Ratification of the Convention puts an end to the medical model and opens exciting new opportunities for building a more inclusive and accessible Canada. Canadians with disabilities applaud the Government of Canada for this historic action.”

“As the Government of Canada continues to play a leading role with respect to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in sport, we wish our paralympic athletes the best of luck at the upcoming Paralympic Games in Vancouver,” said Minister Cannon.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the Convention are required to promote, protect and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities, and to ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law.

There are approximately 4.4 million persons with disabilities in Canada—about 14.3 percent of the population.

December 18, 2009 - Free Resources!

CHHA National has published a Noise Thermometer for hearing prevention.  Download this free PDF resource today!

CHHA-NL has recently received many requests for it's International Day of Persons with Disabilities poster. We now have a revised version of this poster available as a free resource - it can be downloaded and saved in PDF format or JPEG (graphic) format. 

The CHHA Young Adults (YA) group have produced their own podcast show called HOHTV on facebook and below is the link to view it..

It is a wonderful accomplishment and I think they should be congratulated on this huge effort and wonderful initiative.

Enjoy!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxRFI7JiD3I

Press Release

December 3, 2009

For Immediate Release

Government of Canada Tables in the House The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Canadians with Disabilities Celebrate This Milestone Event

Today, Minister Peter MacKay, on behalf of the Government of Canada, tabled in the House the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  This is the final step in the process of Ratification of the Convention, one that has been eagerly awaited by Canadians with disabilities.

"Not since the inclusion of disability in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms have Canadians with disabilities seen such substantive attention given to the rights of persons with disabilities," said Steve Estey, Chairperson of CCD's International Committee.  "This is truly a historic day for persons with disabilities and we applaud the Government of Canada's commitment to promoting and ensuring the rights of Canadians with disabilities," said Estey.

"Creation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations was a 5 year process and at every step of the way people with disabilities were centrally engaged in the discussions," stated Marie White, Chair of CCD.  "The Government of Canada included people with disabilities in their official delegation to the United Nations during the development of the CRPD and they funded the disability community to provide advice on Articles of the Convention as they were developed.  Our expectation is now that, once ratification is complete, they will centrally include us in the development of a national action plan to make real the promises of the Convention," said White.

December 3rd, 2009 International Day of Persons with Disabilities is truly a day of celebration for Canadians with disabilities.  Our Government, by moving forward with the final steps of ratification of the CRPD, has made it clear that the issues of Canadians with disabilities are of national importance and deserve substantive attention.

"Disability has not been and is not a partisan issue.  All parties in the House of Commons have supported development of the CRPD and ratification of it.  Today Canadians with disabilities say thank you to all Members of Parliament and to all Parties who have worked over the years to bring us to this milestone moment in time," said Estey.

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For More Information Contact:

Marie White, Chairperson, CCD - (709) 739-8233 Laurie Beachell, National Coordinator, CCD - (204) 947-0303    (Cell)(204) 981-6179

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