Telecom - Commission Letter addressed to the Distribution list
Ottawa, 2 September 2021
Our reference: 8665-C209-202105288
BY EMAIL
Distribution List
RE: Telecom Part 1 Application CRTC 2021-0528-8, Filing of Canadian Administrator of VRS (CAV) Inc. 2022 annual budget – Procedural request
Dear Madams, Sirs:
The Commission is in receipt of a letter dated 29 August 2021, submitted by the Deafness Advocacy Association Nova Scotia (DAANS), Newfoundland and Labrador Association of the Deaf (NLAD) and Ontario Association of the Deaf (OAD), (collectively, the DHH Coalition), in which it requested that the Commission amend its procedure in the proceeding initiated by Telecom Part 1 2021-0528-8, Filing of Canadian Administrator of VRS (CAV) Inc. 2022 annual budget. Specifically, the DHH Coalition requested that the Commission modify the application as follows:
- CAV issues its own cover letter and abridged proposed 2022 budget in sign language format;
- the Commission modify this proceeding to allow interested parties to submit their interventions and replies in sign language;
- the Commission provide interested parties sufficient time to create videos in sign language and ensure that all parties have the opportunity to review the transcripts of these videos; and,
- the Commission modify the deadlines for Interventions and Replies to Interventions accordingly.
Commission staff acknowledge the receipt of a letter in support of the DHH Coalition’s procedural request submitted by the Canadian Deaf Grassroots Movement (CDGM) received on 31 August 2021.
Commission staff intends to bring the DHH Coalition’s procedural request to the Commission for a determination on the matter. However, Commission staff notes that the deadline to submit interventions in this proceeding is on 3 September 2021. Given that the DHH Coalition’s procedural request was received only a few days before the end of the intervention period, it will not be possible for the Commission to address the request before this deadline.
As such, the deadline established for interventions in this proceeding continues to apply. In light of the timing, as well as the nature of the issues raised in this procedural request, whether or not the Commission chooses to approve the DHH Coalition’s request, the DHH Coalition and other interested parties may be granted the opportunity to file an intervention in this proceeding. If the DHH Coalition and other interested parties are granted such an opportunity, details on the manner in which to submit these interventions will be provided when the Commission issues its determination on this matter.
Commission staff would note that the CAV budget application is assessed in accordance with the criteria set out in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2014-187 and that any proposals by any interested parties to enhance or change how VRS is delivered in Canada should be filed on the record of the Review of video relay service (Telecom Notice of Consultation 2021-102).
Commission staff would also note that the deadlines for the Review were suspended on 30 June 2021 to allow the Commission to consider procedural letters filed by the Canadian Deaf-Blind Collective and Ontario Video Relay Services Committee-Comité Ontarien des Services de Relais Vidéo. New deadlines for the Review will be announced later this year.
Yours sincerely,
Original signed
Nanao Kachi
Director, Social and Consumer Policy
Consumer, Research and Communications Sector
Distribution list
Elliott Richman, DAANS, daans@ns.sympatico.ca
Myles Murphy, NLAD, myles.murphy@nf.sympatico.ca
Donald Prong, OAD, dprong@deafontario.ca
Kimberly Wood, CDGM, canadadeafgrassrootsmovement@gmail.com
- Date modified: