BROADCASTING ACCESSIBILITY FUND - BACKGROUNDER GENERAL What is the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund? The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund Inc. (the Fund) is an independent and impartial funding body supporting innovative projects that provide solutions to promote the accessibility of all broadcasting content in Canada. The Fund will support projects that provide practical solutions to increase accessibility in broadcasting and that, whenever possible, make use of inclusive design principles to promote accessibility at the earliest stages and in the most cost-effective manner for new technologies and applications in Canada. How was the Fund created? The Fund was proposed by BCE Inc. and approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as part of the benefits package related to BCE Inc.'s purchase of CTV Inc. BCE proposed to establish the Fund and to provide it with initial funding of $5.7M. The CRTC accepted this proposal and ordered the creation of the Fund as well as its governance structure.1 How will the Fund be governed? The Fund is an independent and separate corporate entity that is responsible to its Board of Directors. The Fund will be governed by the Board of Directors and that Board will make all the substantive decisions to set up and operate the Fund. The CRTC mandated that the Fund shall have nine (9) Directors on its Permanent Board as follows: * Four (4) Accessibility Group Directors (one (1) elected by each category of sight, hearing, mobility and cognitive accessibility groups); * Two (2) Independent Accessibility Directors (elected collectively by all categories of accessibility groups); and, * Three (3) Broadcasting Industry Directors (two (2) elected by broadcasting industry business stakeholders, and one (1) elected by broadcasting distribution undertaking stakeholders) Directors will generally be elected to serve on the Board for a term of three (3) years, and may be re-elected to a maximum of six (6) consecutive years. To ensure the continuity of an appropriate number of persons on the Board at all times, the term lengths for the initial Directors will be either two (2) or three (3) years. The Chair of the Permanent Board will be confirmed annually by the Board from among the two (2) Independent Accessibility Directors. Additionally, the Permanent Board of Directors will recruit an independent funding officer who shall be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Fund, subject to the direction of the Board. What is the role of the Interim Board? The mandate of the Interim Board is to manage the process required to elect the Permanent Board. This task involves canvassing stakeholder groups to participate in the nomination and election process, and running the nomination/election process. ROLE OF STAKEHOLDERS IN ELECTING THE BOARD What is the role of Stakeholders? Stakeholders will have the opportunity to participate in the process established to nominate and elect members of the Permanent Board. Accessibility Group Stakeholders will have the opportunity to nominate candidates for election to the four (4) Accessibility Group Director positions (sight, hearing, mobility, cognitive). Accessibility Group Stakeholders will also have the opportunity to nominate and vote for the two (2) Independent Accessibility Directors. Each Accessibility Group Stakeholder must decide to which subcategory of Accessibility Group Stakeholder they wish to belong (hearing, sight, mobility, or cognitive), and may only vote for the corresponding Accessibility Group Director. Additionally, all Accessibility Group Stakeholders will have the opportunity to nominate and vote for the two (2) Independent Accessibility Directors. Broadcasting Industry Stakeholders will have the opportunity to participate in the process established to nominate and elect the three (3) Broadcasting Industry Directors. Broadcasting Industry Stakeholders will be required to identify to which subcategory of Broadcasting Industry Stakeholders they wish to belong (broadcasting industry businesses, or broadcasting distribution undertakings), and may only vote for the corresponding Broadcasting Industry Director(s). What are the criteria to be a stakeholder? To be eligible to be an Accessibility Group Stakeholder, an organization must meet the following three (3) requirements: 1) An organization must: a. be incorporated under provincial or federal law; or b. have been in existence for a minimum of one (1) year as of 7 August 2012, (the date of the CRTC decision) and have a membership of a minimum of twenty (20) members; AND 2) An organization must have a mandate to further the interests of a broad-based membership of disabled users through either: a. the provision of services; b. advocacy; or c. academic research; AND 3) An organization must have identified one (1) Category of Accessibility Group Stakeholders to which it wishes to belong, whether: a. sight Accessibility Group Stakeholders; b. hearing Accessibility Group Stakeholders; c. mobility Accessibility Group Stakeholders; or d. cognitive Accessibility Group Stakeholders. To be eligible to be a Broadcasting Industry Stakeholder, an organization must meet the following two (2) criteria: 1) An organization must: a. be a broadcasting industry business that is subject to CRTC regulation or conditions of licence; or b. be a broadcasting distribution undertaking that is subject to CRTC regulation or conditions of licence; AND 2) An organization must have identified which Category of Broadcasting Industry Stakeholder to which it belongs, whether: a. broadcasting industry business Stakeholders; or b. BDU Stakeholders. When will the Permanent Board be in place? The Interim Board is currently targeting to have the Permanent Board in place by mid-2013. This period allows for appropriate time to canvas and register stakeholders, and a reasonable period to conduct the nomination and election process. FUNDING APPLICATIONS AND DECISIONS How will the Fund make decisions about which applicants receive funding? The CRTC directed that there should be clear rules with respect to governance, accountability and funding decisions of the Fund. The CRTC specifically required that the Fund provide efficient and accessible service in English and French and make available in both official languages the documents necessary for potential funding applicants, including policies, funding criteria and annual reports. The Permanent Board of the Fund will recruit an independent funding officer who shall be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Fund under the direction of the Board. The funding officer will receive and evaluate funding proposals against the funding criteria and make recommendations to the Board for the granting of funds. Subsequent to the awarding of funds, the funding officer will provide oversight over funded proposals to ensure milestones are met and quality results achieved. How can I submit an application for evaluation? The Fund is not yet ready to receive applications for funding. Before the Fund can receive applications and award funds, a Permanent Board must be elected and a Funding Officer must be recruited. The Funding Officer and Permanent Board will design and implement the application process. CONTACT INFORMATION All inquiries may be directed electronically to info@baf-far.ca, or by mail to the following address: Broadcasting Accessibility Fund 251 Loretta Avenue South Ottawa, Ontario K1S 4P6 -------- 1 See CRTC Broadcasting Decision 2011-163 http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2011/2011-163.htm and Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2012-430 http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2012/2012-430.htm.