Goals

As outlined in our strategic plan our goal is to create and foster an equitable, diverse, inclusive, and accessible community. A community which provides meaningful access, is welcoming, inclusive, and supports everyone as they learn and succeed.

We can achieve this through consultation with people with lived experience and working together to:

• Identify, address and prevent physical, systemic, and attitudinal barriers across all areas of campus life.
• Embed accessibility and inclusion values to foster a culture of belonging.
• Support the university community as we increase our collective knowledge and build-up resources to embed accessibility into all aspects of operations.

As our strategic plan identifies we must critically examine the interactions, processes and colonial systems that all too often have characterized our teaching and research.  To achieve our goal of inclusive and equity-oriented teaching and research we will:

• Review current policies and ensure new policies have integrated accessibility lens.
• Develop and foster more inclusive and accessible teaching, learning, and research environments.
• Offer professional development opportunities and accessible supports for teaching, learning, and research. These should include accessible pedagogical principles, as well as tools such as technologies that can simplify the processes for all stakeholders.

To create an inclusive and equity-oriented Saint Mary’s University, we will:

• Work towards all goods and services sourced, obtained, implemented and delivered by Saint Mary’s University are built to provide meaningful access.

As an institution committed to meaningful access, we will:

• Establish guidelines to ensure barrier-free employment opportunities for people with disabilities, people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, and neurodiverse people.

Eliminate barriers in hiring practices, including accessible job postings, inclusive interviews, and accommodations during onboarding.

Saint Mary’s University aims to enhance the accessibility of transportation services. Key consideration will need to include parking, drop-off areas and as smooth as possible transitions to public transportation. 

Saint Mary’s University is committed to ensuring that our buildings, shared spaces, and campus grounds are accessible, inclusive, and welcoming. We will:

• Work towards meaningful access, by adhering to the Nova Scotia Building Code and the Accessibility Act’s Built Environment Standards (when implemented) and drawing from CSA Standard B651-23 Accessible Design and the Rick Hansen Foundation program.  

• Plan for the future by balancing diverse stakeholder requirements and ensuring accessibility considerations are incorporated in the discussion and design phases for renovations and new projects.  
• Where immediate changes to the built environment are not feasible, work to identify innovative and practical solutions that mitigate barriers and enhance usability for everyone. 

Address accessibility through a whole journey approach that considers accessibility needs and safety requirements of diverse users. 

Ensure that all university information and communications keep pace with or exceeds the accessibility standards for our sector and the needs of the Saint Mary’s community.