DEAFBC

Hello,

On behalf of 2010 Legacies Now, Ipsos-Reid would like to gather the opinions from travellers who are deaf / hearing impaired. To do so, we are conducting a mini-Focus Group with people at 6pm, Monday December 8th at a downtown location. This is part of a greater project where we have also interviewed respondents who are in wheelchairs, as well as those who have a sight-impairment. The key purpose for this aspect of the research is to understand the different needs of people who are deaf/hearing impaired when it comes to travelling, from researching a leisure trip, to travelling to the destination, to enjoying the attractions and activities once you have arrived there.

If your primary method of communication is American Sign Language (ASL) and you have travelled at least one time in the past year away from home and stayed in paid accomodation, we would be interested in hearing from you. The session will last for approximately 2 hours, and you will be paid $100 for your participation. Please contact Marcel at marcel.perro@ipsos.com with your name, and daytime phone number. We will then make contact with you to arrange participation.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards

Ipsos-Reid

Flyer: silk-purse-photo-exhibit
The West Vancouver Community Arts Council presents “Rediscover Photography”
Group Photography Exhibit
Featuring photograher: Sheryl R Smith
Silk Purse Gallery
1570 Argyle Avenue, West Vancouver
Opening: TUESDAY December 2nd from 6pm -8 pm
The exhibit runs from December 2 – 18, 2008
Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 12 pm – 5 pm
Info: Tel: (604) 925-7292
www.silkpurse.ca

Flyer: connectionsnrt
Interpreters Provided
Tickets are for sale at the Jewish Community Centre and you can order tickets on the phone and pay by visa or MasterCard. Their phone number is 604-257-5111.

Debbie Havusha
Special Needs Coordinator
Jewish Family Service Agency
dhavusha@jfsa.ca
Fax: 604-257-4148

4X4 Norwest Deaf Outdoors Club News of Novermber 2008:
norwest-deaf-outdoors-club-news-november-2008

PowerPoint Presentation: VRS Consultative Committee of BC

Today (Wednesday, November 19) the VRS Consultative Committee presentation team provided a presentation to the Canadian Radio-Television Commission (CRTC) on issues of accessibility specifically VRS, consultation (or lack by Telus). The presentation team included: Wayne Sinclair, Susan Masters and Monte Hardy. Attached is the Powerpoint presentation we followed (hopefully you all have powerpoint…if not then we will be scheduling a townhall soon).

The presentation went quite well and we understand that there are four themes that seem to be similar across several presentation including ours.

1. consultative process (telephone companies say they do a good job. Consumers say they do a bad job)
2. national (most say yes)
3. funding model (consumers want national competitive model where deaf have choice of different VRS and IPRS-internet protocol relay service–similar with MRC but with computers)
4. how much (consumers want 24/7/365) and when (now).

These themes were exactly the points we wanted to make with the CRTC. I believe that they heard loud and clear these points. We (the presentation team) felt a little disappointed that the CRTC panel did not ask many questions but it became clear that we were echoing the same message as other presentations.

Thanks to the hard working members of the VRS Consultative Committee of BC including:
Lisa Anderson, Sarah Hrycenko, Cecelia Klassen, Danny Lecours, Margo Pelkey, Robie Schoelfield, Ava Hawkins, Nigel Howard, Susan Masters, Wayne Sinclair and Monte Hardy.

We are hoping to schedule a Community Caucus (townhall meeting) soon so that we can provide you with a summary of the presentation and if there are any further actions resulting from the CRTC hearings.

Thank you Deaf Community of British Columbia.
===================================

crtc-transcript
The attached document is a transcript of the VRS Consultative Committee’s presentation at today’s CRTC panel hearing. This is an alternative format (in WORD document) for those of you who don’t have powerpoint on your computers. If you have any questions please bring them to the townhall meeting that we hope to schedule in the next few weeks.
vrsbc@telus.net

Click:
focus-group-questions

Hello BC Deaf Community

Update on Video Relay Services in Canada

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is an independent agency responsible for regulating Canada’s broadcasting and telecommunications systems.

This week, the CRTC is holding meetings where various organizations and individuals are presenting about accessibility issues for deaf and hard of hearing people for telecommunication (ie. VRS, tty’s, 911 emergency, MRC etc.).

Various presenters today and over the next few days include: Canadian Hearing Society, Jim Roots, Henry Vlug Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, Bell, Telus etc. and the VRS BC Committee

Tomorrow (Wednesday, November 19th), The VRS BC Committee will be presenting (on issues that were brought forward during townhall meetings in the Spring and in the Fall, 2008).

You can click on the CRTC link, and listen to the live feed or access the captioning for these hearings.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/welcome.htm – voice and captioning. You may need to download javascript. You should be able to access the transcripts as well.

(Please note: the times they announce are in Eastern Standard time – you will need subtract 3 hours for B.C. time).

The CRTC hearings will resume on Wed November 19th at: 6:00 am (B.C. Time).

Thank you.

Okanagan Valley Association of the Deaf
Christmas Dinner

Saturday, December 6th, 2008
From 6:00pm till 11:00pm

Mamma Shpengi’s Restaurant
4-10058 Hwy 97Winfield, BC

50/50 Draw

adult: $30.00
No Refund
Deadline on Nov 29th, 2008

Bring a gift (10.00 worth)for exchange if you want

For Tickets – Contact:
Deb Perry debperry@shaw.ca
Rosemary Rattray rosemary27@shaw.ca
Carla Yager jctravel@shaw.ca

Sign Language Right in Vancouver, BC from DeafBC on Vimeo.