Keeping events accessible in town

As Kahnawake’s event calendar continues to be filled with both community and private events, Connecting Horizons is asking that organizers keep in mind those in the community who have special needs when planning.

“We have about 14-15 per cent of people who have some type of special need, whether it’s sensory issues, or mobility issues or anything like that,” said Iris Phillips, advocacy coordinator for Connecting Horizons.

The organization is asking event organizers to make sure their venue is accessible for all, considering the Knights of Columbus building is currently unavailable until further notice.

“Most large community events, whether it's conferences, or craft fairs, or anything like that, the Knights of Columbus was always the first place that people will go to because they usually hold that capacity and because it's very central,” said Phillips.

With one less venue available in the community, and no time frame currently available for the resumption of the Knights building’s event hosting, Phillips said that it’s crucial for the alternative hosts to make sure they are accessible to everyone.

“Just because a place is large enough to hold your capacity, doesn't mean that it has designated parking, doesn't mean that it has ramps, doesn't mean that there are bathrooms that are accessible for people with mobility issues,” said Phillips. “We just want people to think about bringing their building up to speed, so that they are welcoming and accommodating.”

Along with parking, ramps, and accessible bathrooms, Phillips said that keeping in mind sensory issues when planning lighting, not holding events on floors that are not accessible to elevators, allowing space for wheelchairs or strollers when creating floor plans, having someone available to open doors, and the shape of ramps, are but a few of the ways to help make events more accessible.

“It's unfortunate, and we've been saying this for years, but certain buildings in the community are not as accessible as people would think,” said Phillips.

But she said Connecting Horizons has been receiving a lot of messages from event organizers seeking assistance in making their events better accessible in the last few weeks, especially since her appearance on K1037 Radio in September.

“Certainly, we're not necessarily the experts when it comes to all of this, but we have a lot of lived experience,” said Phillips.

Kahnawake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) executive director Derek Montour said that accessibility is one of the important factors that are kept in mind when choosing where they hold their events.

“The KSCS buildings that we might hold an event at all have elevators or are accessible by wheelchair, and we are trying to always improve access to ensure that any kind of other needs are taken into consideration,” said Montour. “For example, if somebody is blind or has trouble seeing, we want to highlight the steps. There are ramps, there's an elevator to get into the building, those kinds of things.”

KSCS also holds events in other venues and they, like many others in the community, have felt the effects of the Knights building being unavailable. With location renting usually being on a first-come, first-served basis, sometimes organizations need a backup plan.

“A recent case is we have the events for Trauma Week, and our original intention was to hold them at the Knights of Columbus,” said Montour. “So we had to adapt, and we instead are using a tent. It costs significant additional money in order to provide all the supplies, but it's enough for the amount of people that we're expecting, and it can be accessible.”

In Montour’s mind, the community would need a large event centre that could fill event hosting needs for many parties in the community.

“I think that would be in our community's best interest,” said Montour.

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