- Budget Subcommittee Deputations
- Town Hall Centring Disability Inclusion in the City of Toronto’s 2026 Budget
Budget Subcommittee Deputations
On January 20 and 21, 2026, GTADC partners delivered deputations to Budget Subcommittees across Toronto. Watch or read these deputations below.
Wendy Porch, CILT’s Executive Director – Toronto Needs to Account for Accessibility
Wendy Porch, Executive Director at the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto, spoke at the Budget Subcommittee meeting at City Hall about the lack of accessibility coordination in Toronto, the need for affordable and accessible housing, affordable and accessible transit and the need for a disability-specific Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Read Wendy’s deputation here.
Kim Adlard, GTADC’s Coordinator – Invest in Affordable and Accessible Housing
Kim Adlard, the coordinator of the GTA Disability Coalition, spoke at the Budget Subcommittee meeting at Etobicoke Civic Centre about Toronto’s crisis of deeply affordable and accessible housing.
Read Kim’s deputation here.
David Meyers, CILT’s Senior Manager of Independent Living Programs – Toronto Needs Accessible Shelters
David Meyers, CILT’s Senior Manager of Independent Living Programs, spoke at the Budget Subcommittee meeting at City Hall about Toronto’s rising disabled unhoused population and the urgent need for accessible shelter stock across the city’s shelter system.
Read David’s deputation here.
Keya Osborne, CNIB – Make Healthcare Accessible
Keya Osborne, Director of Disability Justice at CNIB, spoke at the Budget Subcommittee at North York Civic Centre about how the City of Toronto can improve access to healthcare through transportation, built environments, communication systems, community health programming, and public health funding.
Read Keya’s deputation here.
Aasiya Hussain, Ecohesian – Fund Safer Accessible Affordable Homes
Aasiya Hussain, CEO and Executive Director of Ecohesian, spoke virtually at the Budget Subcommittee at Scarborough Civic Centre about increasing funding for strategies to protect Disabled People during disasters (including extreme weather climate crises), AC & heating, snow removal, health and safety, safe air & water, and accessible affordable housing.
Read Aasiya’s deputation here.
Dev Ramsawakh, CILT – Improve Disabled Life in Toronto
Dev Ramsawakh, a program assistant at CILT, spoke at the Budget Subcommittee meeting at Scarborough Civic Centre about how poverty impacts disabled people in Toronto, stressing the need for improved poverty reduction and social participation strategies specifically for disabled communities.
Wellesley Institutes’s Thriving in the City with a Disability Report
Read Dev’s deputation here.
Keat Welsh, CILT – Build New Accessible and Affordable Co-ops
Keat Welsh, the IDE+A Project Coordinator at CILT, spoke at the Budget Subcommittee meeting at Etobicoke Civic Centre about the lack of statistics on accessible housing, the need for more accessible co-op housing and reducing social isolation for disabled people.
Read Keat’s deputation here.
Jennifer Chambers, Empowerment Council – Funding Housing Resolves Crises
Jennifer Chambers, Executive Director of the Empowerment Council, spoke at the Budget Subcommittee at City Hall about increasing funding to Toronto Community Crisis Service and affordable, accessible housing.
Read Jennifer’s deputation here.
Town Hall Centring Disability Inclusion in the City of Toronto’s 2026 Budget
On January 15, 2026, the GTADC and CILT hosted a virtual Town Hall with Social Planning Toronto and TTCriders to explore ways to engage your voice to centre disability inclusion in the City’s 2026 budget. Watch the recording below.