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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS BEFORE
THE CANADIAN RADIO‑TELEVISION AND
TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
TRANSCRIPTION DES AUDIENCES DEVANT
LE CONSEIL DE LA RADIODIFFUSION
ET DES TÉLÉCOMMUNICATIONS CANADIENNES
SUBJECT / SUJET:
Unresolved issues related to the accessibility of
telecommunications and broadcasting services to
persons with disabilities /
Questions en suspens concernant l'accessibilité des
services de télécommunication et de radiodiffusion pour
les personnes handicapées
HELD AT: TENUE À:
Conference Centre Centre de conférences
Outaouais Room Salle Outaouais
140 Promenade du Portage 140, Promenade du Portage
Gatineau, Quebec Gatineau (Québec)
November 26, 2008 Le 26 novembre 2008
Transcripts
In order to meet the requirements of the Official Languages
Act, transcripts of proceedings before the Commission will be
bilingual as to their covers, the listing of the CRTC members
and staff attending the public hearings, and the Table of
Contents.
However, the aforementioned publication is the recorded
verbatim transcript and, as such, is taped and transcribed in
either of the official languages, depending on the language
spoken by the participant at the public hearing.
Transcription
Afin de rencontrer les exigences de la Loi sur les langues
officielles, les procès‑verbaux pour le Conseil seront
bilingues en ce qui a trait à la page couverture, la liste des
membres et du personnel du CRTC participant à l'audience
publique ainsi que la table des matières.
Toutefois, la publication susmentionnée est un compte rendu
textuel des délibérations et, en tant que tel, est enregistrée
et transcrite dans l'une ou l'autre des deux langues
officielles, compte tenu de la langue utilisée par le
participant à l'audience publique.
Canadian Radio‑television and
Telecommunications Commission
Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des
télécommunications canadiennes
Transcript / Transcription
Unresolved issues related to the accessibility of
telecommunications and broadcasting services to
persons with disabilities /
Questions en suspens concernant l'accessibilité des
services de télécommunication et de radiodiffusion pour
les personnes handicapées
BEFORE / DEVANT:
Leonard Katz Chairperson / Président
Elizabeth Duncan Commissioner / Conseillère
Timothy Denton Commissioner / Conseiller
Suzanne Lamarre Commissioner / Conseillère
Candice Molnar Commissioner / Conseillère
Stephen Simpson Commissioner / Conseiller
ALSO PRESENT / AUSSI PRÉSENTS:
Sylvie Bouffard Secretary / Secretaire
Kathleen Taylor Hearing Manager /
Gérante de l'audience
Martine Vallée Director, Social Policy /
Directrice, Politiques
Sheila Perron Hearing Officer /
Agente d'audiences
Lori Pope Legal Counsel /
Véronique Lehoux Conseillères juridiques
HELD AT: TENUE À:
Conference Centre Centre de conférences
Outaouais Room Salle Outaouais
140 Promenade du Portage 140, Promenade du Portage
Gatineau, Quebec Gatineau (Québec)
November 26, 2008 Le 26 novembre 2008
- iv -
TABLE DES MATIÈRES / TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE / PARA
PRESENTATION BY / PRÉSENTATION PAR:
Canadian Council of the Blind 1531 / 9292
RQST 1571 / 9516
Shaw Communications / Star Choice 1640 / 9895
The Companies (Bell Canada/Bell Aliant/Télébec) 1726 /10476
Gatineau, Quebec / Gatineau (Québec)
‑‑‑ Upon resuming on Wednesday, November 26, 2008
at 1000 / L'audience reprend le mercredi
26 novembre 2008 à 1000
9275 THE CHAIRPERSON: Order, please. Good morning. Bonjour, and welcome to what will likely be the last day of the accessibility hearing. We will play it by ear and see if we can conclude today. Hopefully we can.
9276 I look to Madam Secretary for any opening remarks.
9277 THE SECRETARY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
9278 For the benefit of Mr. Pigeon, I will name the Panel Members.
9279 Here in Gatineau, from the left to the right, is Mr. Timothy Denton, Mr. Leonard Katz, Madam Suzanne Lamarre.
9280 In our regional offices, in the east we have Elizabeth Duncan and in the west we have Candice Molnar and Stephen Simpson.
9281 I will begin with a few housekeeping matters.
9282 We ask that when you are in the hearing room you completely turn off your cell phones and BlackBerrys as they are an unwelcome distraction and as they cause interference on the internal communications systems used by our translators and interpreters. Please note that if you leave them on vibration mode, they will still cause interference. We would appreciate your cooperation in this regard throughout the hearing.
9283 Also note that ASL and LSQ sign language interpretation services will be made available throughout the hearing if needed.
9284 Furthermore, English and French captioning of the hearing is available on the screens to my left, as well as on the CRTC's Web home page.
9285 If you require assistance during the consultation, our staff members in and outside the hearing room or in the public examination room will be pleased to help you.
9286 I would like to note that we have prepared a summary of the 21 November undertakings. This summary will be added to the public examination file and posted on the Commission's website shortly.
9287 I note this document to be CRTC Exhibit No. 3.
9288 We have also revised the 19 November undertakings to reflect the Ryerson Centre for Learning Technology undertakings which were not reflected on a previous version. This will be Revised CRTC Exhibit No. 3.
9289 We will now begin our presentations for today.
9290 I call on the Canadian Council of the Blind. Appearing for the Canadian Council of the Blind is Mr. Sean Pigeon.
9291 Please introduce yourself for the record and you have 15 minutes for your presentation.
PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
9292 MR. PIGEON: Good morning. My name is Sean Pigeon and I am representing the Canadian Council of the Blind.
9293 The Council is a voluntary membership driven organization. We are here presenting today to request that the CRTC implement and enforce legislation to implement greater use of technologies that are already in existence, that are newer technologies and emerging technologies.
9294 One of these technologies is called descriptive video.
9295 Descriptive video is to the blind what closed captioning is to the deaf. It is an auditory description of actions and things that are only seen and thus is important to the blind or visually impaired because it gives us a fuller detail of the pictures and actions that are going on in any broadcast.
9296 Currently the statistics show that only 4 per cent of all broadcasts are in descriptive video. We are requesting that rather than allow the market to regulate accessibility ‑‑ because it won't and it hasn't and it doesn't ‑‑ that specific legislation be created with guidelines forcing broadcasters to use descriptive video much more enhanced.
9297 In a perfect world we would hope for 100 per cent, but at the moment we recognize that only 4 per cent. Any increase would be greatly improved.
9298 One of the areas that is a key strategic area that is very important is in the area or the arena of emergency broadcasts. Information by broadcasters ‑‑ and we say all broadcasters, whether it be telecommunications or television ‑‑ should be done in a fashion that is descriptive video or descriptive auditory signal, because those with visual impairments and those who are completely blind, such as myself, lose the information completely.
9299 I can hear the auditory beep to tell me that there is a weather warning or an emergency broadcast, but when I'm by myself I can't read it. And when it's just a screen text scrolling across the screen, that poses a very serious problem and actually can at some point endanger my health or others in my community.
9300 A prime example of this would have been during the ice storm. There were many, many, many weather warnings, et cetera. I was clueless. I had no idea what any of those conditions were. I had no way of finding out. When the power went out, that was all I could do, was to try and contact relatives to remedy the situation.
9301 So in that regard emergency broadcasts are critical in terms of equality and accessibility.
9302 The advent of new technologies has been a great boon to the telecommunications sector, and telecoms and broadcasting corporations have easily gone into promoting and implementing new technologies where it is the mainstream base.
9303 My cell phone is not on. I own one because I use it for emergency purposes because it's a necessity. The problem is that I have to pay for a service that I only receive less than 5 per cent benefit from. I have to pay for the phone. I have to pay for service for that phone, but I can't even use the auto dial features.
9304 But the companies that make these and the company that promotes them and provides service, they can provide a voice input on one of these, but they won't give me a voice to access the menus to access all the other gadgets that are in it, such as text messaging.
9305 There are no regulations at this point forcing wireless communications to provide accessible opportunities for persons with disabilities. The problem is that everybody has taken to using cell phones and with that there is a great decline in the use of pay phones, public pay phones. Privatization of pay phones has also occurred, whereby the cost has been doubled in more recent times, and in some places I have seen them even quadrupled without the access of telephone books, which would be useless to me anyway, but for some people with low vision they can be useful.
9306 And trying to find a pay phone in this day and age that is actually active is very difficult.
9307 That leaves persons with visual impairment or blindness to be at risk in emergency situations once again.
9308 So again, we call upon actions which have been clearly thought out with clearly defined parameters to go along with the guidelines in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms about equality and accessibility and we don't feel that this is out of line in terms of the Telecommunications Act itself, whereby no party or group is supposed to be left in a deficit, whether by accident or intentionally, and that the cost of implementing technologies that will remedy the situation is deemed not to be an excuse.
9309 We, the Council, representing over 600,000 individuals who use broadcasting services, have been subsidizing the cost of regular programming because we can't get anything that is remotely accessible to us currently, but we live in a world where there is reams and reams of information that is presented via television, via digital satellite, via cell phones, telecommunications.
9310 A lot of the main advances that came with disability access in the last 20 years have been undone in the last five.
9311 With the advent again of cell phones, large buttons is somewhat of a redundancy, being that the cell phones are so small. So that access is gone.
9312 Without having access to the menus and the screen potentials of the cell phone, very few cell phones are accessible. Only one company that I know of in Canada provides an accessible cell phone and they force you to sign a three‑year contract and they make you pay for that phone, whereas the regular subscriber can sign a three‑year contract and get the phone free.
9313 This seems a little bit harsh in that the cell phones are a regular cell phone product that the company carries and promotes, but they are trying to offset the cost of the software package. Unfortunately, the software package is not all that expensive, but they are relaying the cost on to the user who has been subsidizing it for "X" number of years already.
9314 We are requesting that these kinds of actions stop because it puts the disability community in a distinct disadvantage and, unfortunately, the visually impaired community is a community that is the least employed in Canada and has the least income resources to provide themselves with these kind of tools to be able to function independently within the society.
9315 So once again, we are requesting that a greater amount of descriptive video be legislated and governed and that changes to the legislation in terms of telecommunications itself to allow for or to insist upon accessibility options, with consultation of the community itself through the focal lens of the disability community, is the only way to go about this.
9316 We have provided information to the ILECs and to broadcasting corporations, and the response has been that if we do not speak in engineering terms ‑‑ which very few of our Association's members are qualified to do, because we are a voluntary organization ‑‑ we are often dismissed.
9317 I can't tell you how to build a synthesized telephone, but I know it can be done and I know that I need it. Just because I can't give the technical statistics on how to do it and the specifications doesn't mean that I'm wrong.
9318 This has been the approach of the larger corporations in terms of dealing with disabilities. We are not asking for anything other than full access to what is being offered to everyone else.
9319 The long‑term goal for some of the funds that have been set aside, we would like to see a disability center or disability access center created with the input of the disability community.
9320 Now, at this point I am speaking in terms of more than just the CCB. I have sat with other agencies and have ‑‑ we have all sat down and agreed that a disability access agency which is guided by individuals from the community that are affected, governed by and with tangible results set as target goals is what is needed, with an annual review in the long term.
9321 We recognize that that would not be a creation that would happen overnight and we ask that sooner than later.
9322 We have been living, like I said, with some advances in technologies, and unfortunately to the rapid pace of changing technology we have been once again thrown backwards into a disability state.
9323 Barriers have gone up because of technologies and the unwillingness to use what is already existing to conquer the accessibility issues.
9324 So once again we ask that the provisions that are in the Telecommunications Act regarding accessibility and regarding disadvantaged publics be enforced with specific and tangible legislation and that the long term perspective be a center of joint cooperation between broadcasting and communication corporations and the disability community to provide what is needed in a multitier, multilevel accessibility plan for the long term.
9325 Thank you.
9326 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.
9327 We are now going to test high technology and I'm going to ask Commissioner Candice Molnar from Saskatchewan to begin an offer any questions or additions that she feels are required for the record.
9328 Commissioner Molnar, are you there?
9329 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: I am.
9330 THE CHAIRPERSON: Excellent.
9331 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Hello, Mr. Pigeon. I am Candice and I am speaking to you from Regina.
9332 Can you hear me?
9333 MR. PIGEON: Yes, I can.
9334 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Okay. Excellent.
9335 Thank you for your presentation today. I did read your submission and I heard what you said today. Much of it, if you followed this proceeding, is information and are issues that have been brought to our attention over the past week.
9336 So in the interests of time I am going to limit my questions so that you are able to make your appointment as well.
9337 As I said, I did read your full submission and I understand the points you have made. I did want to just clarify a couple of points from your submission.
9338 In your submission ‑‑ and you spoke about it this morning as well ‑‑ you spoke about the need for the CRTC to mandate broadcasters to reach a targeted number of hours of described video. You noted today as well that you are not expecting all, and I appreciate that.
9339 I think that if we take into account the cost to broadcasters and balance that with the needs of people with vision loss and we look at the economic situation in front of us today, I wondered if you could tell me what you would view to be a reasonable amount of increase to the amount of described video?
9340 MR. PIGEON: Well, I think for starters any emergency broadcasts, any community information such as community calendars, things that are of day‑to‑day importance, I think all of that should be done with descriptive video.
9341 As for entertainment programs, I think, you know, in an initial state I think anywhere between 10 and 20 per cent would be a dramatic increase and I think that's a good place to start with, you know, provisions saying that we would like to see as much as possible in the shortest amount of time, taking into consideration economic factors, technology, et cetera.
9342 I would leave the provision open in terms of, you know, in the most expeditious time frame as possible.
9343 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Okay, thank you for that.
9344 I would like to turn to your comments at the end of your presentation where you spoke about insisting upon accessible options for telecom services and your challenges in consultation with the telephone companies in being able to define your requirements.
9345 The question I have, Mr. Pigeon, is to what extent ‑‑ because Canada of course is part of a global market, certainly for terminals and adaptive devices. We are part of a global market versus a market that manufactures much ourselves as it relates to terminal equipment.
9346 To what extent do you have available information related to what terminal devices and adaptive devices are available on an international basis that may assist you in making your communications services more valuable?
9347 MR. PIGEON: Well, in the last year and a half, two years, I have done a lot of research in terms of this. There are several countries which are leaders in telecommunications in the world, the United States and Britain being two to name. But countries such as South Africa also have accessible products.
9348 It was South Africa that we used to call upon one of the broadcasting corporations to actually provide one. They didn't quite listen to what we were trying to say to them at the time.
9349 I'm aware that there are multiple different hardware sets available through the United States because in the United States telecommunications are regulated to provide accessible options within a reasonable amount of time. So most of the wireless communications and telephone communications companies within the United States have accessible hardware.
9350 It is not that the technology doesn't exist; it is not that it can't be brought in. The problem is that when we have approached the corporations to do so, they don't exactly respond to our request. They say it is not a large enough market. They give us all kinds of reasons why it can't be done.
9351 Furthermore, there are Canadian companies which have created accessibility options which have been petitioning telecoms in this country and they have been turned aside as well.
9352 Again, there is an existing reasonable cost technology sector that can overcome these challenges but is being disregarded.
9353 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Do you happen to have an example of a Canadian manufacturer who has been turned away?
9354 MR. PIGEON: Yes. The company's name is Curo Interactive. The company is owned by, believe it or not, he was the President of the Cellular Telephone Providers Association, I believe, and they created ‑‑ first in their drafts they created a fully accessible cell phone that would be accessible to the blind, to the deaf, to the physically challenged and to the mentally challenged or cognitively challenged, to be more specific.
9355 They could not get any of the cell manufacturers to pick up this particular design, and because of that they changed their tactic and they created a software package that works in any GSM phone.
9356 Again, Bell Cellular, all the wireless companies within Canada refused to accept them and refused to even look at the implementation of it.
9357 The only provision that this company was asking for was that they wanted some specific specs on several different specific GSM telephones so that they could better tailor the software package to be able to be more responsive to the needs of the community they were trying to service. Again they were turned down.
9358 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Okay. Well, thank you for that information.
9359 One final question, Mr. Pigeon.
9360 You have identified through your submission and here today a number of different issues that you feel are important that they be addressed: increases to described video, improving emergency alerts, improving audio description, terminal access.
9361 Could you tell me what you view to be the number one priority for the group that you are representing?
9362 MR. PIGEON: I would say that the number one priority would be the visual description, or descriptive video, because that is, basically, audio description. It would encompass any of the broadcasters.
9363 In terms of telecommunications, that would be our secondary goal, in terms of having accessible cell phones, accessible telephones, et cetera.
9364 Again, the long‑term goal of a joint facility to facilitate accessibility with the broadcasters and the telecoms would be a long‑term goal.
9365 But I think the primary one would definitely be descriptive video, and specifically for emergency broadcasting.
9366 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you very much. Those are my questions.
9367 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Molnar.
9368 I have a few questions, and then maybe some other folks on the panel will have some questions, as well.
9369 My first question ‑‑ I think it is a follow‑up to Commissioner Molnar's, and it has to do with technology already in existence that may not necessarily be networked and provided by the network providers, but provided by software or technology designers, like Microsoft and Sisco.
9370 To your knowledge, are there any products that are available today in the marketplace that would allow people with disabilities easier access and more freedom with regard to the utilization of ‑‑ whether it's the internet or any other technology, without necessarily requiring software modifications or network interfaces to the products?
9371 I am thinking here of voice synthesis and those types of things, which are either off‑the‑shelf or readily available as an adjunct to existing technology.
9372 MR. PIGEON: The problem that I have seen so far, in terms of off‑the‑shelf technologies, is that a lot of the services provided by telephones and computer services run into the arena of JavaScript, and JavaScript, typically, interferes with a lot of the voice synthesis programming that is out there.
9373 But there are a lot of programs that do function. There is one called The Talks Program, which is already available by one of the broadcasters, as I have said. It took an arm and a leg to get it to come, and it is available off the shelf through disability access suppliers.
9374 As for other voice packages, Microsoft has created some SAPI5 voices. They have created, or are in the process of improving their Text‑to‑Speech.
9375 There is a program called JAWS, which is "Job Access With Speech", which is considered to be the mainstay, or the main leader, in terms of voice synthesis.
9376 I happen to be a trainer in that software package.
9377 There are others, such as Window‑Eyes, et cetera.
9378 Now, most of these are based for computer communications, but certainly can be adapted.
9379 The JAWS program itself has a secondary, universally accepted voice program called "Eloquence", which is used worldwide, all across the world, in different countries, in different arenas of technology, and it has the ability to speak in multiple languages, et cetera.
9380 The trick here is, basically, because we are talking about optical character reading, or graphical reading, to basically know the program codes of the manufacturing phones.
9381 We are not asking for every phone to be accessible. That is an unrealistic goal. We are asking for one or two options, because right now we don't have one or two options. We barely have one.
9382 In terms of competition and in terms of having variety or options, like I said, there is only one, and you are basically railroaded. I personally do not like the service that is provided by the one company that has accessibility, and therefore I don't use it.
9383 But, as I mentioned, I have a cell phone, where 90 percent of the capabilities of that phone are unreachable to me ‑‑ but I am paying for it anyway.
9384 THE CHAIRPERSON: To your knowledge, to what extent has Industry Canada been involved in researching and developing some of these stand‑alone adaptive technologies?
9385 I understand that Industry Canada has a department or a sector that looks at these types of initiatives, and I am just wondering to what extent they have been involved in this area, and whether there is either a need for cooperation between various sectors of industry and this group, or whether this group can actually perfect and deliver some of the solutions that a lot of people are looking for.
9386 MR. PIGEON: In the long‑term, or the big picture, I would say that Industry Canada would be essential to incorporate, but in terms of the telecommunications and broadcasting side of things, I think that the technology is well within their ability to accommodate at the current time.
9387 The reason I suggest that Industry Canada would be essential to add at a later date is because ‑‑
9388 For example, there is a company that provides a descriptive video channel. They petitioned for it through the CRTC, and it is now made available. The problem is, the technology that it runs on is a standard television, but to get to SAP audio programming, the visual menus are inaccessible to the blind.
9389 That's a hardware issue, and that comes under the jurisdiction of Industry Canada, in terms of requiring industries to provide accessible electronics.
9390 It goes further than electronics, though, because nowadays we have perfectly flat‑topped stoves with digital screens, which have put visually impaired people behind the times again, in terms of accessibility in being able to use a stove.
9391 Every gadget on the market these days has a display screen.
9392 The technology is available. The technology is there.
9393 In more recent times ‑‑ as a matter of fact, it is in process right now. One of the schools for the blind in the United States petitioned Apple Computer Corp. to change access to iPods. Their argument was that blind people enjoy music and audio too; as a matter of fact, probably more so than the average person.
