ARCHIVED -  Letter

8665-B38-201306829 and 8678-T66-201306845

Ottawa, 7 August 2013

Via Email

To: Distribution list (see attached)

Re: Bell Canada and TELUS Part 1 Applications for use of Deferral Account funds to improve access to telecommunications services for persons with disabilities – Notice of Procedural Amendments

With this letter, Commission staff is notifying parties to the Bell Canada (8665-B38-201306829) and TELUS (8678-T66-201306845) applications that the procedures for these applications have been amended.
In a letter dated 15 July 2013, the Neil Squire Society (NSS) requested the Commission to amend the procedures for the Bell Canada and TELUS applications to include an “interrogatory process” as outlined in Information Bulletin 2010-959. NSS also requested an opportunity for a further round of questions.

NSS submitted that the ability to ask questions or request additional information is necessary for the disability community to effectively evaluate the initiatives and provide comprehensive comments, given the complexity of the issues raised in both applications and the need for full detail and specific degree of scope. NSS also submitted that:
“The Deferral Accounts are considered by the disability community as a key means of addressing the inequities in the way telecommunication products and services are delivered to Canadians with disabilities. Given that the Deferral Accounts are a unique and one time only initiative, it is important that the finite funds are spent in a manner that is strategic and leverages the maximum long term and sustainable benefits to Canadians with disabilities.”
Commission staff has reviewed the NSS request. Staff considers that an amendment to the procedures for these applications to allow parties to ask questions and request additional information would be in the public interest as a fuller record would better enable the

Commission to evaluate the applications for the use of Deferral Account funds to improve the accessibility of telecommunications services. Accordingly, the procedures for both of these applications are amended to include a process for requests for information as set out in sections 72 through 76 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure). The amended procedures are provided as Attachment A (Bell Canada) and Attachment B (TELUS) to this letter.

In regard to the NSS request for a further round of questions, staff notes that, consistent with sections 33 and 75 of the Rules of Procedure, the amended procedures provide parties with an opportunity to request the public disclosure of information that has been designated as confidential and to request further responses to their requests for information. Commission staff considers these procedural steps sufficient to address the NSS request.

Parties are reminded that the Rules of Procedure set out, among other things, the rules for the filing, content, format, and service of interventions and interrogatories; and the procedure for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure and that these provisions apply to the procedures set out in Attachments A and B. The Rules of Procedure and their accompanying documents can be found on the Commission’s website. For information concerning the Rules of Procedure see Information Bulletin 2010-959. For information concerning the procedures for filing of confidential information and requesting is disclosure see Information Bulletin 2010-961.

Parties are also reminded that, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure if a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date. A document must be filed with the Commission by 5 p.m. Vancouver time (8 p.m. Ottawa time) on the date it is due. The Commission takes no responsibility for postal delays and will not notify parties if their submissions are received after the deadline. Late submissions will not be considered by the Commission and will not be made part of the public record.
Submissions must be filed by sending them to the Secretary General of the Commission using only one of the following means:
by completing the
(Intervention/comment/answer form)
or
by mail to
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
or
by fax to
819-994-0218
Interested persons and parties are encouraged to monitor the record of this proceeding and/or the Commission’s website for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.
References:
• Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure:
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2010-277/index.html
• Commission’s website – “Rules of Practice and Procedure”
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/nrpp.htm

Yours sincerely,

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY/

Mary-Louise Hayward for

Nanao Kachi
Directeur | Director
Politique sociale et des consommateurs | Social and Consumer Policy
Consommation et politiques stratégiques | Consumer Affairs and Strategic Policy
819- 997-4700. nanao.kachi@crtc.gc.ca

c.c. mary-louise.hayward@crtc.gc.ca

Dist List:

Canadian Association of the Deaf jroots@cad.ca; Ontario College of Art and Design, Treviranus, jtreviranus@faculty.ocad.ca; ARCH archlib@lao.on.ca; petricoi@lao.on.ca; Council of Canadians with Disabilities, laurie@ccdonline.ca; Council of Canadians with Disabilities, ccd@ccdonline.ca; Independent Living Canada, nationaldirector@ilc-vac.ca; Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), Christine.robbins@cnib.ca; Canadian Council of the Blind, mpotvin@ccbnational.net; Ottawa Deaf Centre, newfiedjh@yahoo.com; Ontario Association of the Deaf, dean@deafontario.ca; The Canadian Hearing Society, ckenopic@chs.ca; Canadian Association for Community Living, mbach@cacl.ca; Centre québécois de la déficience auditive, cqda@videotron.ca; Public Interest Law Centre, mybow@legalaid.mb.ca; Disability and Information Technologies (Dis-IT), ine@ccdonline.ca; d_stienstra@umanitoba.ca; Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians/L'Alliance pour l'égalité des aveugles canadiens, mworkman@blindcanadians.ca; Farah.mughal@rci.rogers.com; Neil Squire; Society, garyb@neilsquire.ca; Chris Stark, stark.chris@rogers.com; jeff.in.kanata@gmail.com; Clayton Zekelman, clayton@MNSi.Net; Ms. Denise Sayer, denise.sayer@paliareroland.com; Mr. David Lepofsky dlepofsky@sympatico.ca; Beverley Milligan, Media Access Canada, bmilligan@mediac.ca; Confédération des organismes de personnes handicapées du Québec, direction@cophan.org: Diane Bergeron diane.bergeron@cnib.ca

Procedure – Bell Canada (8665-B38-201306829)
1. Parties to this proceeding must file an intervention with the Commission regarding Bell Canada’s Part 1 application by 26 August 2013. The intervention must be filed in accordance with section 26 of the Rules of Procedure.

2. The Commission will post the interventions on its website shortly after they are filed. All documents required to be served on a party or parties to the proceeding must be served using the contact information contained in the interventions.

3. The Commission and parties may request information, in the form of interrogatories, fromany party to this proceeding relating to its intervention filed pursuant to pargraph1 above. In accordance with section 73 of the Rules of Procedure, the requesting party must file its request for information with the Commission, and serve the request on the party to whom it is addressed, on or before 26 September 2013.

4. Responses to requests for information are to be filed with the Commission and served on the requesting party or parties as applicable by 11 October 2013.

5. Requests by parties for further responses to their requests for information, specifying in each case why a further response is both relevant and necessary, and requests for public disclosure of information that has been designated as confidential, setting out in each case the reasons for disclosure, must be filed with the Commission and served on the relevant party or parties by 30 October 2013.

6. Responses to these requests must be filed with the Commission and served on the party or parties making the request by 12 November 2013.

7. Determinations regarding requests for further responses and requests for public disclosure will be issued as soon as possible. Any information to be provided pursuant to such determinations must be filed with the Commission and served on the party or parties making the request by 27 November 2013.

8. All parties may file final comments with the Commission, serving copies on all other parties, by 13 December 2013. Final comments shall be no longer than 15 pages.

A Decision will be issued within 150 days after the record closes.
Procedure – TELUS (8678-T66-201306845)

1. Parties to this proceeding and interested parties who wish to become parties to this proceeding must file an intervention with the Commission regarding TELUS’ Part 1 application by 29 July 2013. The intervention must be filed in accordance with section 26 of the Rules of Procedure.

2. The Commission will post the interventions on its website shortly after they are filed. All documents required to be served on a party or parties to the proceeding must be served using the contact information contained in the interventions.

3. The Commission and parties may request information, in the form of interrogatories, from any party to this proceeding relating to its intervention filed pursuant to pargraph1 above. In accordance with section 73 of the Rules of Procedure, the requesting party must file its request for information with the Commission, and serve the request on the party to whom it is addressed, on or before 29 August 2013.
4. Responses to requests for information are to be filed with the Commission and served on the requesting party or parties as applicable by 9 September 2013.

5. Requests by parties for further responses to their requests for information, specifying in each case why a further response is both relevant and necessary, and requests for public disclosure of information that has been designated as confidential, setting out in each case the reasons for disclosure, must be filed with the Commission and served on the relevant party or parties by 19 September 2013.

6. Responses to these requests must be filed with the Commission and served on the party or parties making the request by 30 September 2013.

7. Determinations regarding requests for further responses and requests for public disclosure will be issued as soon as possible. Any information to be provided pursuant to such determinations must be filed with the Commission and served on the party or parties making the request by 7 October 2013.

8. All parties may file final comments with the Commission, serving copies on all other parties, by 30 Oct 2013. Final comments shall be no longer than 15 pages.

A Decision will be issued within 150 days after the record closes.

Date modified:

2013-08-07