Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean has just over 32,000 people aged 15 and over living with a disability, or 15% of the regional population. However, many buildings are still inaccessible to them, including the town hall of Saguenay.
Samar Muslemani, a citizen of Saguenay, has chosen to lend her voice to the cause. Trained as an occupational therapist, she finds it hard to understand why these people are denied access to public and municipal buildings.
“I work with people every day who live with a disability of any kind. […] These people already have to fight every day to have access to services to have access to care, in addition to not even allowing them to have the same rights as other citizens, for example to attend council borough of their city. For me, it is inconceivable!”, she claimed.
According to elected officials, the problem lies in the construction of the building. It is that during its construction in 1902, it had not been thought to adapt the accesses to the people suffering from handicap.
“The town hall here is made up of multi-levels, that is to say that there are half-floors on the left and on the right and it is extremely expensive to put an elevator”, explained the councilor municipal Marc Bouchard.
According to the councilors present at the town hall of Saguenay Tuesday noon, adapting would represent costs estimated at more than one million dollars.
“There were various requests, the file was analyzed. You know, the city’s budget is $371 million. It may seem trivial 1 million and a few, but when you come to decide, well, you have to go in order of priority. This project has always missed what was the priority,” continued Mr. Bouchard.
Another possible solution was considered and has been the subject of numerous discussions since 2019. At the time, the possibility of holding a borough council in another suitable location, such as Jonquière, had been mentioned. Since then, no action has been taken on this proposal.
For Samar Muslemani, this is a total misunderstanding to which Mr. Bouchard responds. “It has a meaning, I would say, to hold council meetings here. But since it’s been brought up a few times, […] we are going to look at the project again to see what avenues would be available to respond to the concerns of citizens”.
For disability support organizations, although progress has been made, much work remains to be done.
“Even today, unfortunately, yes, we are going to talk about accessibility. There are still things that remain to be done, but the City, with its action plan, is working with its committee. I think there are some who are challenged by this, so what is being done, we are working on it together, ”said Manon Blackburn, director at the Regional Recreation Association for People with Disabilities of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. (ARLPH). In the meantime, a person who wants to access the town hall must notify in advance and be helped by the fire department.
“To take a person in a wheelchair and make him climb the steps of the town hall, it is not something that is to be done because you never know the level of danger and all that. I think the City is very open to having people travel to meet people in places that are more accessible,” continued Ms. Blackburn.
At the end of the municipal council, the director of logistics and information for Saguenay, Sonia Simard, spoke with Samar Muslemani. She should eventually be met by Ms. Simard and the mayor, Julie Dufour, to further discuss the issue of accessibility.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca