Thank you, sir.

Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to appear as part of this important study into accessible transportation for persons with disabilities in Canada.

My name is Kurush Minocher. I'm the executive director of customer experience and airline relations at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. We're the operating authority of Toronto Pearson International Airport.

We're always happy to work with the committee on issues related to our sector, and I look forward to our questions today.

As Canada's largest airport, Toronto Pearson has worked hard to identify, remove and prevent barriers for travel for all persons with disabilities both visible and invisible. In a typical year, we see more than one million passengers with disabilities pass through the airport. Implementing accessible and inclusive programs and services not only enriches the travel experience for all of our passengers but also cultivates a supportive and positive work environment for our employees. Above all, our vision is to make our airport the most accessible. Whether you're travelling with family, accompanied by a caregiver or making your way independently from curb to gate, our commitment is to ensure the journey is seamless as well as welcoming and enjoyable.

I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about what the GTAA is doing to ensure an accessible travel journey for everyone at Pearson.

In 2023, we launched our three-year accessibility plan. It's our road map to creating and maintaining impactful accessibility in our policies, programs, practices and services. We worked to proactively identify, prevent and remove barriers to offer meaningful access at Pearson. Our action plan is organized into several key areas and includes the built environment, transportation to and from the terminals, technologies that support your experience at Pearson, and the design and delivery of various services. Our plan also addresses our employment and procurement policies.

While I could spend a lot of time today talking about each of these areas, I want to focus on the services and programs available to help passengers with disabilities navigate the airport experience.

We're constantly working towards ensuring our programs and services enable more choice, comfort and independence as passengers move through the airport. In anything we do, we consistently involve people with lived experience in testing our facilities, driving continuous adaptation and innovation.

For passengers with mobility concerns, there are more than 1,500 wheelchairs available for use in the terminals. For those who wish to navigate the airport either independently or with their travel companion, these are available without the need for pre-arrangement.

We're also proud to say that Pearson was the first airport in Canada to launch the sunflower lanyard campaign. This program offers a subtle means for passengers with hidden disabilities to indicate to staff that they might require a little additional assistance or time.

In collaboration with organizations like the Lions Foundation of Canada, WestJet and CATSA, we host a monthly guide dog familiarization program. This initiative helps dogs in training get accustomed to the airport environment, but it also allows our staff to gain insights on best practices directly from trainers.

As we continuously research, learn about and adopt user-friendly digital tools with built-in accessibility, we will continue to integrate them into all aspects of the passenger journey. There are hundreds of brand new, fully accessible self-service kiosks throughout the airport—for parking, check-in and customs—and these all feature the latest in universal technology capabilities. To help with wayfinding, we offer Aira and BlindSquare for passengers who are blind or partially sighted. Aira is a free app on airport grounds that provides live, on-demand navigation assistance, while BlindSquare uses beacons for verbal navigation. To ensure there's public awareness for the services and programs available at Pearson, all of this information is available on our website, which was designed to be accessible for all.

Finally, we recognize that none of our work at Pearson would be possible without the hard work of the 1,800 staff who work for the GTAA and the 50,000 employees broadly across 400 organizations operating at Toronto Pearson. Our workforce is diversifying more every year, and we want to continue attracting and retaining talent inclusive of people with disabilities.

As a global gateway to Canada, we are excited about our progressive journey towards creating a fully barrier-free Toronto Pearson. We recognize that passengers and employees should not have to adapt their needs to have them met. We are taking steps necessary to integrate universal and human-centred design throughout the airport.

Thank you for the invitation to participate in this study. I'm happy to take your questions.

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