The City of Portage la Prairie now has an accessibility plan in place.

At its meeting this past week, council voted to accept the plan in order to meet a provincial mandate to institute one before the end of 2016. Councillor Wayne Wall says there isn't a lot of immediate measurable objectives, but steps to begin improving accessibility in 2017 and 2018 are included.

"Other people will be required to do this to, for example local businesses, as of next year will be required to come up with accessibility plans and changes that might need to be made to their facilities," Wall says. "So this is just the beginning of a process."

The plan commits to providing equal service to all citizens and visitors regardless of their abilities. It outlines a multi-year strategy to implement policy and training to improve accessibility.

"We're glad to be moving forward with this, it's something that's necessary," Wall says. "It involves all kinds of things. For example, accessibility at the counters at City Hall, or training for staff."

Wall adds, there is a lot of work to be done to improve accessibility in the community, acknowledging council chambers as one issue.

"We don't know what the solution to that is yet. Maybe you move all the council meetings out, or maybe you put in a lift at City Hall," he says. "But those are things we'll look at, and this plan is the first step to getting the process started."

To read the full plan, click here.