9394 Apple agreed, and they are now producing an interface that will work completely through their iPod series, and it is supposed to be released sometime in the new year.
9395 It can be done, it's just a matter of ‑‑ we are talking about, I think, a larger picture, and in the larger picture, if the devices were already geared toward that kind of accessibility, then it would be that much easier for the telecoms and the broadcasters, but it is not critical for the telecoms and the broadcasters to be able to accommodate at this point in time.
9396 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you for that answer.
9397 My next question has to do with what I thought I heard you say early on in your presentation, that is, that there have been certain capabilities that have been lost due to more recent technological improvements and innovations.
9398 Maybe I misunderstood, but has there been, through this evolution of new technology, capabilities and services that were available that have sort of disappeared completely with a new generation of products introduced, or has what I will call backward compatibility been respected to allow for whatever capabilities were there before to continue in the new derivation or generation of product?
9399 MR. PIGEON: I don't believe that any of the previous services have been completely wiped out. I would concur with a backward process, using the pay telephone as an example.
9400 There are many, many, many locations where there are pay telephones, but because of the lack of users, compared to the way things used to be, they are not being maintained, or they are being removed completely.
9401 So it is hit‑or‑miss whether it is functioning, and it is a situation where, if, say, the telephone book is damaged or vandalized, it is not being replaced.
9402 Again, privatization has sort of made it difficult, as well. I can account from a personal experience, where I was in a shopping mall and I was trying to contact my wife, and I went to the pay phone, and I was shocked and surprised that suddenly I had to pay a dollar just to use 411, which previously was free.
9403 Now, I am aware that that's not on every pay phone, but I don't know which ones are which. I can't tell. Whatever phone happens to be there I am sort of stuck with.
9404 The fact that, at that point in time, I did not have a cell phone, I was stuck, no matter what I did.
9405 Being that visual impairment and low incomes are very closely associated, the problem lies in that a portion of our community is unable or incapable of affording the telecommunications that would provide them a safety net, such as cell phones.
9406 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
9407 My last question goes to the comment you made about the fact that there is a three‑year contract required for some of these wireless devices, yet there is a charge for hardware. I am just trying to understand the distinction you are trying to make.
9408 My understanding is that the wireless companies provide regular phones, at subsidized prices, not necessarily always zero. Depending on the features and the functionality, there is a charge, notwithstanding the fact that people have to get involved in a contract of X term ‑‑ three years, two years, one year.
9409 I thought I heard the Rogers group last week indicate that the one particular phone they were talking about was still subsidized, but if you wanted it for three years, the cost would be less than if you wanted it on a month‑to‑month basis.
9410 The price of the hardware went up if you went from a three‑year to a two‑year to a one‑year to a month‑to‑month contract.
9411 I think I heard you say that that's unfair, to the extent that one still has to pay for the hardware, even though they are signing a three‑year contract. Yet, I believe, depending on the hardware you get, like a BlackBerry Bold or whatever, there is a charge for the hardware, notwithstanding the fact that the customer has to sign a three‑year contract.
9412 I am trying to understand, is there a distinction here that I am missing, or is there an equivalency, if I could call it that, between how subsidies are affected?
9413 MR. PIGEON: I was a little unclear in my description of that. I will clarify.
9414 It is not that I expect, or that we as an association or a group expect free hardware, it is that, one, the particular phone ‑‑ and I excluded using the Rogers' group name, just so that we could remain anonymous, so that we weren't singling out any particular broadcasters or any particular telecom, but that is the one group that I was referring to as having the accessible phone.
9415 The accessible phone has been a phone available on the market, without the accessibility features, for some time. It is a late‑model phone and, to my knowledge, in terms of packages, yes, when you sign on there is a variance based on the duration of the contract, but what I am getting at is, I don't have an option.
9416 When I go to another provider, I can go to a two‑year or a one‑year, I can pick a package that includes a subsidized phone or does not include a subsidized phone, based on the functions and features I want.
9417 The problem is, I can't use any of those functions and features. The only phone that provides it I am being, basically, forced to use, if I want to have full accessibility, and then I am being charged that much more for it, when I know for a fact that they were offering those phones at a greatly reduced price from what they are now.
9418 I also know that the whole program and the whole set‑up came about because I was the one who initiated it personally. I called them up and said, "I know about this software package. I know where it came from. I can give you the manufacturer. I can give you this. We, as a disadvantaged community, would like to see one or two of these particular phones made available, so that individuals could have, one, some choice, based on what their personal needs are, and we would like to see it in a fashion where our agency could work with your agency, so that it can be economically viable for our community."
9419 The problem is, that side of the affair was not calculated.
9420 Again, the phones that they are referring to are at least four years in date.
9421 THE CHAIRPERSON: Initiate it again, Mr. Pigeon. I am sure that the Rogers folks are listening and will respond in due course with regard to this issue, as well.
9422 Those are my questions. I thought I would start by polling our commissioners out in the regions.
9423 For those who are listening on webcast, we actually have an innovative technology going for us. We have three commissioners in the regions ‑‑ Commissioner Duncan in Halifax, Commissioner Molnar in Saskatchewan, who you heard briefly, and Commissioner Simpson in Vancouver ‑‑ all participating through video conferencing links, and the associated support.
9424 Here, at Gatineau, it is myself, Commissioner Denton on my right, and Commissioner Lamarre on my left.
9425 Let me start by asking Commissioner Duncan if she has any questions in Halifax.
9426 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes, Mr. Chairman, I have two quick questions.
9427 Mr. Pigeon, when you were speaking to Commissioner Molnar about your priorities, you listed your second priority as accessible cell phones and telephones.
9428 I am wondering, regular land line telephones ‑‑ are you not able to get accessible land lines phones?
9429 MR. PIGEON: There are accessible land line phones, but there are a lot of features that are difficult. They require some visual display.
9430 They are more accessible, granted, than the wireless variety.
9431 I was just encompassing it as telecommunications. I was trying to incorporate all forms of telecommunications on that particular issue.
9432 The primary one, though, I think, would be cell phones, because they are the least accessible out of the batch.
9433 Now, on that, I would also like to give some praise to the Rogers group for actually having provided an accessible phone.
9434 As much as I am here presenting, saying that it's not good enough that there is only one, the Rogers group was brave enough, to use a short term, to put it out there in the first place.
9435 So I give them kudos for that, but at the same end, we have other issues that are affecting the scenario.
9436 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: That actually leads into my next question. When you spoke about that phone being the only one that is accessible ‑‑ and you have gone on since to talk about Rogers, but you said that you don't like the service.
9437 I was wondering, is the issue related to the pricing alone, or is it some aspect of the quality of the service that you don't like?
9438 MR. PIGEON: It is a little of both. I previously did have a Rogers cell phone, and I had issues with what I would call the quality of the hardware. I had issues with the quality of the transmission, and, on occasion, the quality of customer service.
9439 I don't hold customer service as what I would call a corporate issue, in that individuals ‑‑ people who work have good days and bad days, and things don't always work the way we want them to, so patience, as a customer, is required in that regard.
9440 But, definitely, in terms of transmission quality and quality of the phone, that was definitely an issue at that time.
9441 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you for the clarification.
9442 Those are my questions. Thank you, Mr. Pigeon.
9443 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
9444 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Duncan.
9445 Over to the far west coast ‑‑ Commissioner Simpson, any questions?
9446 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Yes, Mr. Chair, I have a few, thank you.
9447 Good morning. Greetings from the west coast. This is an exciting process, being involved in this video conferencing for a hearing. It's nice to see the CRTC at the vanguard of technology.
9448 My questions, first of all, Mr. Pigeon, are concerning described video. My impression from your presentation is that you have a fairly high command of software technology. I am wondering if that knowledge base, either with you or your organization, extends into the television production area, particularly as it pertains to described video.
9449 MR. PIGEON: I have some knowledge in that area. I have only been blind for the last 20 years.
9450 In terms of television production, it is actually a fairly simple process. It is, basically, just an audio remix.
9451 It is basically a sound overlay, which they do already.
9452 Many, many times they will be broadcasting images from a blue screen behind an announcer, and they will be overlaying a voice input.
9453 A secondary voice input, which speaks when there are gaps in communications that are verbally being done by the announcer or the host, is how the visual description works, and VoicePrint is currently the Canadian leader in descriptive video. They have offered their services to local television, and are hoping to offer it to a larger framework, but they are experts in the field, and it is ready to go, and they have the capacity to do it.
9454 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you very much for that.
9455 We have had a presentation from VoicePrint, as you know, and a very good presentation from Messrs. Rothschild and John Stubbs on the broader issues of described video. From your organization's viewpoint, what do you feel is the largest barrier to seeing more described video occur strictly within ‑‑ my focus here is in the cost of production, not the distribution issues with the broadcaster and the BDUs.
9456 It has been my distinct impression that the described video process is a costly one, on a per‑hour basis right now, and I am wondering if your organization, or those that you confer with, have been looking at this issue with respect to having some opinions on removing those barriers.
9457 MR. PIGEON: In discussions, roughly a year ago, with local VoicePrint staff, we were actually looking at getting voluntary staff to come in to do the voiceovers and to actually provide most of the technical assistance at no cost.
9458 The strongest barrier is time constraint. News broadcasts and emergency broadcasts are on specific time schedules and to slow it down to be able to produce an audio descriptor to go with it slows down the usual pace, and that seems to be the greatest barrier.
9459 Cost again is not so much. Again, you are talking about an audio technician basically overlaying a sound. And if the finished product is ready to go and staff or experienced personnel from VoicePrint, or any other agency that is going to provide this service, can get their hands on it within 20 minutes to half an hour, they can provide that particular sound overlay to go in and to be in the gaps where there is either graphical interfaces or music background.
9460 It's no different than when they mix sound to a movie or they mix sound to even the actual news broadcasts when they add music. It is a fade‑in process.
9461 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Yes. I think we are pretty familiar with the process itself, Mr. Pigeon. I'm just most curious as to ‑‑ if you are saying that there is a volunteer base out there to help defray the production costs, I was just curious as to what barriers were still in front of you toward getting more described video actually produced for Canadian distribution.
9462 I hear you saying that the cost of labour is not an issue.
9463 Have there been any issues with respect to copyright or altering of formats or anything else on a legal basis that have been in your way?
9464 MR. PIGEON: Not particularly that I know of. Most of it is a resistance to change the status quo. If it is for, you know, the larger base, like I said, it is amazing how fast new technologies are introduced. But when it comes to we'll say catching up for a specific public that is going to be receiving this, it tends to be a lot slower.
9465 Again, I see it more as a mindset. The Council sees it as a mindset because when descriptive video first hit Ottawa, for example, I know for a fact that the head of VoicePrint here in Ottawa offered to do the 6 o'clock news for free and they were turned down.
9466 It's not a matter of cost. I just can't see that.
9467 I think it is a barrier of willingness and that's why we are requiring specific legislation, because up to this point it has not happened.
9468 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: I think just to close off this part of the discussion, before an organization like ours wants to contemplate regulatory means, we have to understand the cost impacts and it has been repeatedly brought to our attention that the cost issues of described video are the barrier.
9469 This we have been hearing from the professional broadcasters, program producers and others who are saying that it is about $1,500 to $1,700 an hour. I hear you saying that a lot of those barriers can be eliminated.
9470 I'm just trying to determine in my mind where we really are at with respect to those costs. It is something that I guess we will have to pursue at a later date.
9471 I hear you saying that you feel there is a sufficiently robust volunteer force out there to help to defray those costs, but that still isn't enough to create a general willingness to relook at more described video.
9472 Is that correct?
9473 MR. PIGEON: I would agree with that and I would say that, you know, the Telecommunications Act has a provision for this saying that, regardless of cost, no specific group should be basically disabled or disadvantaged.
9474 In terms of the descriptive video for emergency broadcasting, I would say that is critical and essential. The cost will reduce the more it happens.
9475 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Okay. One final question and it goes over to the cable company product offerings to the visually impaired community.
9476 Could you very quickly, because I'm sure that we have dealt with this before, but I would like you to revisit the issue of the type of equipment that is available to you now, or to your community across the country, and whether you feel there is a need for a greater standardization of set‑top boxes and controllers.
9477 And could you comment on the training presently available by the cable companies with respect to the use of the controllers?
9478 MR. PIGEON: Well, my personal experience is that remote control systems for the digital cable is ‑‑ well, it is completely inaccessible. It is a matter of having to memorize each button and that only gets you to the one functionality, the initial functionality. Most buttons have more than one or drop‑down menu systems that appear on your screen, and that is completely inaccessible to the visually impaired and blind community.
9479 One of the technologies that is available that VoicePrint advocates for, which is now probably going to be out of date, is a VCR that has an automatic switch to SAP so that individuals with visual impairments just have to press a single button to get into the secondary audio programming.
9480 As for learning the technologies that the cable providers or broadcasters are providing, if there was a synthesized or audio instruction coinciding with the actions that are done with the boxes, I think that that would very easily solve the problem.
9481 It is a lot easier, though, to make the TVs or the hardware more adaptive than it is to adapt on‑screen programming in a random basis.
9482 So the technology that is out there unfortunately is very challenging for the visually impaired community. To meet that challenge, like I said, would require Industry Canada's involvement because we are getting down to the core of all base electronics.
9483 Technology can make a wristwatch talk in several languages and give you time zones and timers, et cetera, et cetera. There is no reason why it can't adapt to other forms of electronics such as television, such as digital cable boxes.
9484 One of the things that we would like to see which would be very helpful from broadcasters is that their TV Guide channels be descriptive video, because they list off all their channels but I can't hear them, can't see them.
9485 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. Pigeon.
9486 I am going to interrupt your questioning, Mr. Simpson. I promised the party here that he would be out by 11 o'clock to catch another appointment, and I believe Mr. Denton and Suzanne Lamarre, Commissioner Lamarre, have a question.
9487 So I will give them each an opportunity to ask one question.
9488 COMMISSIONER DENTON: Hi, it's Tim Denton.
9489 You spoke of disability access providers. How are they found? Where do they exist? And how do the disabled get access to them?
9490 MR. PIGEON: Well, unfortunately in Canada the governance of disabilities is handled through the provinces and so each province deals with it in a different fashion.
9491 In Ontario we have a program called Assisted Devices Program which provides accessible materials or accessible equipment which is subsidized by the province's health department. Because of that, they have specific vendors that are trusted and tried and they provide these disability access equipment.
9492 Now, the main one in Canada is Frontier Computing out of Toronto and they have offices across North America. They have some in B.C., they have some here in Ontario and others in the States. They deal in all manner of electronic devices and adaptive equipment that are electronic in base for the use of persons with visual impairments.
9493 As for physical adaptive equipment, again it depends on the province in terms of who is providing it, whether it be ‑‑ you know, in Ontario again it's Ontario Medical Supply or something of that nature.
9494 But a good example of a situation where Industry Canada should be involved is the leading cause of blindness in Canada is because of diabetes. Well, the health manufacturers of insulin pumps know this, but they do not provide a talking insulin pump. They have been presented ‑‑ they have had the argument presented to them for years and years and years by the hospitals, by ‑‑ and not just in Ontario but across the country, and they still don't do it.
9495 That leaves individuals such as myself ‑‑ because I am a diabetic ‑‑ requiring to use other methodology that is not nearly as capable of managing the disease because there is a technology barrier. The barrier is not that it is all that difficult to solve. It is that the willingness to do the effort is not there.
9496 So, like I said, accessibility to these particular departments usually can be reached through organizations such as the Canadian Council of the Blind. We are certainly aware of the predominant agencies, so is the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the CNIB. They certainly have a well‑documented list of providers in this area. The Independent Living Resource Centers across the country would also have access to this.
9497 COMMISSIONER. DENTON: Thank you.
9498 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Denton.
9499 Commissioner Lamarre, one final question?
9500 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Merci, Monsieur le Président.
9501 Good morning, Mr. Pigeon, this is Suzanne Lamarre speaking.
9502 In replying to Commissioner Molnar regarding the increase of descriptive video material from broadcasters, you mentioned that indeed you think that if everything were described it would be a perfect world, but in the meantime, before we get there, an increase of between 10 and 20 per cent would be substantial.
9503 Now, were you referring to an increase of 10 or 20 per cent compared to what is currently done or 10 or 20 per cent compared to the overall schedule of broadcasters?
9504 MR. PIGEON: I was referring to the overall, up to 20 per cent versus the 4 per cent that is now available.
9505 I recognize, you know, to go 25 per cent, that's one‑quarter of all broadcast. That is a little steep in terms of the associated costs, we will say the logistics of making it happen.
9506 What I was saying is that we would like to see it increase, even if it was 10 per cent, which would rise it to 14, but with a proviso that the ball keeps rolling in that direction, not that it go to 14 and stop; that they provide funding or find means of funding over the long term goal to bring the numbers up so that the product that we pay for is accessible to us.
9507 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Thank you. That was my question.
9508 Merci, Monsieur le Président.
9509 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much, Mr. Pigeon, for joining us today.
9510 We will move on to the next party.
9511 It is 11:03, so hopefully we haven't kept you too long.
9512 MR. PIGEON: No, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to present.
9513 THE SECRETARY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
9514 J'inviterais maintenant RQST à procéder à la table de présentation, s'il vous plaît.
‑‑‑ Pause
9515 LA SECRÉTAIRE : Veuillez vous présenter et votre collègue, et vous avez 15 minutes pour faire votre présentation.
PRÉSENTATION / PRESENTATION
9516 M. MCNICOLL: Alors bonjour, je suis Richard McNicoll. Je suis le président et fondateur de la compagnie du RQST Conseil‑expert et j'ai à ma gauche monsieur Pierre Dumouchel, un scientifique qui va un peu élaborer toutes les technologies possibles pour adapter nos besoins autant pour les aveugles, autant pour nous.
9517 Avant de commencer, j'ai un point important à faire, suite à une rencontre avec l'Association canadienne des radiodiffuseurs, hier. On demande de faire des groupes de décisions pour le 8 décembre. Le 8 décembre, au Québec, c'est journée d'élections; ce n'est pas possible de faire le sondage le 8.
9518 Et, en même temps, comme vous savez, c'est très très difficile de communiquer avec une personne sourde, ça peut prendre 15, 20 minutes de téléphone. Avant de convoquer 40 personnes de cette façon‑là, on a besoin de beaucoup de temps, puis si c'est à la dernière minute, on ne peut pas inviter tout le monde.
9519 On demande au CRTC de reporter ça au plus tard le 15 janvier, O.K., pour permettre à tout le monde qui sont intéressés au sondage de participer.
9520 Ça, c'est hors contexte, mais je vous demande, c'est très important pour nous à cause de la façon d'élaborer toute la stratégie. Inviter les gens, former les animateurs, former les interprètes, former la compagnie qui va faire le sondage, parce qu'elle ne connaît pas c'est quoi une personne sourde. C'est tout un contexte qui prend du temps.
9521 Ça va?
9522 LE PRÉSIDENT: On va le considérer et on va faire une décision l'après‑midi.
9523 M. MCNICOLL: D'accord. Puis, je pense que nos confrères anglophones ont le même problème.
9524 Alors chers commissaires, je me présente pour la vingt‑cinquième année en tant que représentant de la communauté sourde et malentendante. Pour ceux qui m'ont suivi, vous savez que la cause du sous‑titrage des émissions de télévision a été au coeur de mes activités.
9525 Certains pourraient croire qu'après 27 ans, le problème du sous‑titrage serait résolu. Malheureusement non; vous devez encore m'endurer aujourd'hui et, malheureusement, pour plusieurs années encore.
9526 J'ai amené ici, un exemple, l'horaire de Super Écran de décembre 2000, O.K.? Je paye... moi‑même, je paye 100 pour‑cent de la tarification demandée, mais j'ai accès à 50 pour‑cent des films seulement. On est en 2008, décembre; ça fait 27 ans que je me bats... Comme ça, c'est pas normal aujourd'hui que je revienne encore ici.
9527 Alors, par contre, il faut reconnaître qu'il y a eu des avancements. L'avancement le plus marquant a été celui résultant d'un bénéfice tangible du Groupe TVA qui a été versé au RQST. Avec cet argent, j'ai demandé au CRIM de développer une technologie basée sur la reconnaissance automatique de la parole pour sous‑titrer en français et en temps réel les bulletins de nouvelles.
9528 Non seulement ce projet fut couronné de succès, mais il est aussi utilisé au Parlement canadien, à CPAQ, à TQS, à RDS et TFO. Je tiens à féliciter le CRTC d'offrir... de nous avoir aidés dans cette démarche d'offrir l'accessibilité de l'information télévisuelle après de ma communauté.
9529 Après ces fleurs que je viens d'offrir au CRTC, il faut que je lance le pot. Ne vous inquiétez pas, je réserve le pot pour la Société Radio‑Canada, qui s'acharne à faire un développement à l'interne avec des produits américains ou français, à vivre en vase clos, technologiquement et à ne pas partager leurs outils avec la communauté comme elle l'a fait avec le développement de Mediatex.
9530 Je m'excuse auprès d'eux, mais l'année passée, ils ont investi comme 1 300 000 $ pour un logiciel américain qui n'a pas fonctionné. C'est dire c'est déplorable pour nous.
9531 Je tiens toutefois à féliciter le CRIM, dont monsieur Pierre Dumouchel qui est à mes côtés, d'avoir mis tous ses efforts pour arriver à une solution technologique économique et de continuer inlassablement à chercher du financement et à faire de la recherche dans le domaine du sous‑titrage et aussi au niveau de la vidéodescription avec le projet eInclusion.
9532 Il y a eu aussi des avancements au niveau de l'âge à laquelle vous venez joindre ma communauté sourde et malentendante. Comme l'a noté Louise Getty, directrice de l'école d'orthophonie et d'audiologie et spécialiste de la surdité, avec la venue du iPod, ce n'est plus à 75 ans que l'on devient dur d'oreille. Elle a vu des gens de 45 ans et même de 31 ans durs d'oreille.
9533 Soyez donc prévoyant, vous pouvez déjà commencer à devenir membre de nos associations comme l'ASC, la CQDA, l'AMEC ou le RQST.
9534 En passant, je voudrais corriger un propos erroné du Centre québécois de la déficience auditive, plus précisément de madame Therrien, qui disait que le RQST n'existait plus depuis plusieurs années et que c'est un organisme impartial.
9535 Premièrement, le RQST existe toujours et, en plus, j'ai aussi créé une deuxième entreprise qui est le RQST Conseil‑expert, qui est une entreprise de consultation. Est‑ce que le RQST est impartial? J'ai fait le pari que la solution à l'accès à l'information sera technologiquement, que cette technologie n'est pas parfaite et qu'il faut faire des représentations pour trouver du financement pour l'améliorer.
9536 Si c'est cela être partial, alors je suis partial. J'ai toujours invité le CQDA aux audiences et aux comités sur les normes du sous‑titrage. L'année passée, ils étaient avec nous... ils étaient avec nous. Je devrai discuter avec eux pour clarifier le tout. Je trouve les propos de madame Therrien malheureux, peut‑être, ces propos dépassaient sa pensée.
9537 Revenons à ma présentation. Pour cette audience, le RQST voudrait encore insister sur les technologies d'aide. Mon intervention va aussi mettre l'accent sur la téléphonie et, évidemment, sur la télévision et ses nouveaux médias, notamment le Web et le téléphone cellulaire intelligent.
9538 Débutons avec la téléphonie. Le service de relais vidéo est désirable notamment pour les sourds et les malentendants qui connaissent leur langage signé. Il est présentement inaccessible à la fois pour le contexte en mode sédentaire et pour le contexte en mode mobilité.
9539 Nous croyons que les téléphones intelligents offrent une solution pour les sourds et les malentendants maîtrisant le langage signé en mobilité. Nous suggérons donc l'utilisation de cette nouvelle technologie. Par contre, il faudra non seulement que ces outils offrent l'accessibilité au niveau technologique, puisque notre... mais aussi au niveau économique, puisque notre communauté est plus pauvre que la moyenne et puisque notre déficience fait en sorte que le temps d'utilisation est plus grand que pour une personne entendante.
9540 Pour la téléscription, nous constatons que les outils employés par les téléscripteurs émanent des technologies obsolètes qui datent des années 70. Elles présentent les inconvénients suivants :
9541 ‑ Non mobile;
9542 ‑ Qui ne répond pas au besoin universel des sourds;
9543 ‑ Nécessiter des protocoles de télécommunications non standard;
9544 ‑ Ne fonctionne pas sous IP;
9545 ‑ Mauvaise qualité des services;
9546 ‑ Coûts élevés d'opération à la fois pour l'achat du produit pour les sourds ou les malentendants que pour les opérateurs téléphoniques (coût d'opération du service);
9547 ‑ Présente une lenteur d'utilisation sept fois plus grande qu'une communication entre entendants.
9548 Le service de téléscripteur est aussi essentiel qu'auparavant, compte tenu du taux d'alphabétisation fonctionnelle de la communauté sourde et malentendante. Toutefois, il faut améliorer la qualité de ce service afin d'éliminer les inconvénients qui n'ont plus de raison d'être avec la technologie actuelle.
9549 Nous recommandons l'emploi de la technologie de la reconnaissance de la parole pour les opérateurs téléphoniques. Non seulement le service serait plus rapide, mais les avancées faites pour cette application pourraient être réutilisées pour le sous‑titrage et vice versa.
9550 Parlons maintenant de la télévision et du sous‑titrage. Le sous‑titrage présente deux problématiques différentes selon que l'on traite de la diffusion en différé, comme pour les films, les téléromans et les documentaires, ou la diffusion en direct ou le quasi direct, comme pour les sports, les bulletins de nouvelles et les talk‑shows.
9551 Pour le différé, le temps à la disposition des transcripteurs fait en sorte que la qualité de l'écrit est adéquate et que l'intelligibilité des sous‑titres excellente. Jusqu'à présent, chaque radiodiffuseur et entreprise de sous‑titrage a ses propres normes stylistiques. Une normalisation de ces normes serait souhaitable.
9552 Suite à votre recommandation, le RQST s'est associé avec l'Association canadienne des radiodiffuseurs afin d'élaborer de nouvelles normes stylistiques.
9553 Je dois vous avouer qu'hier après‑midi, on a fini notre brouillon, puis on va déposer sous peu le « propre ».
9554 Il serait important que les télédiffuseurs respectent ces nouvelles normes. Une recommandation du CRTC en ce sens serait souhaitable.
9555 Pour le direct, les contraintes de production des sous‑titres en trois secondes font en sorte que la qualité de l'écrit et le pourcentage des mots correctement transcrits ou de concepts sous‑titrés par rapport au verbatim et l'intelligibilité des sous‑titres laissent place à beaucoup d'amélioration.
9556 L'évaluation de la qualité des services de la production des sous‑titres constituera sans contredit le sujet de discussion le plus important au cours des prochaines années. Ça sera d'ailleurs en 2009 un sujet d'étude de l'OFCOM (qui est l'équivalent du CRTC de l'Angleterre) et un sujet d'intérêt chez nos voisins, nos collègues américains, notamment au WGBH (c'est une firme bâtie à Boston).
9557 Chez les télédiffuseurs canadiens francophones et anglophones, nous constatons qu'ils mesurent très rarement la qualité des sous‑titres, qu'ils ont des réticences à le faire voir qu'ils ne savent pas comment le mesurer.
9558 Nous recommandons donc que le CRTC propose l'adoption d'une mesure commune d'évaluation de la qualité des sous‑titres. Le CRIM, par son expertise, est selon moi le centre de recherche le plus approprié pour proposer une mesure. Il faudrait aussi déterminer les seuils minima de performance qui assurent l'intelligibilité pour les sourds et les malentendants. La détermination de ces seuils ne peut se faire que par une étude scientifique auprès de la communauté sourde et malentendante.
9559 Le RQST est prêt à être le maître d'oeuvre d'une telle étude, autant pour le français que pour l'anglais.
9560 Nous recommandons aussi la mise en place d'un centre de surveillance de la qualité des sous‑titres. Ce centre effectuerait des évaluations de la qualité d'échantillons d'émissions, rédigerait des rapports aux radiodiffuseurs afin que ces derniers puissent mettre en place des solutions aux problèmes relevés. Le RQST est aussi prêt à être le maître d'oeuvre de cette surveillance.
9561 Il est évident que les outils de sous‑titrage en direct nécessitent encore beaucoup d'amélioration émanant de la recherche universitaire. Il est aussi évident que les coûts de la recherche seraient moindres si les radiodiffuseurs se regroupaient pour le développement d'outils communs et pour l'amélioration constante des performances de ceux‑ci.
9562 Il faut réglementer afin que tous les radiodiffuseurs se regroupent pour le financement de la recherche. L'objectif de cette recherche serait à la fois d'améliorer la qualité du sous‑titrage et la réduction des coûts de production pour les radiodiffuseurs.
9563 Mais mon expérience et mes efforts des 27 dernières années m'ont appris que sans contrainte réglementaire et financière, rien ne sera fait, rien n'avancera. (Ça va être la même chose pour les malvoyants puis les aveugles.)
9564 Je suggère que le CRTC impose une taxe sur le revenu des radiodiffuseurs afin de dégager une somme d'argent nécessaire au financement de ces activités autant à un niveau de centre de surveillance que du financement de la recherche. (Je rouvre un bémol, les compagnies de téléphone doivent soumettre un montant d'argent pour payer les centres de service relais Bell, alors on pourrait peut‑être le faire avec les cablôdistributions et les télédiffuseurs.)
9565 Permettez‑moi de rêver. Pourquoi pas créer un centre de recherche spécifiquement voué au développement d'outils d'aide pour les sourds, les malentendants, les aveugles et les malvoyants.
9566 Finalement, avec la convergence des communications, l'Internet devient un médium qui véhicule de plus en plus l'information audiovisuelle des télédiffuseurs.
9567 Malheureusement, les sous‑titres sont rarement présents et leur absence n'est pas due à des raisons technologiques. Au contraire, le consortium de recherche québécois de eInclusion a même mis en place un système d'édition de sous‑titres collaboratif qui permet d'ajouter et d'éditer des sous‑titres pour des vidéos se trouvant sur des sites d'hébergement tels que YouTube. Une réglementation est toutefois nécessaire afin que les sites Web des télédiffuseurs soient 100 pour‑cent accessibles pour les sourds et les malentendants.
9568 Dans mon mémoire, j'ai parlé d'autres points qui sont aussi importants, par exemple, au niveau du service et au soutien à la clientèle, au service d'urgence et à la représentation et à l'emploi des personnes handicapées. Je veux aussi parler de mon inquiétude sur votre autorisation à un nouveau canal, Ciné‑pop qui, encore aujourd'hui, au moment que je vous parle, il n'a aucune programmation sous‑titrée; sans contrainte au niveau du sous‑titrage.
9569 Je ne voudrais pas minimiser ces points, mais pour respecter mon temps puis permettre à mon invité de parler, je demanderais à votre comité de lire et de prendre... et de le prendre en considération.
9570 Je laisse donc maintenant la parole à Pierre Dumouchel, vice‑président scientifique du CRIM et professeur à l'École de technologie supérieure. Pierre nous présentera l'état de la situation scientifique en 2008.
9571 Pierre, à toi la parole.
9572 M. DUMOUCHEL: Bonjour, Monsieur le Président, bonjour Mesdames et Messieurs les Conseillères et les Conseillers.
9573 Richard m'a demandé de faire le point de la situation scientifique en 2008. Premièrement, je vais vous parler brièvement de la situation en Europe et aux États‑Unis. Après, je vais vous parler des progrès faits au Canada. Je vais conclure en parlant des défis à venir.
9574 En Europe, le pays qui semble prendre le leadership au niveau de la production des sous‑titres est sans contredit la Grande‑Bretagne. Pourquoi? Tout simplement parce que la direction de la BBC a décidé d'elle‑même en 1999 que 100 pour‑cent de ses émissions sous‑titrées.
9575 La BBC ne sous‑titre pas elle‑même, elle sous‑contracte à des firmes externes. Le sous‑titrage par reconnaissance vocale domine en Europe. Certaines firmes emploient plus de 70 sous‑titreurs vocaux et des universités commencent à offrir des cours de formation des sous‑titreurs par reconnaissance vocale.
9576 En 2009, BBC a décidé que 5 pour‑cent de ses émissions seraient offertes avec le langage des signes et que 10% seraient en audiovision (ce qu'on appelle ici la vidéodescription).
9577 Toujours en Angleterre, l'OFCOM a mentionné qu'elle revisiterait le code en 2009 afin de tenir compte de la qualité. BBC a déjà pris les devants en engageant une personne responsable de la qualité.
9578 Aux États‑Unis, maintenant. Aux États‑Unis, le centre le plus avant‑gardiste est le NCAM, centre de recherche associé au WGBH. L'imposition en 2006 de sous‑titrer toutes les émissions de télévision (à quelques exceptions près) a résulté selon les dires de son directeur, Larry Goldberg, que j'ai rencontré l'an dernier, en une baisse de la qualité des sous‑titres. Plusieurs personnes y voyant une opportunité de faire de l'argent se sont improvisées sous‑titreurs. NCAM a demandé des fonds de recherche pour démarrer une activité de la mesure de la qualité des sous‑titres.
9579 Au Canada, maintenant. En 2002, nous avons, au CRIM, commencé le développement d'une technologie à partir de la reconnaissance de la voix pour produire les sous‑titres en temps réel des bulletins de nouvelles du Groupe TVA. Dès le départ, et encore de nos jours, la stratégie déployée par le CRIM a été de développer des technologies qui permettent à la fois de réduire les coûts de production pour les télédiffuseurs tout en augmentant la qualité et la quantité d'information pour les utilisateurs qui sont les sourds et les malentendants.
9580 En 2008, nous utilisons cette technologie pour produire les sous‑titres des émissions de sports comme le hockey et le football et même les derniers jeux olympiques, des débats politiques, en passant par des émissions d'affaires économiques et des émissions pour enfants. GTVA, TQS, RDS, CPAC, le Parlement canadien et TFO sont des utilisateurs de notre produit et de nos services de sous‑titrage.
9581 Au niveau technologique, nous avons fait plusieurs autres développements, permettant, entre autres, le sous‑titrage à distance, le sous‑titrage en quasi direct, la correction assistée et le sous‑titrage en différé.
9582 En 2005, nous avons créé un réseau de chercheurs de l'École de technologie supérieure de l'Université Laval, de l'Université McGill, de l'Université de Montréal, du CRIM avec des associations de sourds, le RQST, CQDA, l'AMEC, l'Institut Raymond‑Dewar; des associations aussi, d'aveugles et de malvoyants, l'INCA, l'Institut Nazareth et Louis‑Braille et le RAAQ. Et dans ce réseau‑là, il y a aussi des industriels et des télédiffuseurs. La liste serait trop longue de tous vous les nommer, donc je vais passer outre.
9583 L'objectif visé par ce réseau est de développer des outils de production du sous‑titrage et de la vidéodescription selon les spécifications des télédiffuseurs et selon les besoins des utilisateurs qui sont, dans ce cas, les sourds, les malentendants, les aveugles et les malvoyants.
9584 Ce projet traite de la télévision, du film, mais aussi du problème d'accès à l'Internet. Par exemple, pour la vidéodescription, le CRIM a développé un outil pour la sélection du type et du niveau de vidéodescription lors de la lecture d'un film selon les préférences de l'usager. C'est le Vidéo Description Player.
9585 Il est aussi en train de compléter le développement d'un prototype d'un outil appelé le VidéoDescription Manager qui servira à la génération assistée par ordinateur de vidéodescription.
9586 Ce projet a aussi permis de faire de la rechercher en sous‑titrage par reconnaissance de la voix, à expérimenter le sous‑titrage à distance dans un contexte de conférence et même à un projet de sous‑titrage collaboratif de documents audiovisuels sur l'Internet, notamment des documents de YouTube.
9587 Et je passe aussi sous silence plusieurs autres projets de recherche que nos partenaires étudient et qui vont de la prise de notes par reconnaissance dans un contexte de salles de classes, la reconnaissance des gestes d'une personne, le développement des normes en vidéodescription et la reconnaissance des émotions à partir de l'audio.
9588 Ce projet est financé en partie par le Patrimoine canadien. En mars 2009, je devrai dire que ce projet était financé par Patrimoine canadien. Malheureusement, nous faisons partie des programmes que Patrimoine canadien a décidé de ne plus reconduire. Le réseau risque donc de cesser ses activités.
9589 Pour conclure, je vais parler des défis qui nous attendent. Je vais me concentrer ici sur le problème du sous‑titrage.
9590 Le premier défi est d'améliorer la qualité du sous‑titrage. Le Canada a la chance d'avoir l'expertise pour résoudre ce problème. Il manque un ingrédient : l'argent. Il faut trouver une façon de financer la recherche universitaire et des centres de recherche dans ce domaine.
9591 Il faut aussi mesurer la qualité du sous‑titrage. C'est essentiel. Comment s'améliorer si nous n'analysons pas les sous‑titres produits? Comment s'améliorer si nous ne tentons pas de classifier les erreurs afin de trouver des solutions particulières à chacune de ces classes d'erreurs?
9592 Mes discussions avec les télédiffuseurs autour de la table sur les normes de l'ACR m'ont enseigné que les télédiffuseurs désirent la qualité, mais qu'ils ne savent pas comment la mesurer, qu'ils n'ont pas les moyens financiers de la mesurer et qu'ils n'ont pas, aussi, les moyens financiers pour faire de la recherche afin d'améliorer leurs outils de production.
9593 Un autre défi est de continuer le dialogue entre les télédiffuseurs, les associations de sourds et malentendants et les développeurs de technologie. Nous l'avons fait maintenant avec la table du ACR et je suggère de continuer cet exercice‑là. Ce que j'ai vécu autour de cette table‑là, c'est que le dialogue est difficile, mais comment bénéfique à long terme.
9594 Je prends, par exemple, Richard. Richard McNicoll, le Richard McNicoll de 2002, revendiquait le verbatim. Aujourd'hui, il comprend que c'est impossible et c'est non seulement impossible, c'est non désirable pour la communauté. Aujourd'hui, il promulgue plutôt l'intelligibilité et non le verbatim.
9595 Une dernière petite demande (toute simple) : Peut‑on demander aux télédiffuseurs de transmettre le signal audio aux sous‑titreurs sept secondes avant de le télédiffuser? Technologiquement, c'est possible. Les cas Don Cherry et Janet Jackson le démontrent. Avec ce délai, nous pourrions augmenter la qualité des sous‑titres en éliminant les erreurs de type homophonique.
9596 J'en ai fait la demande auprès des télédiffuseurs aux deux tables rondes de l'ACR, la table anglophone et la table francophone. Ils la refusent. En passant, en Hollande, ce délai est de plus de vingt secondes.
9597 LE PRÉSIDENT: Merci beaucoup. Je demanderais à la conseillère Lamarre de commencer nos questions.
9598 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Merci, Monsieur le Président. Bonjour monsieur McNicoll, bonjour monsieur Dumouchel. Merci de prendre le temps d'être ici avec nous, ce matin.
9599 Monsieur McNicoll, moi, je ne pense pas du tout que j'ai à vous endurer ce matin. Je pense que j'ai à bénéficier de votre expérience et je suis très heureuse que vous soyez aussi persistant...
9600 Alors, mes questions, ce matin, vont porter sur le sous‑titrage, incluant la proposition que vous avez faite sur la mesure de qualité, sur la vidéodescription, sur les modes de consultation, sur les services de télécommunication.
9601 Monsieur Dumouchel, vous avez bien décrit l'état des lieux en ce qui concerne le développement technologique ici et ailleurs, ce qui ne m'empêchera pas nécessairement de poser peut‑être quelques question de clarification. Et tout ça ne sera pas nécessairement dans cet ordre, mais ça devrait être pas mal conforme.
9602 J'aimerais commencer quand même par quelque chose que je n'ai pas annoncé et c'est seulement quelques points de clarification pour le dossier. Dans la présentation, vous faites référence à des organisations par leurs acronymes, alors, je veux seulement être certaine que je comprends très bien à quelles organisations on fait référence.
9603 Quand vous faites référence à l'ASC, c'est l'Association des Sourds du Canada?
9604 M. DUMOUCHEL: Oui.
9605 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: CQDA, c'est le Centre québécois de la déficience auditive; l'AMEC c'est l'Association des malentendants...
9606 M. DUMOUCHEL: Des malentendants.
9607 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: ...du Canada. Maintenant, il y en a une que je vais vous avouer que je n'ai pas trouvé, c'est NCAM.
9608 M. DUMOUCHEL: C'est le Centre de recherche qui est associé au WGBH, à Boston. Et c'est pour National Access of... Le « AM », c'est pour Access Multimedia, but le « C », je ne pourrais pas dire qu'est‑ce que c'est, le « C ».
9609 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Et « W »... WGBH, c'est une station de télé de Boston qui est membre du réseau PBS?
9610 M. DUMOUCHEL: PBS, c'est ça?
9611 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Merci. Maintenant, en ce qui concerne RQST, on m'a fait le reproche la semaine dernière d'avoir utilisé le terme « Regroupement québécois en sous‑titrage », on m'a dit que c'était plutôt « Ressource québécoise en sous‑titrage ». Monsieur McNicoll, pouvez‑vous me donner des précisions, s'il vous plaît?
