Ottawa, ON – Today, the Honourable Diane Finley, MP for Haldimand-Norfolk, challenged the Liberal government to end their discrimination against people with visual impairments by seeking unanimous consent to table a second enlarged petition that was previously rejected due to its size. "Quite simply, I'm fighting to make sure that all Canadians have equal opportunity to express their opinions to Parliament. The current rules are just plain wrong: they discriminate against those with visual impairments, and that's what I am trying to fix," said Finley.
Last October, MP Finley attempted to table a petition that was enlarged by Reverend Paul Sherwood of Simcoe, Ontario so that his elderly parishioners could see it well enough to read it. The petition was rejected because it wasn't "on paper of the usual size." In response, MP Finley sought and received the unanimous support of her fellow Members in the House of Commons, and eventually got the petition accepted.
To keep this from happening to others, Finley asked the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to permanently change the paper size rule that prevents people with visual impairments from participating in Canada's democracy and was given assurances that it would be "dealt with soon". After nearly a year of inaction, MP Finley has brought awareness to the issue again by tabling a petition on enlarged paper signed by almost 200 MPs and Senators, each with some form of visual impairment.