ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT

MKC Law Office is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive environment in which all individuals have equal access to its services as required by the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service, O. Regulation 429/07 ("ASCS") made under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005.

To that end, MKC will take steps to ensure that anyone with a disability who visits MKC’s premises or who accesses MKC’s services will be able to do so in a manner that respects their dignity and independence. MKC will make every reasonable effort to ensure that its policies, practices and procedures respecting accessibility will be consistent with the principles of independence, dignity, integration and equality of opportunity, as outlined in the ASCS.

AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS

Copies of MKC's policies developed and implemented to meet the requirements of the ASCS are available upon request. If required to provide a copy of our policies to a person with a disability, MKC will provide the person with the policies or the information contained in the policies in a format that takes the persons disability into account and as agreed upon by MKC and the person with a disability.

QUESTIONS

Persons seeking access to MKC’s services that have questions about when and how accessible service is provided can contact our office for information and advice. Refer to our Feedback Process for additional information.

ASSISTIVE DEVICES

MKC is committed to ensuring that members of the public and third parties who access MKC's services and anyone with a disability who visits MKCs premises are able to use their personal assistive devices within the limits of any applicable privacy, health and safety laws or regulations.

USE OF ASSISTIVE DEVICES

Persons with assistive devices are entitled to use personal assistive devices while accessing any of MKC's services or premises.

Persons with disabilities are entitled to confidentiality and the protection of their privacy and are not required to disclose to employees of MKC information about their disability and/or the need for a personal assistive device unless such information is required by MKC or other appropriate persons for the purposes of creating and implementing an individualized accommodation plan.

ASSISTIVE DEVICES AND ALTERNATE MEASURES PROVIDED BY MKC

MKC provides several assistive devices and alternate measures on-site to enable people with disabilities to benefit from the same level of service, in the same place and in a similar way as other person's while accessing MKC’s services.

The following assistive measures are available on MKC's premises:

  1. Automatic door openers at base of office building

  2. Staff Assistance

SERVICE ANIMALS

MKC is committed to ensuring that members of the public and third parties who access MKC's services and anyone with a disability who visits MKC's premises will be able to use their service animals within the limits of any applicable health and safety laws or regulations.

POLICY ON SERVICE ANIMALS

MKC will allow service animals onto its premises and allow a person with a disability to be accompanied by their service animal.

STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO SERVICE ANIMALS WITHIN THE WORKPLACE SETTING

All service animals are expected to meet the following standards:

  1. the health and care of the animal is the sole responsibility of the person using the service animal;

  2. the animal must be within the person's control at all times, either by means of a leash, containment (e.g. crate) or voice command;

  3. the animal must behave in a non-aggressive manner at all times (e.g. no jumping, growling, snarling, biting or snapping); and

  4. the animal must not be disruptive in the workplace (e.g. barking, whining or destructive of state or personal property)

Failure to meet any of the above standards may result in the temporary or permanent removal of the service animal from MKC's premises.

REMOVAL OF SERVICE ANIMAL FROM PREMISES

In the event that a service animal's behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others or if the service animal is acting out of control and the owner does not take action to correct its behavior, MKC has the right to exclude the animal from its premises. Barking alone is not a direct threat. In addition, a direct threat does not exist if the service animal's owner takes prompt, effective action to control the animal. MKC will not exclude a particular service animal based on past experience with other animals or based on fear that is not related to a service animal's actual behavior. Each situation will be considered individually.

In the event MKC excludes a service animal, MKC would then take steps to ensure that other measures are available to enable the person with a disability to obtain, use or benefit from its services.

SUPPORT PERSONS

MKC is committed to ensuring that members of the public and third parties who access MKC's services and anyone with a disability who visits MKC’s premises will be able to be accompanied by their support persons.

POLICY ON SUPPORT PERSONS

MKCwill allow members of the public and/or third parties to use their support persons while accessing MKC's services on the parts of its premises open to the public or third parties.

A support person may be a paid personal support worker or a volunteer, friend or family member. He or she does not necessarily need to have special training or qualifications.

FEES FOR SUPPORT PERSONS

MKC recognizes that people with disabilities who use a support person are often unable to attend places or participate in activities without that support person.

MKC will provide advance notice to members of the public and/or third parties as to whether or not a fee will be charged for support persons to attend at MKC. Please enquire when making your appointment.

PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS

When communicating with a client in the presence of a support person, the MKC professional or staff member must advise that while we will consider the communication privileged, it cannot guarantee that privilege will be maintained if a support person participates.

Professionals must be mindful of whether the support person's participation affects the instructions provided by the client. It is vital that the instructions come from the client and no one else. When the Law Society of Upper Canada adopts a policy or provides guidance on the question of privileged communications involving a client's support person, MKC will abide by that policy or guidance.

NOTICE OF TEMPORARY DISRUPTIONS

There are no temporary disruptions at this time. Check this space or contact our office to find out if there is a temporary disruption.

FEEDBACK and QUESTIONS

Please contact our offices if you have any feedback or questions. 

[top]