9612 M. MCNICOLL: Ça... Ce sont seulement des acronymes. RQST c'est acronyme, maintenant, c'est pour le Regroupement québécois pour le sous‑titrage. Et l'objectif de cette entreprise, c'est une entreprise à but lucratif qui vise à développer et à améliorer, faire des recherches pour les nouvelles technologies de télécommunication et de radiodiffusion.
9613 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Et RQST, à ce moment‑là, en tant qu'organisme à but lucratif, vous regroupez des membres ou des actionnaires ou...? Quel est le mode de fonctionnement de l'entreprise?
9614 M. MCNICOLL: L'organisme, actuellement, a été reconnu comme organisme à but lucratif et elle a sa charte. Et sa mise en place va se faire après les audiences parce qu'on a besoin de quelques... quelques choses à regarder dans (inaudible) qu'est‑ce qui va arriver dans le futur.
9615 Le RQST Conseil‑expert, elle, c'est une entreprise privée, c'est une entreprise de travailleurs autonomes qui vise aussi à faire de la recherche et de la consultation spécialisée pour les besoins des personnes sourdes et malentendantes via tous les intervenants.
9616 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Merci. Alors, là, on va sauter dans le sous‑titrage, maintenant, après ces précisions.
9617 Vous avez souligné que CPAC, TVS, TQS et TFO, présentement utilisent la reconnaissance vocale pour le sous‑titrage. Télé‑Québec, savez‑vous qu'est‑ce qu'ils utilisent?
9618 M. MCNICOLL: Télé‑Québec n'utilise aucune émission en direct sauf une (je pense que c'est « Bonjour » ou quelque chose comme ça). Actuellement, c'est toutes des émissions en différé.
9619 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Et pour leur émission en direct, vous ne savez pas qu'est‑ce qu'ils utilisent ou s'ils le font?
9620 M. DUMOUCHEL: Ils ne le font pas.
9621 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Ils ne le font pas.
9622 Est‑ce que CPAC utilise la technologie de reconnaissance vocale pour le volet français ou volet français et anglais?
9623 M. DUMOUCHEL: Ils utilisent pour le français la reconnaissance vocale sous forme de service.
9624 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Oui.
9625 M. DUMOUCHEL: Et en anglais, c'est la sténotypie, sous forme de service aussi.
9626 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Et savez‑vous s'ils ont l'intention d'utiliser la reconnaissance vocale à court, moyen ou long terme pour l'anglais aussi?
9627 Non, vous n'êtes pas au courant. Non, mais je vous pose la question; des fois vous auriez pu le savoir.
9628 Vous avez mentionné que lors des derniers jeux olympiques (ceux d'été 2008), il y avait eu du sous‑titrage qui avait été fait par reconnaissance vocale pour ces jeux olympiques‑là. Est‑ce que ça avait été fait par le CRIM ou une entreprise associée au CRIM?
9629 M. DUMOUCHEL: Ça a été fait par le CRIM, à distance, pour RDS.
9630 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Pour RDS?
9631 M. DUMOUCHEL: Oui.
9632 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Est‑ce que, et là... Bien, je vais faire ma question en deux volets.
9633 D'abord, j'aimerais savoir si vous savez... À votre connaissance, est‑ce qu'il y a des diffuseurs anglophones qui utilisent la reconnaissance vocale, telle qu'elle a été développée au CRIM et est‑ce que cette technologie... Cette technologie que vous avez développée au CRIM, est‑ce qu'elle s'adapte bien à l'anglais aussi?
9634 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui, elle s'adapte très bien à l'anglais. D'ailleurs, le système a été développé, en premier lieu, pour l'anglais.
9635 Dans un projet qu'on a eu, financé par CANARIE, on a fait une expérience avec l'assemblée législative de la Colombie‑Britannique, à distance aussi.
9636 Donc, oui, c'est possible de le faire pour l'anglais, et ceux qui l'utilisent pour l'anglais, je ne suis pas très, très au fait, mais je crois qu'il y a une chaîne de sports à Toronto qui utilise un système commercial, puis je crois que c'est un fiasco, par contre, comme qualité.
9637 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Donc, il reste une période de rodage; c'est ce que vous êtes en train de dire.
9638 Bon, je crois qu'on peut se mettre d'accord, comme vous l'avez souligné, Monsieur McNicoll, que le gros défi, c'est pour le direct, ce n'est pas pour le différé.
9639 Maintenant, la semaine dernière, on a reçu plusieurs commentaires qui ont été faits au Conseil à l'effet que la qualité du sous‑titrage par reconnaissance vocale était inférieure à celle du sous‑titrage fait par sténotypie.
9640 Est‑ce que vous pourriez commenter ces constats‑là qui ont été faits et, plus particulièrement, peut‑être nous dire à quoi tiendrait la différence et aussi quelles sont les forces et les faiblesses des deux systèmes par rapport à l'autre, la sténotypie et la reconnaissance vocale?
9641 M. McNICOLL : La sténotypie, c'est une institution, si vous voulez. Il n'y a plus de formation ici au Canada français, O.K. Il n'y a plus de formation. Les écoles sont fermées au complet.
9642 Il y a eu un essai à Ottawa pour une école, supportée par le sénateur Gauthier, de sténotypie, puis ça été un échec total.
9643 La différence qu'il y a, c'est que les sténotypistes, c'est une formation très longue qui prend environ cinq ans, dont trois ans de formation au niveau du Cégep, puis deux ans au niveau de la formation à l'interne. C'est cinq ans.
9644 Le coût est beaucoup plus onéreux parce que, actuellement, pour donner un exemple, je pense qu'à Radio‑Canada, ce sont des employés syndiqués qui coûtent très chers.
9645 Pour le côté locuteur. Le côté locuteur, c'est que la formation se fait très rapidement, moins de deux semaines, trois semaines. Les coûts sont beaucoup moins onéreux.
9646 Et j'ai oublié de vous dire, c'est que le reconnaisseur, tu peux toujours l'améliorer, le nourrir par tous les nouveaux termes, nouveaux mots et des choses comme ça.
9647 Le problème actuellement qu'on encoure avec le locuteur, je ne pense pas que c'est moins bon que la sténotypie. Le problème qu'on encoure avec le locuteur, c'est l'entraînement, O.K. Les gens, il faut qu'ils s'entraînent à prononcer d'une façon claire et nette, les ponctuations. La langue française a des particularités un peu plus difficiles.
9648 Mais quand c'est bien fait... moi, je vois le hockey, je vois le football par RDS, que c'est fait par RDS, puis, je dois vous dire que c'est surprenant la qualité qui sort. Pourtant, c'est quelque chose qui a beaucoup de vocabulaire.
9649 À RDS aussi, il y avait un très beau... une très belle sortie des sous‑titres en direct. Là, maintenant, il n'y a plus de bulletin de nouvelles. C'est malheureux. C'est des émissions matinales puis de fin d'après‑midi qui prennent la relève, et la personne, je l'ai vue hier, ça donne quand même un bon rendement.
9650 Le problème quand il y a beaucoup d'erreurs, c'est que c'est les débits. C'est un des problèmes majeurs du sous‑titrage. On ne peut pas vous dire jusqu'à combien de débits/minute qu'on peut comprendre pour avoir une belle qualité de sortie. C'est pour ça qu'on a besoin de faire cette recherche‑là. Est‑ce qu'on doit s'en tenir à 140 mots/minute... à 180 mots/minute quand la parole est à 200‑250 mots/minute? Alors, plus vous avez de débits, plus vous causez des erreurs.
9651 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Donc, si je résume ce que vous m'avez expliqué, c'est que l'avantage important de la méthode par reconnaissance vocale par rapport à la méthode de sténotypie, c'est l'investissement à faire pour la formation des professionnels, et présentement, l'inconvénient, c'est l'ajustement du débit du sous‑titrage?
9652 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui, c'est son résumé, puis il y a peut‑être une chose à rajouter.
9653 Il parlait de trois à cinq ans pour le temps de formation d'un sténotypiste, mais il y a une personne sur 10 qui arrive à le faire en temps réel aussi. Donc, effectivement, c'est le coût de la ressource humaine qui est plus grand, comparativement à 35 heures pour former un sous‑titreur vocal.
9654 En termes de qualité, on n'a pas fait ces évaluations‑là. Donc, c'est difficile de dire qu'est‑ce qui est mieux. Donc, on ne peut que se baser sur les impressions de gens qui l'ont vu, d'où le but de vraiment mesurer la qualité du sous‑titrage.
9655 L'avantage qu'on a... et pour essayer d'évaluer la qualité, parce qu'il y a une personne humaine dans la boucle là pour produire, que ça soit la sténotypiste, et il y a le système aussi. Donc, pour évaluer ça, il faut évaluer deux choses en même temps, la personne humaine et le système.
9656 Et le système qu'on a développé pour TVA et tous les télédiffuseurs a une particularité que les systèmes commerciaux n'ont pas, donc, si on achète des systèmes comme Dragon et ainsi de suite là. Nous, on va tous les soirs sur le site web aller chercher les nouveaux mots, on recompile les probabilités, et le système s'adapte de façon entièrement automatique.
9657 Je prends des exemples. Si on parle de politique internationale, Barack Obama, il y a deux ans, sa probabilité était très faible, et présentement, sa probabilité augmente continuellement parce qu'on voit de plus en plus souvent son nom sur le site web, et le système va chercher cette information‑là.
9658 Donc, c'est les avantages qu'on a faits. On a eu la chance de déployer un système pour un télédiffuseur, puis on l'a développé spécifiquement pour eux, pour ce contexte‑là.
9659 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Venons‑en justement là à l'établissement d'une méthode de surveillance de la qualité du sous‑titrage, parce que dans votre proposition, Monsieur McNicoll, je crois comprendre que c'est quand même un élément clé de ce que vous proposez, qu'on voudrait réussir à trouver une méthode de surveillance qui serait objective.
9660 Est‑ce que vous pouvez nous expliquer comment, dans un tel système, on définirait une erreur et comment on identifierait cette erreur?
9661 M. McNICOLL : Je vais le transmettre à mon confrère scientifique parce que c'est vraiment scientifique, mais ça peut se faire.
9662 M. DUMOUCHEL : Étant donné le débit de paroles, si on prend... par exemple, on sait que 145 mots/minute, c'est confortable la lecture pour un sourd ou un malentendant, et quand on arrive à 180 mots/minute, c'est déjà difficile pour lire. Et ça, c'est dans des constatations de pop‑on. Donc, le texte est fixe.
9663 Dans le scroll‑up, il n'y a pas eu d'étude scientifique pour savoir c'est quoi le débit confortable.
9664 Par contre, il y a des contextes là qu'on est 300 mots/minute. Un match de hockey, des fois, ça peut aller jusqu'à 300 mots/minute. Donc, c'est impossible de lire. Donc, il faut que le sous‑titreur résume le contexte... résume le texte.
9665 Donc, c'est impossible de le faire de façon entièrement automatique, trouver le pourcentage de reconnaissance, et la façon que j'ai proposée dans un article que je viens de soumettre et que j'ai présenté aussi au NCAM, au PBS, WGPH, c'est de transcrire le verbatim et d'avoir la sortie du système de reconnaissance ou la sortie du système de sténotypie et d'aligner les deux textes et de demander à un sourd ou un malentendant de voir s'il comprend les concepts, est‑ce que c'est les mêmes concepts qui sont véhiculés. Vous comprenez?
9666 Et après, on va cumuler le nombre d'erreurs, le nombre d'omissions, le nombre de... on peut même rajouter de l'information qui est non pertinente, et en additionnant tous ces types d'erreurs là, qui sont des erreurs de ‑‑ je vais arriver dans les termes techniques ‑‑ il peut avoir des erreurs de substitution, des erreurs d'élision, puis des erreurs d'insertion. On additionne toutes ces erreurs‑là, et on calcule un pourcentage par rapport au nombre de mots qui a été produit.
9667 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Donc, je comprends le principe qui pourrait permettre d'établir un système de surveillance.
9668 Mais au niveau de la surveillance elle‑même, si je comprends bien, ce n'est pas une surveillance... une fois que le système a été établi, ce n'est pas une surveillance qu'on pourrait faire en temps réel, à ce moment‑là?
9669 M. DUMOUCHEL : Non, on ne pourrait pas faire une... Il y a certaines qualités qu'on pourrait... certains facteurs qu'on pourrait le faire en temps réel, à savoir s'il y a des sous‑titrages ou il n'y en a pas, mesurer la quantité. Oui, il y des caractéristiques qu'on pourrait mesurer en temps réel, mais mesurer la qualité du texte, du sous‑titre, on ne pourra pas le faire en temps réel, et il y a un travail manuel qui devrait se faire là.
9670 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Donc, il pourrait être possible, à ce moment‑là... comme vous dites, il y a certains éléments qui peuvent être surveillés en temps réel.
9671 Et ce qui ne peut pas être surveillé en temps réel pourrait faire l'objet, par exemple, d'une vérification annuelle sur une petite portion de la programmation; est‑ce que ça serait possible?
9672 M. DUMOUCHEL : C'est ça que je suggérerais de faire, oui, d'aller chercher des échantillons là.
9673 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : L'article auquel vous faisiez référence un peu plus tôt, est‑ce que c'est un article que vous pourriez déposer avec le Conseil pour l'instance publique?
9674 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui.
9675 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Merci.
9676 Alors, vous avez répondu à plusieurs de mes questions avant que je les pose.
9677 Selon vous, quelles ressources seraient nécessaires, d'une part, pour arriver à établir un système de surveillance, et d'autre part, le mettre en place chez les radiodiffuseurs?
9678 M. DUMOUCHEL : Le mettre en place. Je ne sais pas si ça serait une bonne option de le mettre en place chez un radiodiffuseur parce que qu'est‑ce que ça serait important de faire, c'est qu'il faut faire une validation à la fin, à savoir...
9679 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Monsieur Dumouchel, je révise ma question. Le mettre en place, peu importe où.
9680 M. DUMOUCHEL : O.K. Parce qu'il faut que la vérification finale soit faite par un sourd, parce qu'on a bien beau dire qu'on fait des substitutions, mais est‑ce que cette substitution‑là est intelligible pour un sourd?
9681 Par exemple, si le système, au lieu du mot " université ", a proposé " une ver si té " en quatre mots, peut‑être pour un entendant, il va comprendre, ah! c'est cette erreur‑là, il va pouvoir la corriger, et cette erreur‑là est moins néfaste. Mais pour un sourd qui n'a aucune notion d'audio, pour lui, ça serait irrécupérable ce type d'erreur là. Donc, ça prend un sourd qui va le faire.
9682 Et qu'est‑ce qu'on aurait de besoin comme ressources? Je crois que, premièrement, il faudrait développer des outils de vérification automatique, entre autres, pour savoir s'il y a des sous‑titres ou il n'y a pas des sous‑titres, et après, développer des outils pour accélérer la rédaction du verbatim et des outils aussi pour aligner un texte avec... le texte verbatim avec le texte qui a été... le sous‑titre proprement dit.
9683 Ces outils‑là, on a déjà développé une partie de ces outils‑là avec le parlement canadien, qui, eux, voulaient avoir la qualité. Donc, on a déjà commencé à expérimenter à ce niveau‑là avec le parlement canadien.
9684 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Bien, avec CPAC?
9685 M. DUMOUCHEL : Avec le Bureau de la traduction.
9686 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Le Bureau de la traduction.
9687 Je reviens encore sur CPAC parce que, Monsieur McNicoll, peut‑être que j'ai mal compris, dans votre soumission, j'ai cru comprendre que vous citiez CPAC en exemple pour la surveillance de la qualité du sous‑titrage.
9688 Si j'ai mal compris, corrigez‑moi, ou pouvez‑vous me préciser à quoi vous faites référence exactement?
9689 M. McNICOLL : CPAC, mais disons le Bureau de la traduction...
9690 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : O.K.
9691 M. McNICOLL : ...a travaillé très fort pour avoir la meilleure qualité possible. Eux doivent utiliser le verbatim pour une raison évidente : C'est que les ministres, les députés qui prennent la parole, puis il ne faudrait pas un peu contourner ou abréger qu'est‑ce qu'ils viennent de dire.
9692 Sauf au niveau des répétitions comme monsieur le président, monsieur le président, on va dire la première fois, monsieur le président, puis après ça, ça reste passé. C'est la même chose pour les députés.
9693 Mais ils ont une qualité de surveillance parce qu'ils sont capables de faire des corrections puis tout mettre ça, comme on appelle, en index... tout mettre ça dans l'index. Comme ça, ils ont des outils particuliers.
9694 Dans le cas de la télévision, on s'en va dans un domaine inconnu. La variété d'émissions, c'est des films, des télé‑romans policiers, amour, n'importe quoi. On ne peut pas, en direct, deviner c'est quel sujet qu'on va discuter. Alors, ça fait que c'est plus difficile. C'est là la raison de la norme... la raison de surveillance, le monitoring que j'appelle. Avec la surveillance, on va voir c'est quel mot qui complique la situation et essayer d'améliorer cette situation.
9695 Je vais vous donner un exemple. Le hockey à RDS, vous savez combien il y a de joueurs anglophones, européens, je le sais pas, de hockey. Les noms propres ont deux... Le CRIM a réglé cette situation‑là en ramassant tous les noms. Les locuteurs se sont pratiqués à parler... je veux dire à dire leurs noms d'une façon particulière, pas nécessairement sur le phonétique mais d'une façon particulière, et le taux d'erreur est très bas.
9696 Alors, c'est ça que... le monitoring va permettre de régler beaucoup de situations où ça échappe, où ça marche pas. En même temps, ça va éviter certaines frustrations que les personnes sourdes ou malentendantes ont.
9697 Un exemple : Une émission de télévision annoncée sous‑titrée qui n'est pas sous‑titrée. Alors, ça va pouvoir intervenir directement peut‑être sur le télédiffuseur, t'avais oublié le sous‑titrage parce que, des fois, il n'y a pas de sous‑titrage. Je ne suis pas convaincu que les télédiffuseurs s'occupent de la qualité chez eux.
9698 Comme j'ai longtemps pleuré pour Radio‑Canada qui disait qu'ils avaient un taux de 95 pour cent de compréhension à la sortie du sous‑titrage. J'ai jamais vu ça, O.K. Mais eux, ils continuent, ils persistent à dire que c'est 95 pour cent. Alors, ils n'ont jamais élaboré ce que la personne sourde voit. Alors, c'est très important qu'on fasse l'équipe.
9699 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Et quand vous parlez, justement, d'un système de surveillance, est‑ce qu'on peut, à prime abord, être d'accord que c'est surtout pertinent en ce qui concerne le direct? Est‑ce qu'on aurait aussi besoin, selon vous, d'un système de surveillance pour le différé?
9700 M. McNICOLL : Effectivement, parce que dans le différé, il y aussi des problèmes. Le quasi‑direct, souvent, il va y avoir un problème.
9701 Le direct, le matin... un exemple : Le direct du matin, on va dire le bulletin de nouvelles de 10 heures est sous‑titré avec plein d'erreurs. À midi, le même bulletin de nouvelles est repris, les erreurs sont toujours là. À 17 heures, les erreurs sont toujours là, puis à 22 heures, les erreurs sont encore là. Comme ça, on a bien le droit de taper sur la tête un petit peu des télédiffuseurs pour améliorer cette situation‑là.
9702 Le monitoring, peut‑être il va être là pour un bout de temps, mais moi, je me donne actuellement au moins deux ans pour me permettre de faire de la recherche scientifique. Puis le monitoring, on verra si le besoin se fait sentir pour essayer d'améliorer la qualité du sous‑titrage dans un temps un peu plus élaboré. Mais pour le moment, j'ai besoin d'au moins deux ans, avec le financement nécessaire, pour faire ce développement.
9703 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Monsieur Dumouchel, êtes‑vous d'accord avec monsieur McNicoll que, effectivement, à l'intérieur de deux ans, le système de surveillance peut se... les paramètres d'un système de surveillance puissent être établis?
9704 M. DUMOUCHEL : Ils pourraient être établis beaucoup plus rapidement que ça. Il y a déjà des choses qu'on pourrait déjà valider tout de suite, qui pourraient se faire dans un délai d'un mois, somme toute, et commencer aussi le développement d'outils pour automatiser certains points.
9705 Vous parliez du différé aussi, est‑ce qu'on doit valider le différé. Je pense que la quantité, on pourrait la vérifier. Est‑ce que les sous‑titres, ils sont présents ou ils sont pas présents? Donc, même pour le différé, on pourrait vérifier quelque chose.
