KENTVILLE, N.S. — The Town of Kentville council advisory committee held its first meeting featuring two sign language interpreters on Monday, Sept. 12.
During the first fully accessible meeting for the deaf, interpreters translated for audience members in the council chambers and those at home watching the meeting’s live stream.
“This is a wonderful thing to celebrate,” said parks and recreation director Rachel Bedingfield.
“We heard from the deaf and hard of hearing community during the development of our accessibility plan that being able to participate in council meetings, events and programs, like everyone else, would help to create greater opportunity for engagement and community connectivity.”
Bedingfield is the staff lead on the Kentville inclusion and access advisory committee that developed and is implementing the accessibility plan.
“Kentville should be very proud of this work which can act as a model for other municipalities across the province and across Canada,” said access advisory committee chair Laurel Taylor.
“We are working hard to improve accessibility for all people, so everyone can access and participate in their community,” said Taylor.
Town council meetings can be watched on the Facebook page and on the council’s YouTube channel, where closed captioning is added to each video after it is uploaded.
The Kentville inclusion and access advisory committee is also seeking new members from the community to take part in the meetings and other initiatives.