Courthouse slammed over accessibility

Rights activist says inadequate wayfinding, lack of supports 'a billion-dollar bungle' by province

- FRANCINE KOPUN

Disability rights activist and retired lawyer David Lepofsky said he and others raised concerns with the government during and after the construction of the provincial courthouse, which opened in March 2023.

The $956-million provincial courthouse in Toronto is under fire again — this time for failing to meet the province’s own accessibility legislation.

Disability rights activist and retired lawyer David Lepofsky has produced two videos, posted to YouTube, detailing the building’s failings, like a lack of accessible parking spots and inadequate wayfinding, calling it “a billion-dollar bungle by the Ontario government.”

Lepofsky said he and others raised concerns with EllisDon, the company awarded the contract to build and maintain the courthouse, and Infrastructure Ontario, the provincial government’s crown agency in charge of the province’s real estate portfolio, during construction and since the courthouse opened in March 2023, but it took a year to produce the video, working with volunteers.

“They made a series of very bad mistakes. They easily could have avoided all of them,” said Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance (AODAA) and visiting research professor of disability rights at the faculty of law at the University of Western Ontario.

Lepofsky said the AODAA flagged numerous concerns to the province long before shovels went into the ground, and he also voiced concerns as a member of the group convened by the government to advise on access issues at the facility.