9706 Mais je suis d'accord avec vous qu'il y a moins de... normalement, le différé, vu que c'est un travail manuel, est de très bonne qualité, et c'est ce qu'on voit présentement.
9707 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Monsieur McNicoll, vous avez aussi fait référence aux normes, entre autres, de stylistique qui seront éventuellement proposées par l'ACR, des normes qu'on voudra ‑‑ selon les commentaires que vous avez faits et que d'autres aussi ont faits ‑‑ qu'on voudra universelles.
9708 Alors, j'ai deux questions.
9709 La première, c'est : S'il était décidé que ces normes, effectivement, devaient être adoptées, est‑ce que vous croyez que cette adoption‑là devrait se faire de manière volontaire par les radiodiffuseurs ou qu'elles doivent être imposées par le Conseil par condition de licence?
9710 M. McNICOLL : Elles devraient être imposées avec la licence pour éviter un petit peu qu'est‑ce qui se passe aux États‑Unis, que n'importe quelle compagnie de sous‑titrage apparaisse puis envoie un produit de mauvaise qualité aux télédiffuseurs.
9711 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Maintenant, en ce qui concerne les normes stylistiques elles‑mêmes, ça fait déjà plusieurs mois, un peu plus d'un an là que les groupes de travail de l'ACR en discutent, et si on vient à adopter une norme, bon, le propre d'une norme, c'est qu'on l'applique, mais, par la suite, elle doit évoluer.
9712 La semaine dernière, on a eu une présentation, que je qualifierais, moi‑même, d'un petit peu surprenante, de la part du Collège Ryerson ou de l'université Ryerson ‑‑ je m'excuse si je n'ai pas le bon terme ‑‑ qui montrait du sous‑titrage que moi, je qualifierais de créatif, dans lesquels on retrouvait non seulement des différences de normes stylistiques, mais dans lesquels on retrouvait aussi l'atmosphère de l'émission, qu'on retrouvait l'émotion des participants à l'émission, des protagonistes.
9713 Alors, j'aimerais savoir si, selon vous, on pourra se contenter de normes stylistiques imposées et comment est‑ce qu'on pourrait faire pour, justement, encourager le développement de sous‑titrage créatif.
9714 M. McNICOLL : Je le sais de quoi vous parlez. J'ai déjà assisté à une sorte de démonstration.
9715 Le problème majeur, il faut se poser la question : Le sous‑titrage, c'est pourquoi? Pour lire ce que vous entendez.
9716 Il ne faut pas aussi camoufler toute l'information visuelle, imagée, par toute sorte de choses courant à l'écran, avec des lettres qui sautent, des notes de musique qui flottent partout ou des choses comme ça.
9717 L'important en ce moment, c'est de se centrer sur la compréhension et la qualité du sous‑titrage. Le développement va se faire avec le numérique. Un moment donné, les gens vont avoir le choix de choisir le genre de sous‑titrage qu'ils veulent.
9718 Alors, sur cette technologie‑là, la plus grande peur que la RQST a, et ses membres qui avaient été consultés en 2000 ‑‑ c'est 1 200 personnes que nous avons consultées ‑‑ la couleur ‑‑ c'est qu'il y a des personnes qui ne voient pas les couleurs. Il y a des personnes qui ont des confusions de couleur. Il y a des couleurs qui sont criardes. Il y a des couleurs qui font que les gens paniquent.
9719 Alors, je pense que ça, c'est vraiment un domaine particulier qui devrait être étudié dans l'avenir, mais pas aujourd'hui, pas demain.
9720 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Donc, ce que je comprends bien, c'est que les lettres noires sur fond blanc ont toujours du mérite.
9721 Oui, Monsieur Dumouchel.
9722 M. DUMOUCHEL : Si je peux ajouter aussi.
9723 Cette présentation‑là mentionnait aussi qu'on faisait les sous‑titres lors de la production et que tout le monde était réuni. Il y a une difficulté supplémentaire pour les films qui sont traduits. Donc, on ne peut pas se réunir à ce moment‑là. On est dans cette impossibilité‑là.
9724 Et le dialecte, on n'a pas la chance d'avoir toute cette information‑là aussi. Donc, ça ne serait pas possible pour le direct.
9725 Donc, ces difficultés‑là, puis on sait que quand on fait de la production aussi, on a souvent ça à la dernière minute, puis même pour faire le différé. Donc, ce serait difficile avec le contexte. Il faudrait changer la culture, la manière qu'on produit des films ou des émissions.
9726 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Oui, tout à fait. Ça avait été soutenu aussi la semaine dernière que ça demandait un changement de culture, mais je voulais, justement, savoir ce que vous en pensiez.
9727 M. McNICOLL : Madame Lamarre, je peux‑tu intervenir?
9728 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Oui.
9729 M. McNICOLL : Je voudrais expliquer une situation.
9730 De plus en plus, les gens s'achètent une télévision numérique. O.K., ça va jusque là. Vidéotron a développé un appareil de reconnaissance numérique par câblodistribution.
9731 Actuellement, au moment où on se parle, le sous‑tirage sort d'une façon anormale en numérique. O.K. On n'est pas capable de le lire, ça va trop vite, ça saute, ça disparaît, les caractères sont plus petits, on a des... au lieu d'avoir des lignes normales.
9732 Alors, ça leur donne une frustration. Le produit est sorti mais jamais été analysé par des personnes sourdes et malentendantes. Le monitoring permettrait de faire valider si l'appareil est vraiment adapté.
9733 Vous savez qu'au niveau de la téléphonie IP, Vidéotron a battu un record de plaintes au cours des deux dernières années en ce qui concerne la télécommunication en distance, en ce qui concerne le service relais Bell par TELUS.
9734 Et TELUS, aujourd'hui, au moment où je vous parle, je ne suis plus capable de les sentir. Malheureusement, leur système ne fonctionne pas. C'est anormal. O.K. Ça aussi, c'est très important de réaliser, avant de sortir un produit, de faire un produit.
9735 Je ne veux pas des réunions trois fois ou deux fois par année avec un groupe de représentants de sourds et de la compagnie Bell. Il n'y a rien qui sort.
9736 C'est important qu'on fasse un petit peu comme on vient de faire avec l'ACR. C'est d'être les sourds, le CRTC, la compagnie Bell, pour régler les problèmes.
9737 Bell a un très bon service au moment où on se parle, mais les autres compagnies qui apparaissent au fur et à mesure, je vous dis, c'est l'enfer.
9738 Pour donner un exemple, pour avoir un service relais Bell par cellulaire, les filles qui répondent, c'est des filles de Saskatchewan ou Manitoba ou Alberta qui ne comprennent quasiment pas le français, que ça parle en français cassé. Ça n'a pas d'allure.
9739 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Si je résume tout ce que vous venez de me dire, Monsieur McNicoll, c'est qu'il y a des choses à régler au niveau du service à la clientèle de tous les fournisseurs, qu'au niveau de la distribution du sous‑titrage, il faut aussi faire une surveillance, et que, en ce qui concerne la consultation avec les groupes d'intérêt et d'usagers, ce sont des consultations qui devraient avoir lieu pas uniquement une ou deux fois par année, mais poursuivre le processus et le développement des projets de la technologie, qui va permettre une meilleure accessibilité.
9740 M. DUMOUCHEL : Et peut‑être pour continuer sur ce point‑là, il y a un document que j'avais déposé à la table francophone de l'ACR qui mentionnait cette mise en place là d'un service de surveillance, et on voulait aussi... à la fin, la sortie du service de surveillance serait transmise aux télédiffuseurs pour qu'on puisse en discuter et essayer de trouver des solutions.
9741 Donc, il y avait un certain ‑‑ excusez le terme anglais ‑‑ un workflow de toute cette information‑là, parce que le but, c'est de s'améliorer continuellement là‑dedans.
9742 Et probablement, il y a des erreurs qui ont été très, très, très difficiles à corriger, ce serait pas possible, mais si tout le monde est conscient de ça, si les sourds sont conscients de ça, c'est plus acceptable ce type d'erreur là aussi. Vous comprenez?
9743 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Oui.
9744 Je vais quitter le sous‑titrage pour parler ‑‑ bien, en fait, c'est un peu de sous‑titrage ‑‑ mais pour parler, plutôt, de la mise en ligne des émissions qui ont été produites par les radiodiffuseurs, parce que vous en parlez un peu dans votre soumission, et, Monsieur Dumouchel aussi, vous avez fait allusion au fait qu'il existait présentement des technologies, voire des logiciels, qui permettaient de mettre en ligne non seulement la vidéo et l'audio conventionnelles, mais, en plus, d'y associer soit le sous‑titre qui a déjà été produit ou la vidéodescription qui a déjà été produite.
9745 Est‑ce que vous pourriez nous donner un petit peu plus de détail, s'il vous plaît?
9746 M. DUMOUCHEL : Concernant le sous‑titrage, vous parlez en ligne là, vous parlez pour l'internet?
9747 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Sur internet.
9748 M. DUMOUCHEL : Sur internet. O.K.
9749 Un des problèmes qu'il y avait pour le sous‑titrage, c'était les players, soit Windows Media Player et ainsi de suite. C'était... on offre souvent la possibilité d'avoir le sous‑titre, mais ce n'est pas facile de le faire et ça ne fonctionne pas toujours.
9750 Nous, on a décidé de proposer quelque chose qui serait... une fenêtre qui serait rajoutée pardessus. On ajoute une autre fenêtre. Donc, peu importe l'ordinateur que vous avez, c'est comme ouvrir une autre fenêtre du browser là.
9751 Et ce qu'on a fait en sous‑titrage présentement, l'expérience ‑‑ on appelle ça un sous‑titrage collaboratif ‑‑ c'est de faire des outils pour que des gens, des bénévoles, puissent sous‑titrer manuellement et d'offrir ça à tout le monde, et le CRIM conserve ces sous‑titres là, et quand on veut voir un film de YouTube, on a les sous‑titres et on peut les afficher en même temps que la personne voit le...
9752 Donc, c'est une expérience qui a été financée en partie par le projet E‑Inclusion de Patrimoine canadien.
9753 Pour la vidéodescription, un des problèmes, c'était quand on a fait des sondages auprès des aveugles et des malvoyants, il y avait une caractéristique qu'ils recherchaient, ces gens‑là, c'est le niveau de vidéodescription. Certains aimaient avoir beaucoup d'information, d'autres moins d'information.
9754 Donc, on a développé un outil que j'ai mentionné, Video Description Player, qui peut donner le niveau de vidéodescription qu'on veut avoir. Et ça, comment on classifie ces niveaux‑là, c'est sous forme de thèmes, et ça, c'est par des études qu'on a faites.
9755 Quand je parlais tantôt d'une norme en vidéodescription, donc, on a fait des expériences, des sondages avec des aveugles, et on a trouvé une norme, puis on a déterminé certaines caractéristiques, puis on peut les afficher ou non ces caractéristiques selon notre volonté.
9756 L'autre produit qu'on est en train de finaliser ‑‑ puis en mars, ça sera terminé ‑‑ c'est... je vous mentionnais tantôt, la stratégie, c'est de développer les outils pour produire la vidéodescription à moindre coût. Donc, on a développé un de ces produits‑là qui nous permet de localiser les endroits où on peut insérer la vidéodescription. Il y a même un synthétiseur vocal pour faire la vidéodescription.
9757 On a même fait la vidéodescription entièrement automatisée, mais c'est un produit de recherche. Donc, ça ne pourrait pas être quelque chose qui... mais on a fait les premières expériences dans ce sens‑là.
9758 Mais là, l'outil qu'on propose, c'est quelque chose... c'est un outil pour accélérer, réduire les coûts, somme toute, de la production de la vidéodescription.
9759 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : J'ai deux questions de suivi. On va commencer par la vidéodescription.
9760 Quand vous dites qu'il y aurait une réduction des coûts, présentement, ce qu'on nous cite régulièrement comme coûts de production de vidéodescription, c'est environ $1 750 de l'heure pour la production d'une oeuvre francophone.
9761 Quand vous parlez de réduction, vous parlez de quel ordre de réduction de coûts?
9762 M. DUMOUCHEL : On est un centre de recherche. Ce n'est pas tellement les coûts que le temps de réduction qu'on regarde. La règle du pouce dans ce milieu‑là, on parle pour une heure de film, ça prend 35 heures pour faire une vidéodescription, et on n'a pas encore évalué combien on pourrait réduire ça.
9763 On l'a fait, par contre, avec... je vous parlais du projet E‑Inclusion, on est des partenaires. Et on est en train de le faire aussi avec l'ASET, qui pourrait expérimenter notre système.
9764 Donc, je n'ai pas la réponse actuellement pour ça, mais notre but, c'est de réduire la production... le temps de production.
9765 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Donc, le temps de production, qui, finalement, va réduire le coût total de la description d'une oeuvre?
9766 M. DUMOUCHEL : C'est ça.
9767 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Et au niveau du sous‑titrage sur internet, vous avez dit que c'était une deuxième fenêtre qui apparaissait.
9768 Est‑ce que c'est une fenêtre qui est superposée à la première ou c'est une fenêtre qui...
9769 M. DUMOUCHEL : C'est une fenêtre où on peut... on peut la placer où on veut.
9770 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : On peut la placer où on veut. Parfait!
9771 Monsieur McNicoll, vous vouliez ajouter quelque chose.
9772 M. McNICOLL : J'ai perdu mon fil, je m'excuse.
9773 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Vous aurez l'occasion d'y revenir, je peux vous le garantir.
9774 Bon, encore une fois, Monsieur Dumouchel, vous avez devancé mes questions.
9775 Est‑ce que présentement, au CRIM... je reprends ma question.
9776 Vous avez fait des études, vous avez fait des recherches pour lesquelles vous avez eu des résultats au CRIM.
9777 Est‑ce qu'il y a certaines de ces études‑là et de ces résultats de recherche en sous‑titrage et en vidéodescription qui pourraient être déposés au dossier public du Conseil?
9778 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui, en public. C'est public là. C'est dans des... c'est peut‑être des articles qui sont peut‑être difficiles d'accessibilité là, mais...
9779 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : En termes scientifiques, vous voulez dire?
9780 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui. Souvent, on va décrire comment le système fonctionne. Donc, c'est comme... on rentre à l'intérieur de la boîte noire. Donc, c'est peut‑être un peu plus difficile, mais oui, on est ouvert à ça.
9781 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Oui. Bien, nous aussi, de notre côté, on aimerait bien si vous pouviez les déposer, on a du personnel qualifié.
9782 M. DUMOUCHEL : O.K. Donc, ça me ferait plaisir.
9783 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Et est‑ce qu'il y a d'autres travaux et d'autres recherches, autres que ceux du CRIM, que vous pourriez nous recommander et qui pourraient être versés au dossier public de l'instance?
9784 M. DUMOUCHEL : Je vous mentionnais qu'en Europe, ils sont assez avancés, en Angleterre, au point de vue de la formation aussi. En fait, peut‑être la meilleure façon, c'est de vous citer quelques conférences, et vous pouvez peut‑être aller chercher cette information‑là.
9785 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Oui, si vous pouviez, s'il vous plaît.
9786 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui.
9787 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Maintenant...
9788 Oui, Monsieur McNicoll.
9789 M. McNICOLL : O.K. Je voulais revenir sur la téléphonie. Je m'excuse parce que vous ne posez pas beaucoup de questions au niveau de la téléphonie.
9790 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : J'arrive. Attendez que j'arrive à mes questions.
9791 M. McNICOLL : O.K.
9792 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Je vais y venir, et si je ne touche pas le sujet dont vous vouliez me parler, vous pourrez élaborer.
9793 Au niveau des processus de consultation, pouvez‑vous m'expliquer, autant le RQST que le CRIM, comment est‑ce que vous vous y prenez justement pour faire vos consultations avec les groupes d'intérêt lorsque vous développez la technologie pour vous assurer que le produit est conforme aux attentes et aux besoins des gens?
9794 M. McNICOLL : En premier, je consulte les associations. Eux m'invitent à faire une conférence dans leur région, et dans leur région, j'essaie de ramasser les informations, par exemple, sur leurs problèmes.
9795 Comme vous savez, le sous‑titrage par satellite est un problème majeur pour les régions éloignées parce que le signal se perd. O.K. Alors, les gens pensent que c'est Radio‑Canada ou TVA qui sous‑titrent mal. Alors, moi, je ramasse ces données‑là.
9796 Je leur donne aussi de l'information comment procéder à une plainte, à un développement ou des choses comme ça.
9797 Aussi, je ramasse les frustrations causées par les types de sous‑titrage qui ne sont pas adaptés quoi que ce soit.
9798 Ensuite, jusqu'à l'année dernière, je travaillais avec chaque télédiffuseur, puis je discutais du problème. Je me suis aperçu que c'était un disque qui tournait dans le vide, comme ça, j'ai arrêté.
9799 Maintenant, je voudrais... pour savoir si c'est vraiment un problème technique, c'est‑tu vraiment un problème qui est hors du contrôle des télédiffuseurs, puis tout ça, j'explique la situation au CRIM, et CRIM développe des outils qui permettent de corriger la problématique. Et moi, j'évalue si le problème est réglé ou s'il y a d'autre chose à développer.
9800 Un exemple. Le sous‑titrage en direct, on m'a posé beaucoup de questions : comment... où est le sous‑titrage, combien de mots/minute qu'on devrait faire, puis tout ça. Alors, c'est une consultation constante avec la demande des associations et de tous les individus, mais je travaille toujours en équipe.
9801 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Et est‑ce que vous pourriez nous soumettre la liste des associations que vous contactez comme ça sur une base régulière et avec qui vous donnez des présentations, des conférences?
9802 M. McNICOLL : Il n'y a pas de problème.
9803 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Merci beaucoup.
9804 M. DUMOUCHEL: Pour le CRIM, pour mon projet dans le réseau de recherche, on a engagé deux personnes ressources. Il y a Richard qui est dans le projet et qui peut valider nos travaux. Pour la vidéodescription, c'est Anne Joly, qui était avant à l'INCA, qui fait partie du projet aussi, comme employée dans le projet.
9805 Et une fois par année, on présente nos résultats devant toute la communauté et on invite le CQDA, on invite l'AMEC... L'an passé, il y avait même deux personnes du CRTC qui est venu présenter... madame Noël puis (inaudible) qui sont venus présenter...
9806 On essaie de réunir tout le monde qui sont intéressés dans ce milieu‑là, les télédiffuseurs, les... aussi le CRTC et les chercheurs de plusieurs universités. Et il y avait même madame Debbie Fels du Centre Ryerson que vous avez mentionnée tantôt, qui est venue présenter aussi ses travaux.
9807 On essaie de stimuler ça, l'échange entre chercheurs et industriels et on va le refaire cette année, au mois de mars.
9808 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Et est‑ce que c'est l'occasion à ce moment‑là non seulement d'évaluer le progrès qui a été fait jusqu'à ce moment, au moment des consultations, mais est‑ce que c'est aussi une opportunité pour vous de sonder le terrain et de voir ce qui serait nécessaire...
9809 M. DUMOUCHEL: Oui.
9810 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: ... pour le futur?
9811 M. DUMOUCHEL: Oui.
9812 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Oui.
9813 M. DUMOUCHEL: Oui. Et ça n'empêche pas que, comme le prototype qu'on fait pour la vidéodescription, que de travailler de concert avec des gens du milieu comme la SETTE, dans ce milieu, dans ce contexte‑là.
9814 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Alors, je vous remercie.
9815 La téléphonie... Monsieur McNicoll, je vais commencer la discussion avec une question qui fait référence à une mention que vous avez faite. Vous avez parlé des téléscripteurs qui ne fonctionnaient pas sous IP... sous IP.
9816 Moi, ce que j'aimerais savoir, c'est si, du même souffle, vous proposez la mise en oeuvre d'un service relais par IP... Où est‑ce que vous voulez en venir, là, avec ce commentaire‑là?
9817 M. MCNICOLL: Écoutez, je regardais tantôt mes confrères aveugles, malvoyants qui avaient la même situation avec le téléphone. C'est que les entreprises adaptent plein de choses, mais ne développent pas.
9818 L'ATS : qu'est‑ce qui est arrivé avec l'appareil téléphonique pour les sourds...? Qu'est‑ce qui est arrivé, c'était un produit qui vient d'un outil de guerre pour les sous‑marins. C'est le télex, O.K.?
9819 Le télex, là, ils ont développé l'ATS sur la forme des Touchtone(ph), O.K.? Alors, l'alphabet qui est sur le téléscripteur, c'est un peu comme si tu taperais sur un téléphone, O.K.?
