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Accessible News #2 — March 1997
Should you be using these old newsletters, please bear in mind that the web addresses were correct when the newsletter was created but that they may not be accurate now. We do not plan to change the back issues of the newsletters.
Contents:
We've Changed Our Name
Over the past year, as our focus has been more clearly on activities in support of Canada's assistive devices industry, it became obvious that a name change for our Office was in order. For this reason, we decided to call ourselves the Assistive Devices Industry Office, instead of the Programme Office. You can still reach us at the same mail and e-mail addresses and at the same phone and fax numbers as always (see the back page of this newsletter for details).
Canada Launches Assistive Devices Industry Association
Canada is launching a nation-wide Assistive Devices Industry Association. With the support of Industry Canada, a meeting was held with a core group of industry representatives in Ottawa in early February to take the first steps towards its establishment. Chuck Letourneau, head of Starling Access Services, chaired the meeting and was given the go-ahead to start incorporation procedures.
Canadian businesses active in the assistive devices industry will be invited to join the fledgling organization. A meeting will be held on March 21 during the CSUN conference in Los Angeles to discuss matters with respect to the association. Any Canadians present will be welcome at the meeting.
Further details will be released, as they become available. You can contact the Assistive Devices Industry Office to be put on the potential membership listing.
Assistive Devices Industry Gets its Own Listing on Strategis Menu
Strategis, Industry Canada's primary Web site for providing business information, has added the Assistive Devices industry as a separate menu item on its pages of "Business Information by Sector". This is a good indication that the department recognizes that the assistive devices industry is coming of age in Canada. The assistive devices listings on Strategis provide links to both the Assistive Devices Industry Office and the Canadian Assistive Devices Industry Association Web sites.
Incidentally, Strategis is the world's largest and most frequently visited Web site of its kind. Check it out at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/as00010e_pr210.sgml and see what the buzz is about!
Small Business Fairs
Since last fall, Industry Canada and its Portfolio partners have been hosting Small Business Conferences and InfoFairs across the country. These InfoFairs, which are held in both large and small cities, give small and medium sized companies a chance to find out what the key priorities are for government, increase awareness of government programs and services that are available to small business and to help establish contacts that can lead to government/industry partnerships.
More than a dozen InfoFairs are slated for April, including Windsor on the 3rd, Jonquière (Apr. 3-4), Saskatoon (Apr. 5), Niagara Falls (Apr. 8), Sherbrooke (Apr. 10), Yellowknife and Kelowna (Apr. 12), Rimouski (Apr. 14), Toronto (Apr. 15), St. Georges de Beauce (Apr. 18), Val-d'Or (Apr. 24), Sault Ste.Marie (Apr. 25), Calgary (Apr. 26) and Laurentides-Laval (Apr. 28). To get more details, check out the "What's New" section of Strategis, at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca or call 1-800-761-5133 for the full InfoFair schedule.
CCTA Alternate Format Committee
On February 28, 1997, the Canadian Cable Television Association filed an interim report with the CRTC summarizing its public process in considering issues relating to the provision of services in alternate formats to vision-impaired customers. Issues include channel line-ups, programme guides, billing, customer and future services. This report was prepared with the assistance of an Advisory Group of which Mary Frances Laughton was a member. An action plan will be developed for presentation to the CRTC in June. For more information on the process and the plan, you can contact Harris Boyd at the CCTA, phone: 613-232-2631 or fax: 613-232-2137.
Product Launches
Ultimate
First Wave Technology Inc. has developed a set of portable, solid state memory, battery powered, hand-held speech recorder/playback devices that can be used as communications aids by persons requiring assistance in speaking. The devices are sold by TASH under the product name, Ultimate.
TEXTEL
Sinclair, Nicholson and Associates and the Canadian Association of the Deaf have developed TEXTEL — a text telephone that allows users to communicate with Deaf clientele over the phone line. An internal modem card allows PC users operating in a Windows environment to talk to TTY users, while using a familiar communications tool, their desktop computer. TEXTEL is easy to learn, easy to use, and takes electronic messages when the computer user is away from their keyboard. Conversations can be printed out on the computer printer (no more messy TTY tapes), and the system frees up desk space formerly occupied by the desktop TTY.
Project Reports
We have a listing of the projects undertaken during the National Strategy and in the past year as the Assistive Devices Industry Office. Contact us if you would like to get an electronic copy.
Industry Canada and the Federal Budget
The government's budget, released on February 18, highlighted the need for a competitive economy, which will provide jobs and growth. Industry Canada's work remains at the centre of the microeconomic element of the government's economic gameplan, with an emphasis on science and technology and small business, both of which are crucial for job creation and growth.
Perhaps the most important of the new and innovative initiatives announced in the Budget is the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This independent organization, operating at arm's length from the government, will invest $800 million over five years in modernizing research infrastructure at Canadian post-secondary education institutions and research hospitals in the area of health, environment, science and engineering. The National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), which provides technical support to small business, has been strengthened and the ceiling for the Small Business Loans Act (SBLA) has increased from $12 billion to $14 billion. The SBLA provides loan guarantees to small business, giving them access to needed capital.
For more information about the Budget, visit the Department of Finance's Web site at http://www.fin.gc.ca.
Where to Find Us
For more information, to discuss a project idea or to get on
our mailing list, please contact:
Mary Frances Laughton or Deb Finn
Assistive Devices Industry Office
Industry Canada
P.O. Box 11490 Station H
Ottawa, Ontario
K2H 8S2
Phone: 613-990-4316 or 613-990-4297
Fax: 613-998-5923
Internet: laughton@crc.ca or finn.deb@ic.gc.ca
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