9820 Et cet outil‑là n'a jamais évolué pendant 25, 30 ans. Cet outil‑là, c'est comme si on dirait: On n'a pas besoin de développer, ça fonctionne. Mais le problème avec cet outil‑là, c'est qu'il faut toujours communiquer avec un téléscripteur, O.K.? Téléscripteur/téléscripteur, téléscripteur/service relais Bell, t'as jamais d'autonomie.
9821 C'est pour ça qu'on dit que l'appareil est désuet. C'est que moi, si je suis pris dans le trafic, puis je veux avertir ma femme que je vais être en retard, ou ma femme est en train... elle est à la veille d'accoucher, elle veut m'appeler d'urgence, qu'est‑ce qui arrive? On n'a rien pour ça, O.K.?
9822 C'est pour ça que moi, je veux que dans le futur, il faut absolument développer la même chose que tout le monde a, sauf les sourds puis les aveugles, O.K.?
9823 Parce que moi, le niveau de développement qui se fait actuellement, le service relais vidéo, je suis plus ou moins d'accord avec ce système‑là. Pourquoi? C'est que ça prend un ordinateur, puis que l'ordinateur, tu ne peux pas le promener n'importe où. Encore là, on va être à la merci d'un ordinateur qu'on va garder pendant 25 ans.
9824 Ça n'a pas d'allure, madame. C'est que l'autonomie entière d'une personne handicapée c'est la même chose que vous. Je ne veux pas de privilège, je ne veux pas d'avantages, mais je veux que la réalité soit faite.
9825 Actuellement on parle de 3G. Le 3G, c'est ce qui permet aussi l'information d'image accélérée. Alors, vu que l'image devient accélérée, c'est très très intéressant pour les personnes sourdes, parce qu'ils peuvent mettre leur cellulaire, parler en signes ou parler puis faire sous‑titrer, des choses comme ça. L'outil leur permet de faire ça. Pierre est d'accord avec ça. Alors, pourquoi s'en tenir à hier quand qu'on peut aller à demain? O.K.?
9826 IP... IP, comme Vidéotron, je disais quand ils ont sorti le service IP à Vidéotron, il n'y avait pas de service relais Bell. Il a fallu leur taper sur la tête pour leur dire que c'était obligatoire. La deuxième chose, c'est (inaudible) mais déjà tout le monde... vous payez tout le monde pour le service relais Bell, pour les handicapés ici. Bien, vous payez un frais mensuel de 0.16 $, je pense, par mois obligatoire, O.K., que tu aies un cellulaire ou un téléphone ou n'importe quoi, (inaudible) avoir du service.
9827 Ensuite quand on expliquait un petit peu à Vidéotron, c'est parce que je le sais pas si c'est... vous êtes au courant, il y a des sourds qui recevaient des comptes mensuels de 400 $ par mois, 350 $ par mois, juste pour utiliser le service à IP(ph). Alors, les compagnies de câblodistributeurs sont très mal informées des règles de la téléphonie.
9828 Alors il y a eu des chicanes mémorables, il y a eu des pleurs, des gens qui ont été forcés de payer. Il y en a qui ont été remboursés, finalement, mais ça a pris quasiment un an et demi avant que Vidéotron reconnaisse son erreur.
9829 Là, asteure, Vidéotron, il est obligé de nous donner un service de relais Bell. Comme ça, le IP, c'est une téléphonie qui se développe très rapidement, sauf que le service, lui, il ne suit pas.
9830 Moi, j'appelle des fois, des gens importants, comme le 9‑1‑1, quand des gens que je m'occupe sont malades puis tout ça. T'appelles à 9‑1‑1 puis ça prend 10 minutes pour me répondre, madame. Bien, c'est frustrant, O.K.? Là, il y a quelque chose qui ne fonctionne pas.
9831 Vous savez que le service 9‑1‑1 par (inaudible) n'est pas disponible partout, O.K.? C'est juste les grands centres qui offrent le service 9‑1‑1. Alors, à Montréal, il y a le 9‑1‑1; moi, je demeure en banlieue.
9832 À Châteauguay, à Laval, à Saint‑Hubert, toutes les villes de banlieue n'ont aucun service 9‑1‑1 par téléscripteur. Alors, à Châteauguay, quand j'ai besoin du 9‑1‑1, j'appelle la téléphoniste puis je demande le 9‑1‑1 de Montréal... C'est pas normal, tu sais? C'est... il y a quelque chose qui n'est pas logique.
9833 Alors, moi, je vous dis que pour qu'une personne handicapée soit vraiment autonome, à part égale, il faut avoir la même chose que vous.
9834 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Donc, si je résume, au niveau des problèmes qu'il y a présentement en téléphonie que vous avez identifiés, au fur et...
9835 Le premier, ça serait qu'au fur et à mesure que les entreprises de câblodistribution se lancent dans la téléphonie, il faudrait qu'elles soient très bien au courant de leurs obligations et dès le départ.
9836 Ensuite, au niveau des services d'urgence, l'utilisation des téléscripteurs par les agences de services d'urgence publics, vous semblez me dire que parfois ça fait défaut.
9837 Et finalement, au niveau de l'autonomie des télécommunications, vous êtes d'avis qu'on ne peut pas s'en tenir à une ancienne technologie et qu'au fur et à mesure du développement des nouveaux appareils, que ça soit mobile ou fixe, que les questions d'accessibilité devraient être considérées dès le départ.
9838 M. MCNICOLL: Effectivement, c'est la clé du succès. O.K.? Je ne comprends pas que les compagnies qui développent des produits les testent pas avant.
9839 Puis tu sais, les personnes handicapées, on est une grosse population, on est à peu près 11 pour‑cent des Canadiens qui sont handicapés, puis il y a rien qui se développe. Il faut toujours chialer, crier après eux autres pour développer. Et souvent, ils (inaudible) dans un coin, (inaudible) on peut te donner des technologies désuètes qui... on peut pas... qu'on est capable d'utiliser, mais que c'est non compatible avec les autres technologies.
9840 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE: Je vous remercie monsieur McNicoll et monsieur Dumouchel.
9841 Monsieur le Président, je n'ai plus d'autre question.
9842 LE PRÉSIDENT: Merci.
9843 Est‑ce qu'il y a des questions dans les régions? Conseillère Duncan?
9844 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Mr. Chairman, yes, I have a question.
9845 I wanted to refer back to your comment, Mr. McNicoll, about the internet, and what I understood you to say was that ‑‑ obviously captioning is not present at the moment and that there's no technical limitation that you're aware of preventing it.
9846 I'm wondering, I think we heard from the broadcasters the other day that there was cost involved in getting services that are already captioned on linear broadcasting, carried on the internet with captions.
9847 I'm interested in your comments on that.
9848 M. MCNICOLL: Écoutez, la technologie du sous‑titrage, ce n'est pas une technologie qui existe, qui est nouvelle. Elle existe depuis longtemps.
9849 Un vidéo... une vidéo sur Internet, un exemple. Je regarde à la télévision, le bulletin de nouvelles de RDS qui est sous‑titré transmis directement sur leur site Web pas sous‑titré. Il est déjà sous‑titré, ce vidéo‑là. Comme ça, c'est juste une... une question technique pour la faire démarrer ou quelque chose comme ça.
9850 Monsieur Dumouchel, tantôt, il a parlé de logiciels libres. O.K., le CRIM, c'est vraiment un organisme qui se sert beaucoup beaucoup sur le logiciel libre. Si les compagnies de télévision, ils auraient contacté le CRIM ou une autre compagnie, selon leur goût, je suis certain que le problème serait réglé immédiatement.
9851 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: So just to make sure that I understand, then, if the program is already captioned and has been aired, for example, by CTV or RDS, as you use in your example, you see no problem why that program couldn't be put on their website with captions.
9852 M. MCNICOLL: Effectivement.
9853 Pierre?
9854 MR. DUMOUCHEL: I might add something. If it's a real‑time program on the internet, you will not want to put a thing with errors on there, so you will have to do corrections of the text. So you could have an additional cost there, if you want to put real‑time programs forever on the internet.
9855 We have seen that thing and we have developed a tool to produce the perfect one ‑‑ perfect closed captioning, subtitling in that case, and it takes ‑‑ for one hour it takes one hour to produce it.
9856 So it has reduced the cost also of producing ‑‑ of collecting the former closed captioning.
9857 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay, thank you very much, both of you.
9858 That is my only question, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
9859 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Commissioner Duncan.
9860 Commissioner Molnar?
9861 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: I have no questions, thank you.
9862 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
9863 Commissioner Simpson?
9864 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: No questions, thank you.
9865 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
9866 Commissioner Denton?
9867 COMMISSIONER DENTON: No questions, thank you.
9868 THE CHAIRMAN: Staff? Legal?
9869 Me LEHOUX : Oui. Merci, Monsieur le Président.
9870 Monsieur McNicoll, j'aimerais clarifier avec vous la demande préliminaire que vous avez faite au début de votre présentation.
9871 Donc, si on comprend bien, vous demandez au Conseil de reporter la date de dépôt du rapport final de l'ACR au 15 janvier, et vous avez soumis que vous n'aviez pas assez de temps afin d'organiser la séance de validation des nouvelles normes, laquelle est prévue pour le 8 décembre avec l'ACR, et on note bien que le 8 décembre est la date qui correspond à la journée d'élection au Québec.
9872 Est‑ce que c'est bien ça votre demande, première des choses?
9873 M. McNICOLL : En premier, en ce qui concerne le rapport de normes, même s'il n'est pas encore validé par les sourds, il est à peu près accepté à 99 pour cent. C'est une réplique de ce qui a été fait en 2000, sauf que les télédiffuseurs veulent être assurés.
9874 Alors, ce n'est pas un problème pour moi si vous voulez avoir le rapport préliminaire ou quasiment fini, il va être déposé en temps et lieu.
9875 Sauf que pour les groupes de discussion, ce n'est pas un sondage qu'on fait, c'était des groupes de discussion. Alors, j'ai besoin de temps. La particularité des personnes sourdes, c'est de trouver des interprètes, de former des animateurs, de former en fait de sous‑titrage ou la façon de penser des personnes sourdes puis tout ça pour que le résultat soit confirmé et assuré pour le futur.
9876 C'est sûr que si vous ne faites pas ça, vous manquez encore le bateau parce que ça va être juste des questions et réponses. On ne veut pas que ce soit des questions et réponses. On veut absolument que les gens travaillent. Ils sont payés pour travailler. On va travailler. Ça prend beaucoup plus de temps et d'organisation.
9877 Me LEHOUX : J'ai peut‑être juste une petite question pour bien comprendre encore.
9878 Donc, vous vous engagez maintenant à faire la validation des normes le 8 décembre, et donc, l'ACR sera en mesure de déposer le 15 décembre, mais, par contre, votre commentaire, c'est plus par rapport aux groupes de discussion dans le futur; c'est bien ça?
9879 M. McNICOLL : C'est juste pour confirmer la validité des normes, puis moi, comme je vous dis, j'ai 27 ans d'expérience de la situation. J'ai déjà fait un sondage auprès de 1 200 personnes. C'était à peu près la même chose. Les petits changements sont mineurs. C'est surtout qu'ils concernent l'interne.
9880 Alors, moi, ce que je veux faire le 15 décembre ou avant le 15 décembre, ce que je veux faire, c'est que les gens sont d'accord ou en désaccord sur certaines petites choses. Mais je ne vois pas de problème, moi personnellement, mais c'est que les télédiffuseurs veulent s'assurer qu'ils sont sur le bon chemin.
9881 Me LEHOUX : O.K. La deuxième des choses, je veux juste vérifier avec vous et monsieur Dumouchel que vous serez en mesure de déposer vos engagements pour le 3 décembre.
9882 M. DUMOUCHEL : Vous parlez d'engagements, les documents, ainsi de suite là?
9883 Me LEHOUX : Tout à fait, en réponse aux questions de madame Lamarre.
9884 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui. Donc, le 3 décembre, ça nous reporte à mercredi prochain.
9885 Me LEHOUX : Oui.
9886 M. DUMOUCHEL : Oui. Oui.
9887 Me LEHOUX : Parfait! Merci beaucoup.
9888 LE PRÉSIDENT : Merci, Monsieur McNicoll et Monsieur Dumouchel, pour vos présentations ce matin.
9889 I am going to make a recommendation now that rather than breaking for lunch, we actually introduce Star Choice and Shaw Communications, allow them to make their presentation for 15 minutes and then take lunch break at 12:45, and that way we can move forward at 2 o'clock after the lunch break with questions from the Commission.
9890 THE SECRETARY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
9891 I would now call on Shaw Communications/Star Choice to approach the presentation table.
‑‑‑ Pause
9892 THE CHAIRPERSON: Madam Secretary, do you want to introduce the next panel.
9893 THE SECRETARY: Yes. Our next panel is Shaw Communications/Star Choice.
9894 Please introduce yourselves and your colleagues and you will have 15 minutes for your presentation.
PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
9895 M. BRAZEAU: Thank you.
9896 Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and commissioners. My name is Jean Brazeau. I am Vice‑President of Telecommunications Regulatory Affairs at Shaw Communications Inc.
9897 With me here today are Michael Ferras, Vice‑President of Regulatory Affairs for Shaw, and Cynthia Rathwell, Vice‑President of Regulatory Affairs and Programming at Star Choice.
9898 Also here on my right is Dean Shaikh, Director of Regulatory Affairs.
9899 We certainly appreciate the opportunity to take part in this very important proceeding.
9900 THE CHAIRPERSON: Has Ms Rathwell disassociated herself from you because there is a seat in the middle?
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
9901 THE CHAIRPERSON: Are you trying to draw a wedge here between Star Choice ‑‑
9902 MS RATHWELL: It is a function of structural separation.
9903 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
9904 MR. BRAZEAU: We abide by all your rules and regulations.
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
9905 MR. BRAZEAU: Shaw is certainly dedicated to providing all our customers with access to the best choice, value and quality of service. It is an integral part of the company's DNA.
9906 Responding to the unique demands of our customers with disabilities is therefore very important to us. As such, Shaw fully supports the objectives of this proceeding.
9907 We have already learned a lot from this proceeding. This public hearing is a critical step towards increasing collaboration that will lead to new initiatives. We are confident that this process will result in the implementation of effective solutions to address accessibility within the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors.
9908 As we consider new proposals to increase accessibility, we suggest that the Commission should be guided by the relevant policy objectives under the Broadcasting Act, which specifies that, and I quote:
"Programming accessible to disabled persons should be provided within the Canadian broadcasting system as resources become available for the purpose." (As read)
9909 We suggest that the principle should be an important consideration for any new proposal or initiatives for both broadcasting and telecommunications services.
9910 The issues of implementing new proposals as resources become available is especially important to both the service provider and customer in considerations of today's economic climate.
9911 We suggest that the Commission must be careful not to impose substantial new costs or obligations on licensees or force BDU customers to assume substantial additional financial burdens.
9912 We agree that the industry and the Commission should be continually working towards addressing accessibility concerns and the Commission has recently taken significant steps to increase access to telecommunications and broadcasting services for persons with disabilities.
9913 For example, in May 2007, the Commission introduced a policy requiring broadcasters to increase closed captioning to 100 percent of the broadcast day and called on the industry to establish working groups to develop and implement measures to improve the quality of captioning.
9914 In July 2007, the Commission licensed The Accessible Channel, with mandatory digital basic distribution.
9915 In September 2007, the Commission introduced a policy governing the distribution of video description by cable, DTH and SRDU distribution undertakings.
9916 In January 2008, the Commission also approved the use of deferral account funds for certain initiatives to improve access to telecommunications services for persons with disabilities.
9917 MR. FERRAS: In addition to fulfilling our regulatory requirements, Shaw and Star Choice have also taken further steps, and we are exploring new initiatives to increase accessibility for persons with disabilities.
9918 For example, Shaw Cable is able to pass through described video to analog and digital customers. Shaw currently provides descriptive video services on 26 channels.
9919 We will ensure that a Shaw or Star Choice technician installs the set‑top box and demonstrates how to access described video programming, at no charge, for customers who are visually impaired.
9920 Shaw Cable and Star Choice deliver 100 percent of all closed captioning on an unedited basis on both standard and high‑definition video.
9921 Since March 2007, Star Choice has offered customers an alternative satellite receiver remote control, which is helpful to customers with visual and mobility impairments. This special remote features over‑sized buttons, back‑lighting, wide button spacing, and a centred ergonomic design.
9922 Customers with disabilities are provided with exceptional customer service at Shaw and Star Choice. All CSRs, or customer service representatives, are trained to answer questions concerning closed captioning and described video. Initiatives are under way to train CSRs to answer concerns with respect to accessibility to Shaw telecom services.
9923 CSRs are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
9924 In 2005, Shaw became one of the first cable companies to provide monthly bills in Braille or large‑format printing, and to provide online billing, using a variety of technologies, including Text‑to‑Speech software.
9925 Our websites are under continuous maintenance to ensure accessibility for our customers, and recently we added a special needs support/customer care section on shaw.ca.
9926 As a direct result of this process, we are developing spots to run on the local avails that will promote the accessibility features of our services.
9927 Shaw also provides directory assistance to all telephony customers, and free call‑completion to all customers who identify themselves as persons requiring assistance.
9928 MS RATHWELL: Through the efforts of the Commission, as well as industry initiatives, Canada is a world leader in providing services to persons with disabilities.
9929 We would like to reiterate the comments of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters that, as a result of the entire industry's investments in closed captioning and described video, only the publicly funded BBC in the U.K. compares to Canada. We are far ahead of the rest of Europe, the United States, and Australia. Canada should be proud of its accomplishments.
9930 We agree, however, that the entire industry can and should do even more. Going forward, the best means by which to further increase accessibility is through greater consultation.
9931 Throughout this proceeding one recurring theme has been the need for increased cooperation and coordination through working groups. We believe that a working group approach is preferable to other proposals, such as new regulations, new legislation, or the establishment of a national fund administered by a new bureaucracy, which may be expensive and difficult to administer.
9932 We share the view expressed by others in this proceeding that any new initiatives must strike a balance among four factors ‑‑ the demonstrated needs of persons with disabilities, the impact on service providers, the availability of technology, and the cost of implementation.
9933 We would add that, with today's growing economic uncertainty, the financial impact on all customers must be a fundamental consideration in satisfying the diverse needs of customers with accessibility issues.
9934 MR. BRAZEAU: Finally, Mr. Chairman, Shaw is committed to meeting the accessibility needs for persons with disabilities. The creation of working groups, with Commission participation, we believe, will lead to the development of meaningful action plans that will address real needs, with targeted and effective solutions.
9935 Thank you for your attention. We look forward to answering your questions.
9936 THE CHAIRPERSON: After lunch. We will take a lunch break now until 2:00 p.m. Thank you.
9937 THE SECRETARY: I would like to note one small correction. The list of 21 November undertakings is CRTC Exhibit No. 5, not No. 3, as I mentioned this morning.
‑‑‑ Upon recessing at 1240 / Suspension à 1240
‑‑‑ Upon resuming at 1402 / Reprise à 1402
9938 THE CHAIRPERSON: Order please. We will begin the afternoon session.
9939 Madam Secretary, are there any opening comments?
9940 THE SECRETARY: I have no comments at this time.
9941 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right. We will start the questioning of this panel with Commissioner Simpson.
9942 Are you there, Commissioner Simpson?
9943 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: I am present and accounted for, Mr. Commissioner ‑‑ or Vice‑Chair, rather.
9944 THE CHAIRPERSON: Excellent.
9945 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you very much, first of all, for coming back and participating in this extended hearing.
9946 I would like to start my questioning on the wider side of the scale and deal with issues of governance, and the issue of working groups, and what is presently being applied by Shaw with respect to its participation in working groups.
9947 Then, later in my questioning, we will get into some of the finer points of technical.
9948 In your opening comments you very eloquently suggested that Shaw's preference would be for organizations such as yours to participate in working groups, either regional or national working groups. I was wondering if you could tell this hearing what working groups you are presently involved in.
9949 I should imagine that one of them is the working group involved in closed captioning, but I would like a bit of a top‑down view as to what groups you currently participate in on an ongoing basis.
9950 MR. FERRAS: Perhaps I could start.
9951 One of the things we are saying is that, as we get involved with this hearing and as we all become sensitized to the issues ‑‑ and it has been an excellent process in that regard ‑‑ Shaw is really looking forward to participating in whatever working groups, as an industry and as a sector, come forward and are suggested ‑‑ particular suggestions from the groups.
9952 Up to this point we have been involved with the CNIB. We have a relationship there, based out of Calgary, where they have been working with Shaw since 2005, when we first introduced our bills and our invoices in alternative formats, such as Braille and a larger sized font.
9953 So we have an ongoing relationship there.
9954 As well, whenever we need something from the CNIB with respect to some of the things that we are developing and thinking about, our customer care group in Calgary has a good relationship there, and we intend to expand on that.
9955 I am just talking about that one particular group.
9956 That is one example of what we have done to date.
9957 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you very much.
9958 If I were to go to your website or to your annual report, or other corporate documents, would I find anywhere evidence of Shaw's commitment, specifically with respect to the disability community?
9959 I ask this because, in corporate governance today, many corporations are making commitments, utterances, with respect to their commitment to going green, with respect to First Nations, and I am wondering if this is an avenue that Shaw has stepped forward in.
9960 MR. BRAZEAU: On corporate governance, I don't think that we explicitly make any commitment, but I think, generally, as we indicated, Shaw is certainly committed to its customers, and this hearing has certainly made us aware of some of the challenges that some customers have, and we are committed to ensuring that all customers have accessibility to our services.
9961 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you.
9962 In your opening comments you indicated, as did many, if not most groups that we talked to on the supplier side of the equation, that working group relationships, self‑motivated efforts by corporations in working groups and the like, would be far more preferable than for the CRTC, or any government organization, to have to resort to legislation.
9963 With respect to the point that regulation is not a preferred means, I was curious as to how many people in your organization you have on the regulatory side dealing with regulation, versus those dealing with issues of disability.
9964 MR. BRAZEAU: I think you are looking at the regulatory team here, so that answers your first question.
9965 As to persons dealing with the issues of people with disabilities, it is hard to come up with one specific number.
9966 We have all of our customer service people trained in responding to the needs of customers with disabilities. We have a number of people on the technical side who also deal with these issues.
9967 So it would be difficult to come up with one specific number that compares those ‑‑
9968 Mike may have ‑‑
9969 MR. FERRAS: I think it sort of lends itself to a customer care response.
9970 Our approach has been, as Jean mentioned earlier, that the customer is always first, and every customer is always first with Shaw. Our approach on the customer service side is that every CSR that we have receives training in these areas, and is made aware of the products and the services that we have.
9971 We do not have, sort of, a special needs person or group of people. We expect all of our front‑line people to be able to respond to these kinds of questions or issues.
9972 When we do have problems, it is a very quick chain of command, all the way up to the Vice‑President of Customer Care ‑‑ to the President, actually ‑‑ and these issues are dealt with.
9973 Most recently, we have implemented, as you heard in our opening remarks, a special needs section under the customer care section of our shaw.ca website, and that is a very useful tool.
9974 We had that internally, that our CSRs would ‑‑ if someone called and they wanted to know, for example, how to access described video, they would be able to respond to that, because we had a data system and a screen that the customer service representative would refer to and be able to walk the customer through.
9975 Again, as a result of this hearing, we have made that information ‑‑ it probably should have been there, but we put that information onto our website, and it tells our customers what we have in terms of accessibility services, whether it's closed captioning ‑‑ what it is, and how do you access it.
9976 It's the same with described video ‑‑ what it is, and how do you access it ‑‑ as well as some of the other services that we offer.
9977 So we are moving in steps toward making sure that we are doing a more comprehensive job.
9978 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Ferras.
9979 The regulatory group that is in front of me is an organization that reports to whom?
9980 What is your direct reporting line within the organization?
9981 Is it to a peer group, department heads, or to the executive committee?
9982 How does that work?
9983 MR. FERRAS: We would report to our Senior Vice‑President of Regulatory Affairs, and then, from the Senior Vice‑President, to the CEO and the Board.
9984 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you. I will tell you where I am going with this. What I have been seeing ‑‑ and, again, I can't speak for the other commissioners ‑‑ is a very laudable collection of efforts at the customer service and support level by organizations, and I mean that very sincerely.
9985 What I am finding, however ‑‑ and it is concerning to me ‑‑ is that the initiatives for a lot of disability services, to my mind, are not starting at a level high enough up in the organization that they can percolate laterally, and then down into the operating divisions, which may be part of the causal circumstance that I am seeing, where the penny is not dropping to the delivery level of service.
9986 I have seen this for the last week and a half, and I am curious, moving over to the individuals that you have working on issues of disability, whether they have a forum within your organization to bring the needs of the disability customers that you have to the attention of the operating managers, for example, in procurement and in website design.
9987 I am wondering if you could explain to me how, in your organization, it works that these needs get built into the specs of your workaday business, and maybe some areas that you might suggest would be improvements.
9988 MR. FERRAS: I could start, and I could give you one example, but before I do, I think that, in terms of the structure of the company, with our vice‑presidents of the various operations, and customer care, and marketing, that is a very close group. They are in constant contact with each other. They meet on a regular basis, and they are constantly reviewing the issues that they experience in the field.
9989 So I think that there is a pretty good flow of information, and it really is true when we say that this whole process ‑‑ we feel, as a company, that we have actually been mindful of accessibility issues.
9990 For example, back in the eighties, Shaw was one of the very first contributing founders to the National Broadcast Reading Service, to get that service up and going.
9991 In the nineties, we used to provide closed captioned converters to people who didn't have a television that had the MTS/SAP option.
9992 More recently there was a software upgrade to the Motorola box, which was finally implemented this fall. That was a problem with the labelling. We felt that it was difficult ‑‑
9993 Our managers and our front‑line people brought this issue to us, and they said, "Look, this is a problem. When the person goes to put on the described video, they have to go through numerous steps," and at the end of the steps a tag came up and it said "Portuguese". When you hit "Portuguese", that's when you got your described video.
9994 It wasn't a great situation.
9995 That was brought to our attention by our customers, to our front‑line people, and our engineering group and our customer care group worked for about three years, trying to get that problem fixed with our set‑top suppliers, and that was finally resolved this fall. I think it was early November.
9996 That's important, because that fix fixes not just the Shaw situation, but it applies to just about anyone in the industry who uses that Motorola box.
9997 I just use that as one example of where an issue came to us, and we set out to resolve it, and did.
9998 MR. BRAZEAU: To add, Commissioner Simpson, we certainly understand, for example, at Shaw, the demands that we have, and we have very few complaints, and there have been no real requests for some of these services. So it is difficult to get the attention of the company.
9999 We still need to respond to a lot of other demands from all of our customers, and sometimes it's the squeaky wheel that gets all of the attention, and, unfortunately, sometimes these issues do not get the attention that they certainly deserve.
10000 This proceeding has certainly made a lot of the issues ‑‑ we have been made aware of some of these issues, and we went back to some of our senior people, and they are now looking at how we provide service to all of our customers.
10001 MS RATHWELL: On the Star Choice side ‑‑ I thought I would add one thing, in terms of the senior level involvement in dealing with any customer issues.
10002 As I think we have pointed out many times to the Commission, and also in our remarks, customers are the central focus of the organization, even for the regulatory groups. We don't consider regulatory to be divorced from everyday customer service needs.
10003 At Star Choice, for example, our website has an immediate e‑mail link to the VP who is in charge of the everyday operations at Star Choice. At the moment that he receives an e‑mail that he believes concerns regulatory, or any issue that has to do with a different department, whether it's customer service or whatever, at the highest VP level, we immediately are asked to respond to those directly.
10004 So although our CSRs and TSRs, like Shaw's, are similarly trained to deal with complaints they receive at the ground level, there is also very high‑level access by any individual customer to any vice‑president at Star Choice, and we respond to them within a day or two, usually directly to their issue.
10005 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you, Ms Rathwell.
10006 In the area of equipment procurement, is there a protocol?
10007 I heard from your submission and other information that I have that you are actively working on certain solutions ‑‑ I am thinking of controllers for set‑top boxes and so on, but ‑‑
10008 Still staying at the broad level for one last question, is there a disability protocol that is built into your procurement process, so that it's one of the checklist items that is always automatically considered as you get into a new product or service?
10009 MR. FERRAS: I think I would hesitate to say that there is a formal ‑‑ to date, that there has been a formal protocol that would go that way. I think it is fair to say that, historically, we have been mindful of accessibility.
10010 A couple of examples are our involvement with NBRS, and we were the first company to offer alternative billing formats.
10011 As customer issues come forward, they get dealt with, but I think ‑‑ and we have all said this ‑‑ what this hearing has done is made sure now that every time there is an issue, in terms of moving forward with boxes and software, accessibility issues will be front and centre.
10012 I think we have been mindful, but I don't want to suggest that we have had a formal process where we tick the box off, and every time we make sure that we have been thinking of those issues.
10013 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you. I am very happy to hear you say that, because I think that some of the take‑aways from this exercise that I am going to be very happy with are in exactly what you pointed out, Mr. Ferras, which is moving mindsets, and getting the awareness for these types of issues moved a little higher up the food chain in terms of the decisioning, which can go a long way toward getting us out of what I see today, which are fixes, as you indicated, where the ball drops right to the floor, and when it bounces back up, you find yourself in a software fix, or a remedial measure to handle a customer ‑‑ I don't want to say complaint, but a customer need that was not previously planned for.
10014 That would be a huge step forward for us all.
10015 May I ask a question to see if there is corroboration here from what we have been hearing previously.
10016 A lot of the telcos and BDUs have been telling us that, as big or as small as they are relative to their peers within the country, Canada is not a big player in the equipment manufacturing world, and it has been tough to get the attention of your trusted suppliers on matters that even just support your commercial business case, let alone the issues of disability.
10017 Is this a correct statement?
10018 MR. BRAZEAU: That would certainly be a correct statement.
10019 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: In other areas of best practices in your business, where you are looking for something unique from a commercial standpoint, have you found it valuable, or do you apply the methodology of trying to gang up on your supplier by forming buying groups or interest groups that have proved successful, which could also be applied to the issue of disability products?
10020 MR. BRAZEAU: I am not aware of buying groups, or even discussions of forming buying groups.
10021 I think if you looked at the various technologies that the different cable companies are using, a lot of them would be very different.
10022 For example, we are very much a Motorola‑based company, and I think it would be different for the other cable companies, or for the other telephone companies.
10023 So I think that makes it very challenging to form any kind of alliance in order to gang up on a vendor and force the vendor to comply with some of the requirements that we think are worthwhile.
10024 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: But, at least, if we can put the question out and, as I said earlier, elevate the question and the decisioning.
10025 I am going to ask a few questions now about your website.
10026 One of the other areas that we are moving into is in the area where we are satisfying some of the needs of the disability community. There have been several presenters that have indicated that what has been done for them hasn't been effectively communicated and the first area is to do with your website.
10027 We have asked many questions in this last week and a half about the relative costs that have been experienced by the presenters with respect to becoming fully compliant with W3C WCAG standards, and I was wondering if you could share with us the kind of costs that you have been incurring that will help us understand what burdens may be placed on other organizations in this country if those standards were more broadly met.
10028 MR. BRAZEAU: We have certainly assessed how we compare on the W3C compliance level and it has been our conclusion that, like Rogers, we are close to meeting most of the compliance requirements.
10029 However, making that extra step to have 100 per cent compliance would be challenging and would be expensive. I could not give you a number right now as to what would be the cost, but I know that any time you ask any IT guy for a cost estimate, you know it's a big number. I think this would not be any different here.
10030 But also W3C is also, in our view, really about best practices and I think carriers need flexibility. These standards will change and I would be a little concerned of tying us into a certain protocol or a certain standard that may or may not be the best standard going forward or in the near future.
10031 I think that as best practices as guidelines, very, very important. I think we have to adhere to many of those. But again, buying into that specific standard I would be very concerned about it.
10032 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you.
10033 Also on the theme of better communication, with respect to usability training, Mr. Ferras had explained earlier that Shaw has a very robust and active training program for CSRs.
10034 Do you or are you contemplating or has it ever been considered the use of additional ‑‑ I'm thinking new media materials to support the information that the CSR has so that there could be more tools placed into the hands of the consumer?
10035 I'm thinking in the instance of additions to the website of new media that may contain instructions on the services you provide that are available in ASL, LSQ, signing by way of a small movie, or that perhaps could even be deployed on mobile devices as well and whether you are looking at any growth of the use of these kinds of tools and any of the other customer contact material that you put out?
10036 MR. FERRAS: Well, I guess a couple of things.
10037 I guess our first tangible step that we have taken recently is the establishment of a special needs section on our web page under the customer care banner, which is a first step and it basically tells the customer what we have in terms of accessibility service: like VoicePrint, what it is, how to get it; closed captioning, what it is, how to get it, for example, whether you are an analog customer, whether you are a digital customer; our online chat service where it is a real‑time text relationship with the CSR.
10038 That is something that we have done and that is just a first step.
10039 The other thing is that we are moving closer with groups like the CNIB to do sort of an accessibility audit of our website to see how functional it is.
10040 As Jean says, what we have been trying to do with our website is to have ‑‑ we know it is never going to be perfect and never going to be completely compliant because you are always behind the standard, even when you are trying to implement it, but to make sure that there is a high degree of workability and functionability in terms of the key components of that website, so that the key parts of it work with a text reader so that we have confidence that it is doing what it is supposed to be doing in most cases.
10041 In terms of some of our manuals that we have for our equipment, that will be able to be read with a text reader as well, and some of it is on our website for persons to access.
10042 The most recent thing as well ‑‑ and we mentioned this in our opening remarks; we are actually quite excited about this ‑‑ is we are building spots right now to use and run on our local avails, which are the spots that run on some of the U.S. specialty services. That would be great.
10043 We are going to set out ‑‑ we are just doing the creative right now and we are hoping to have those up and running on both Star Choice and Shaw, hopefully in December, but it might be a bit ‑‑ it might be January.
10044 But those spots will be really important in presenting the information on not only the services that we have but filling that gap of we are doing these things but how do our customers find this out. That is part of the gap we are trying to close.
10045 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you very much. You just took away my best question, which was going to be the use of some of the avails because it seemed like such a logical thing to do.
10046 So my congratulations for taking that on. I think it will be a big help.
10047 To finish off on the CSR training and tools, I am hearing that you are not going down that avenue right now with a lot of the options that are available to you, so you are placing a lot of the ‑‑ I may be putting words in your mouth here, but correct me if I'm wrong. You are putting a lot of stock in the relationship between the CSR and the customer right now.
10048 Could you just tell me a little bit about what kind of training you do provide your CSRs and what you do to follow up on the issue of quality control of the information that they provide, just so that we have an understanding of how you mount the context and training for these CSRs.
10049 MS RATHWELL: Well, at Star Choice the basic offerings for the disabled are described video functionality and closed captioning functionality. Our CSRs and TSRs, as well as our third‑party installers, are all briefed on how to explain activation, the scope of the content available and any question that a customer may have in connection with that.
10050 We train them when they are first hired and we audit our own call center performance and customer service.
10051 But in addition it is notable that for three of the past four years Star Choice has won an award for the best customer call center service in the telecom industry in North America. That is based on the findings of a large company, which is Service Quality Management, which surveys over the course of the year hundreds of users of a call center on the various ‑‑ you know, their rating of the various services that we provide.
10052 Granted, that is not a specific audit of those with special needs, but the fact that we won that award in our view validates the fact that we put an appropriate amount of both confidence and give an appropriate amount of credit to our customer service and technical representatives for the service that they give.
10053 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Does that answer apply to the whole organization or just to Star Choice?
10054 I'm sorry, I may have missed that in your answer.
10055 MR. FERRAS: Well, Shaw hasn't been as fortunate as Star Choice in winning customer service awards, but we think we are right behind them.
10056 In terms of the training, as I say, it is ongoing. There is an initial orientation. I think a lot of our employees start off with ‑‑ they have to go to a training session called Shaw U., which stands for Shaw University, and as part of that they get a complete orientation of the company and what our mission and our vision is and from there the customer service training includes the accessibility dimension.
10057 Particularly now we are committed to doing refreshers, and as we expand the customer website and drill deeper into providing more information and closing that gap in terms of communicating the services, that is going to automatically require us to do a little more training and a little more refresher, refreshing of our customer service reps in that regard and that is something that we are committed to.
10058 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you.
10059 Does Shaw presently have a TTY customer service number?
10060 MR. BRAZEAU: Yes.
10061 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Is this number included on your customer contact literature, like billing, for example?
10062 MR. BRAZEAU: Yes.
10063 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you.
10064 Moving into the belly of the beast here, talking about service bundles for a second, a number of witnesses have expressed concerns that a lot of the packaging of services that are available to them haven't been done in contemplation of the fact that certain services provided to them that they are expected to pay for they can't avail themselves of.
10065 Does Shaw have any service bundle currently that has been geared to any or all disability groups?
10066 MR. BRAZEAU: Not really. Our service bundles or services, certainly on the telecom side, there are various plans; an all‑inclusive plan, you know, all‑you‑can‑eat, and there are two other plans that are less expensive.
10067 The big difference is that the LD minutes are less in those plans.
10068 So on the telecom side those are the plans we offer to all of our customers and they are not specifically geared towards persons with disabilities.
10069 On the cable side, I will let Michael respond to that.
10070 MR. FERRAS: I would say no, there is no ‑‑ bundles are set and there is no differences or variations of those.
10071 MS RATHWELL: That is the same on the satellite.
10072 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Do you have any type of an arbitration process, for lack of a better word, where if one of your disability customers was to contact a CSR and argue or present whatever bona fide is required that they can't avail themselves of certain services, that you would get creative in either the bundling or the unbundling or the re‑costing of certain services they couldn't take advantage of?
10073 MR. BRAZEAU: That would be a hypothetical because we have never had that call. I don't know what the response would be.
10074 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: I'm sorry if I have introduced the possibility.
10075 I'm sorry if I have introduced that possibility ‑‑
10076 MR. BRAZEAU: You may have.
10077 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: ‑‑ but it was something that struck me.
10078 MR. BRAZEAU: You may have, and what's your number?
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
10079 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: I'm right here in Vancouver. I think we are almost neighbours.
10080 Moving into the area of services that are provided right now, you had indicated that Shaw currently is passing through 100 per cent ‑‑ or am I mistaken ‑‑ 100 per cent of the available closed captioning provided to it by the broadcasters?
10081 MR. FERRAS: Yes. For both Star Choice and for cable we would say yes.
10082 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Great. CAB has weighed in a couple of times prior to this hearing and I think in this hearing, if my memory serves me correct, that on the whole issue of quality control of captioning, which is an issue that we have heard repeatedly, their view is that the BDUs have a role to play in ensuring captioning quality.
10083 Do you have any comments on that perspective they have?
10084 MS RATHWELL: Well, I think that in terms of the content of the captioning quality, we would believe that that is properly the programmer's responsibility. In terms of the delivery of the content that would, you know, be partly our responsibility.
10085 Star Choice, as Michael said, does pass through 100 per cent of the closed captioning it receives.
10086 A problem has recently arisen, a fairly minor one with a couple of our receiver models, for example, where there was the dropping of a couple of letters at the end of lines. That would happen periodically, not in any consistent manner. So we immediately engaged engineers to look at it and to develop a software fix for it and that will be implemented shortly.
10087 But that is a problem that has been minor and short term. We got on it immediately.
10088 So yes, we do believe we have a role in quality on the side of delivering it, but not on the content side.
10089 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Great. Thank you.
10090 Moving into the next subject, which is described video, before I get into some of the finer points of the questioning, I was wondering if you could confirm for me that Shaw is currently passing through all required DV programming on both an analog and digital basis with respect to your terrestrial undertaking?
10091 MR. FERRAS: With respect to what, sorry? Terrestrial...
10092 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Your terrestrial distribution undertaking. In other words ‑‑
10093 MR. FERRAS: On the cable side, in other words.
10094 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: ‑‑ are you passing through all current. Is that correct?
10095 MR. FERRAS: Yes. As you saw in our remarks, the approach that we have taken is to develop a plan that would pass through the described video to both analog and to digital customers on the Shaw Cable side.
10096 This came about as a result of our decision a year ago or two years ago I guess to duplicate our existing lineups in digital. As we go through that process of digitizing our networks, in the headends we use a piece of equipment called a simulcast edge processor. I think SEP is the word that the engineers use, the acronym the engineers use.
10097 What that device does is it has an important side functionality with respect to described video. It takes the analog feed and puts it out with the described video. So we have a described video feed available to pass through in both analog and digital.
10098 This is a really important point because, as you probably may or may not know, cable systems were not built originally to pass through ‑‑ or the modulators that we use in the headend one analog basis were not built to pass through a described video stream.
10099 So that has always been a conundrum for the cable companies and for Shaw. It was an expensive undertaking.
10100 We have 132 cable systems, so to replace the modulators for every signal on every one of those cable systems was a problem.
10101 This digital solution or digital approach to digitizing our networks has provided a solution not just to digitize the network and then pass through described video in that instance, but as well as to pass it through on the analog.
10102 If we pass it through, by the way, our plan would be to pass it through to every customer regardless of whether they are in an exempt system or Class 2 or Class 3 or Class 1.
10103 It's a long answer, but I hope ‑‑
10104 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: So many markets are in good shape then with respect to that.
10105 MR. FERRAS: We have a ways to go with having so many systems, but I think we are about 80 per cent right now of our entire customer base.
10106 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: So February '09, where will you be?
10107 MR. FERRAS: You must have read our submission this summer very carefully.
10108 I assume you are referring to the February '09 date comes from our submission over the summer?
10109 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Yes, sir.
10110 MR. FERRAS: You have done your homework. We were just talking about this.
10111 That February '09 date is way too optimistic. We regret putting that in there. It's probably a year from that date. It may be even longer to get down to deliver that analog described video all the way through to some of our smallest of systems.
10112 I think we have ‑‑ I have forgotten the number, I can get it, but 80 or so exempt systems and some of those are, you know, 300, 400 customers.
10113 So February '09 is not realistic. I'm not sure how that managed to get by us, but it is probably February 2010.
10114 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you very much for your candour on that.
10115 Let's reach for the stars and talk about Star Choice on that same matter.
10116 Currently Star Choice is passing through DV on all 26 services. Is that correct?
10117 MS RATHWELL: Yes, that is correct, with the exception of CanWest Atlantic which we no longer carry. But the ones that we ‑‑
10118 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: And ‑‑ I'm sorry, go ahead.
10119 MS RATHWELL: The list otherwise is the same.
10120 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: September 1, 2009 all programming services will have DV being passed through it?
10121 MS RATHWELL: Yes, I think ‑‑
10122 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Is that still on the target?
10123 MS RATHWELL: ‑‑ that we are still on track towards that objective, yes.
10124 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Terrific.
10125 I have about six more questions left, Mr. Chair.
10126 Getting down to some of the technology that sits in the hands of our customers ‑‑ your customers, our constituents ‑‑ we have been made aware over the last few weeks that certain products are available in the marketplace but not necessarily in this country.
10127 I'm thinking here in both the telephony and the STB arenas.
10128 FCC in the States has, I believe by now, put in a one‑button legislation which is a single button function to be able to access services such as DV and captioning.
10129 How far away are we in that with respect to Canadian BDUs and in particular yourself? Is that a technology that you have on your radar?
10130 MS RATHWELL: Sure, I will begin on that.
10131 Right now there are no current plans for developing what would be sort of I guess a second further generation of remote. The next generation of remote has already basically been designed. It hasn't been introduced yet but that has sort of been done. So it would be several years away.
10132 Now, the way that we have developed the DVS implementation we believe is fairly straightforward. You hit an option button and one number sequence and it is activated.
10133 So in fact we believe that it is readily accessible as it is and, as I said, we are happy to sort of guide our customers through that.
10134 To be honest, the development of a new remote with a one‑button alternative is not foreseeable today.
10135 MR. FERRAS: If you would like, I can respond.
10136 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you, go ahead.
10137 MR. FERRAS: Sorry, I was just going to respond from more of the cable side.
10138 As Cynthia says, we have made some changes recently to the software I was describing earlier which has simplified the process to access the described video. The thing about it is that once it is turned on, it's on. So you can set it up once and walk away. And from that point any time you turn on the television and there is a channel that is carrying a program that has described video, you will get that described video feed.
10139 If the next program doesn't have described video, you simply obviously won't hear it, but it doesn't affect the main audio.
10140 That is how things sit now.
10141 The next step ‑‑ and there has been discussion at this hearing about that ‑‑ is well, what about a one‑button remote that turns it on and off as you need it.
10142 You know, we kind of ‑‑ you know, we think we have a solution right now that is quite functional, but if we were to go to a one‑button approach, it would be something that would require a lot of discussion. Again, this isn't something that we would control. We would have to work with our IPG providers, with Motorola, with the remote control firm that we use. I think it is called Universal. We would have to work with them and try to see what can be done.
10143 Another solution that is a possibility on the Shaw Cable side is that maybe we could come up with a macro button where we would take the existing commands ‑‑ and I think it is a four‑step process right now, menu, setup, audio and then described video; so it is a four‑step click through ‑‑ and put all of those commands on a single macro button.
10144 That is something that we are looking into right now. That's another ‑‑ as a result of this hearing.
10145 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you very much for that. That is exactly the kind of take‑away that makes my heart ping because it's a low‑cost, high‑value solution that I think goes a long way toward solving some of the frustrations that perhaps we are not as aware of as we should be.
10146 On the telephony side, the same conditions prevail where a lot of the hand‑held apparatus either have functions or are sold on the basis of having functions that certain people with disabilities can't use but they still have to pay a certain amount of money for that type of phone to get other features that they do want.
10147 We have been made aware of the fact that there is equipment out there that is more highly evolved ‑‑ which sounds completely counterintuitive ‑‑ to be simpler in its functionality.
10148 The same question again: Are you looking at those kinds of devices for your telephony service; and, if not, would you be amenable or does your system allow for those types of devices being acquired where they are sold and making them operable on your system?
10149 MR. BRAZEAU: I was trying to think on the landline side what kind of equipment that might be and none really comes to mind. So we would certainly be amenable on the landline side to look at various equipment that could facilitate utilization.
10150 You know, our network is not very different than most of the other telephony companies, so I think the equipment would certainly work on our network.
10151 On the cellular side I think that is a bigger issue. There has certainly been lots of discussion about cellular phones. Shaw has certainly acquired a spectrum in the last auction but we are not offering any service yet.
10152 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: No, I understand that. I was thinking more in the landline Internet phone arena, of course. But again, something to think about as you are planning your equipment needs for your newly acquired spectrum.
10153 Two more questions and then I think I'm going to be done.
10154 With respect to VRS and IPRS, we had some of the presentations last week whetting the appetite for everyone's interest on the emerging technology of VRS and IPRS, which of course would use services such as yours on the IP side to be made available to Canadians.
10155 What is your overall view on what you have heard with respect to the model in the United States and how or whether it should be applied in a country like Canada?
10156 MR. BRAZEAU: It's somewhat of a loaded question there.
10157 Certainly in looking at the service provided, obviously the service provided is a significant enhancement to what exists today. Some of the concerns we have of course would be ‑‑ and I think you have had that discussion with the U.S. vendors. It is a fairly pricey service. We are looking in the neighbourhood of ‑‑ numbers that were thrown about was 80 or $100 million a year in order to provide that kind of message relay service.
10158 So we would be somewhat concerned that if a service like that was implemented in Canada that it be implemented in the most cost‑effective manner possible and that it would be competitively supplied.
10159 Today we offer message relay service. We use Bell Canada as our vendor there. But if video relay services were mandated then, you know, we would certainly implement that.
10160 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: So that's a big maybe.
10161 MR. BRAZEAU: Well, again it is a question of in today's environment imposing more and more costs on service providers and, let's be honest, ultimately on consumers.
10162 So in today's environment those are significant costs. Most of the carriers are facing some serious challenges out there in the marketplace, and any time more obligations are put on carriers, you know, the harder it becomes for them and the harder it becomes and the more expensive it becomes for their customers.
10163 So that would be the caveat that I would throw out there.
10164 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Thank you.
10165 The last question is on the subject of the VoIP aspect of telephony and predominantly 911 services.
10166 Could you tell the Commission for the record what Shaw has done with respect to the issue of caller identification, proximity identification and disclosures on any limitations with respect to the service for provision of their safety in the event of a 911 call that's incomplete?
10167 MR. BRAZEAU: Well, for our digital phone customers we have E911 just like a normal ‑‑ or a normal, just like the incumbent telephone companies and customers have.
10168 For pure VoIP and wireless services, of course SISC is now reviewing whether to implement a similar type of service for VoIP services and we are participating in that proceeding.
10169 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: That concludes my questioning, Mr. Chair.
10170 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Simpson.
10171 I have a couple of questions, both from your presentation this afternoon as well as some other questions, and perhaps some of my colleagues have some as well, but let me start.
10172 Let me refer you to the top of page 2 of your comments this afternoon where you, I gather, picked up on the issue in the Broadcasting Act with regard to programming being made accessible where resources become available for the purpose.
10173 You sort of highlighted it in the first paragraph and then you reinforced it in the second paragraph in quotation marks, saying "as resources become available".
10174 Then you continue in the next sentence, saying:
"We suggest the Commission must be careful not to impose substantial new costs or obligations..." (As read)
10175 And then you continue.
10176 Are you suggesting that the only way new services can be implemented for people with disabilities is to use existing money as it becomes available rather than imposing additional monies to be used for development of these services?
10177 If so, basically you are saying as projects are completed ‑‑ and I will ask you which projects ‑‑ to reuse the money that was being used for those projects in order to implement some of these initiatives.
10178 MR. BRAZEAU: Let me take the first crack at this.
10179 No, I don't think that we were suggesting that there was a limited pie and, you know, this pie could never grow and therefore you could only do new projects as one expires.
10180 I think what we were suggesting is that the operators have a number of obligations existing and new ones in the future and that when the Commission implements various requirements, the issue of cost is always, in our minds, of significant consideration, and especially so in today's economic environment.
10181 We were just highlighting the fact that those are issues that are absolutely of critical importance to us and should be to the Commission.
10182 A couple of the stakeholders that we have that haven't really been discussed at this proceeding are shareholders and the financial communities, and today they are very, very jittery about the performance of all the carriers.
10183 That is really the context of this.
10184 THE CHAIRPERSON: So how do you think the Commission should interpret those four words "as resources become available", because one could say they might never be available because you always want them to flow to your shareholder as a return on their investment as opposed to making them available?
10185 MR. FERRAS: Well, I don't think we intended it to be as a negative. I think what we are saying in all of the commitments that we have talked about here today, on both the Shaw Cable and the Star Choice side in terms of what we plan to do with our website and what we plan to do with the CSRs and looking into what we can do with the remote control, these are all things that are on our agenda and we will be working towards.
10186 I think all we were trying to say here is that not withstanding that we are a customer focused company, we are totally committed to ensuring that the needs of the accessible groups and our customers are fully met.
10187 We are just mindful and cognizant that there are within ‑‑ how we approach everything, there are always limits in terms of priorities and what you can do.
10188 I think what we are saying is it is all positive. We are going to be delivering and moving forward on these issues, but we are mindful that there are always priorities and decisions that have to be made.
10189 MS RATHWELL: If I may add just on behalf of Star Choice, when we talk about the issues of costs, for example, we don't only think of it in terms of actual dollars.
10190 For example, I'm sure you are aware that Star Choice uses two satellites which are currently pretty much fully engaged. So we have plans to move forward with, you know, described video on the basis of those existing satellites.
10191 In our view, "as resources become available" would demonstrate a sensitivity to our capacity situation such that not only would it not add dollar amounts on, but it would be mindful of our need to remain competitive within a constrained capacity environment right now.
10192 So that doesn't detract in any way from what we have said earlier to Commissioner Simpson. It's just that is another perspective on "as resources become available" that would be relevant in a satellite context.
10193 THE CHAIRPERSON: But what I still hear both Shaw and Star Choice saying is you have identified a number of initiatives that you will be going forward with and you are moving them as quickly as possible and you are making resources available.
10194 Some of the other initiatives that other parties have brought before us, a number of them, you are silent on completely in here.
10195 So do I interpret that to say resources aren't available for any of those and the only resources that are available are for these items that you have laid out in here?
10196 MR. BRAZEAU: I don't think that is the conclusion that should be drawn there.
10197 I mean, we have taken our own initiatives and we will have additional initiatives going forward because of this proceeding and because of a real focus on ensuring that we satisfy all the needs of all of our customers.
10198 But if there are additional requirements and obligations, then we will meet those also.
10199 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Thank you.
10200 I am going to perhaps revisit an item that was talked about by Commissioner Simpson and that is on page 3, the last bullet where you say:
"Shaw Cable is able to pass through described video to analog and digital customers."
10201 And then:
"Star Choice currently provides described videos to 26 channels." (As read)
10202 It is probably obvious but I can't insert the word "all" in the first sentence.
"Shaw Cable is able to pass through all described video to all analog and digital customers." (As read)
10203 I heard the discussion about it not even being 2009 I guess for the analog customers; it is more likely 2010.
10204 But do you pass through all described video today?
10205 MR. FERRAS: Yes, we do on the digital side provided it is in the signal that we receive. So we take it from whatever the source is, whether it is over the air or fibre or satellite and if the described video stream is in that program, we are able to pass it through.
10206 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. The issue of all analog and digital, you are basically saying yes to all digital but not to all analog?
10207 MR. FERRAS: Yes. That is a function of the timing of our rollout of digitizing our systems. We haven't digitized every system yet. Until we do, then some of the smaller centers will not have the full range of described video as the larger centers do.
10208 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. There was discussion last week with regard to the alternative of providing a digital box to customers pursuant to a CRTC order if you can't provide described video I guess it was on analog.
10209 MR. FERRAS: Right.
10210 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is that a program that you have implemented?
10211 MR. FERRAS: No, because we are actually going at it we think in a bigger and a better way. Instead of saying look, you can only get described video if you are a digital customer and you take a digital box, our approach is that if you decide to be an analog customer, you will still get described video. So you don't have to be a digital customer.
10212 Commission policy is designed to relieve cable companies from the requirement of having to pass through the described video on analog and we chose not to go down that route and say no, no, the approach that we have developed has the dual benefit of providing described video on a digital basis as per the Commission's requirements and to analog without the requirement to have a digital box.
10213 So not only that, even if you are a digital customer and you get your described video on your main set in your living room ‑‑ sorry, you've got your set‑top box on your big TV in your living room and you go and you have a second or third TV somewhere else in the home, on an analog basis you will still be able to get the described video on analog.
10214 So we think it's a great solution, a great approach.
10215 THE CHAIRPERSON: To make it simple for me anyways, you are in full compliance of the CRTC Order in 2006, or whatever date that was?
10216 MR. FERRAS: I would say we are just about in full compliance. As I say, we have to push this thing out and it requires going into every system and digitizing that system, which means rebuilding the headend and putting in these devices that I described earlier, these digital simulcast edge processors, and make sure that they are there.
10217 If there is a system that falls through the cracks, what we would do is go in and put in modulators by the old approach, which was to go in and replace the modulators that weren't capable of passing through the SAP and put in a new modulator that is capable of passing through the SAP.
10218 It's not a solution we like because eventually that will just get ripped out once we put in this digital simulcast solution.
10219 THE CHAIRPERSON: I think I heard you say you are not in full compliance and I guess my concern is that the Commission issued an order. There was a date certain on there. There were questions asked about being able to provide described video through analog. A lot of the parties came before us and said it's too expensive, can't be done; it will take a long time; it's not economically viable.
10220 And then in cooperation with the parties, we came up with a solution that we thought was a workable solution. It was ordered and what you are telling me is notwithstanding you couldn't comply with the first order, you are not in compliance with the second because you have a better idea, but the better idea won't come to fruition for another two years at best.
10221 MR. FERRAS: No, I don't think so. I think we are saying that we have the digital solution in place. Anything that we receive on digital that has the described video in the source you will receive.
10222 In other systems we have gone out and placed the analog modulators in place so that you are able to receive the over the air signals which will have the described video, and in between the cracks we would just provide voluntarily ‑‑ if someone approached us in that situation and said we can't receive the described video, we would give them what we call a DCT or set‑top box.
10223 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
10224 The next sentence to that on page 3, bottom paragraph, says:
"Star Choice currently provides descriptive video services on 26 channels." (As read)
10225 You do offer other channels as well?
10226 MS RATHWELL: Yes, we do.
10227 THE CHAIRPERSON: And you don't provide described video or pass‑through described video on the other channels?
10228 MS RATHWELL: Not currently, but as mentioned earlier we anticipate being able to do so by September 2009, which I believe is the policy requirement.
10229 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
10230 On page 4 in your second bullet from the top you talk about special remote feature with oversized buttons.
10231 Is that similar to the one that Rogers showed us last week?
10232 MS RATHWELL: That's a star Choice remote and it is somewhat different. We didn't bring a version of it today, but we can ‑‑ the specs for it, as well as a photo of it, are available on our website so we can direct you to that.
10233 It was not ‑‑ you know, to be completely clear, it was not developed uniquely for special needs customers, but we believe that it is useful for them. It has large buttons, ergonomic design, fewer buttons. It was developed to assist those with both visual and mobility impairment and an older demographic, but it is not specifically designed for a specific special needs group.
10234 THE CHAIRPERSON: That flows me on to the last bullet on your websites, are under continuous maintenance, which I'm not sure the way I should be interpreting it. It seems like it always needs work. But hopefully you are getting to a point where you can actually stop doing that.
10235 Notwithstanding that, while you were talking to Commissioner Simpson I actually went on the Shaw website. I did find the special needs icon, which I thought was very, very apropos and went through it all and noticed all the services that are on there, or the methodology for accessing the services.
10236 What is not on there are the products and services that you offer to the special needs people with prices and the product description.
10237 I'm just wondering why you wouldn't actually place the products in there as well and the pricing for the services and that way it's all in one place.
10238 So I will leave that thought with you. If you want to answer it now you can.
10239 But it would be nice if they are going there anyways, because these are people with special needs, not only to describe the services, which you do in a very, very good way as well, and I commend you for it. But you don't identify what the products are, what the prices are and an icon as to how to order them if they wanted to order them as well.
10240 MR. FERRAS: Excellent point. As we said, this is sort of our first iteration at this and I think this is the kind of thing that will get picked up in some of the accessibility gap audits that we intend to do.
10241 You are right, a customer would have to toggle up and go back to the customer care and then over to the digital products website to get that information.
10242 That is an excellent suggestion and we will follow that through.
10243 THE CHAIRPERSON: That will work for people with hearing disabilities. It wouldn't work for people with visual disabilities obviously, unless you married it somehow with some sort of voice synthesizer or something.
10244 MR. FERRAS: Yes, the text reader functionality would be there.
10245 THE CHAIRPERSON: I tried going into the Star Choice one, but for some reason I couldn't get into the website. But when I did get in for a fleeting moment, there is no special needs icon in there at all.
10246 So Star Choice doesn't offer the same type of access that Shaw does.
10247 MS RATHWELL: That's correct, not currently, but we would have ‑‑ we believe it would be a good idea to develop that sort of a page and access.
10248 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. If I flip you to your last page of your presentation you talk about, in the first paragraph:
"... sharing the view expressed by others that new initiatives should strike a balance among four factors." (As read)
10249 When you say "strike a balance", do you put equal weight on each one of those four factors or do you believe that certain of those factors carry more weight than others?
10250 MS RATHWELL: Well, maybe I could begin.
10251 I don't think that they are meant to be given a priority or a weighting, but consistent with our belief that a sort of collaborative working group approach is the right approach to take, we think that all of those factors should be discussed and weighed in any given set of circumstances, because to put too fine a point on making decisions from the outset about what is a ranking concern are how things are weighted is inappropriate.
10252 Obviously the demonstrated needs of persons with disabilities is of utmost importance. This is what it is all about and this is what these working groups would be all about.
10253 At the same time, I don't think that it would be right to sort of limit the scope of discussion and the factors taken into consideration in deciding how we all arrive at better solutions for those groups.
10254 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. I was pleased to hear you say the demonstrated needs of persons with disabilities is of paramount importance, because that is why we are all here today.
10255 I want to move on to some of my other questions.
10256 I think I heard you say you provide MRS service 711 service today to your digital customers?
10257 MR. BRAZEAU: That is correct.
10258 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a charge implicit in that service to your customers?
10259 MR. BRAZEAU: No.
10260 THE CHAIRPERSON: There is not.
10261 Do you provide this service directly yourself or do you farm it out to a third party?
10262 MR. BRAZEAU: Third party.
10263 THE CHAIRPERSON: And you have been doing it since you started your service as part of your CLEC status or whatever?
10264 MR. BRAZEAU: That's correct.
10265 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can I ask you guys to give us a filing, an undertaking to file with us what you currently pay for the services to this third party?
10266 MR. BRAZEAU: Absolutely.
10267 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
10268 And go back to when you started it, three years ago, whatever it was as well. If you can give us a run rate on the services?
10269 MR. BRAZEAU: 2005.
10270 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Thank you.
10271 We heard this morning from RQST, and we heard it again last week as well, that these TTY products are of an aged nature, if I can call it that, and they have been around for a number of years.
10272 Have you heard this before from some of your customers who called and sort of said these things are 1970s renditions or products and why can't you guys give us something more state‑of‑the‑art?
10273 MR. BRAZEAU: We haven't heard those types of complaints. As I said earlier, we do not have significant usage of these devices in our network.
10274 There is about, on average, 180 calls a day using this equipment, but we haven't received any complaints to that nature.
10275 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do you provide the TTY to your customers or do they buy them third party?
10276 MR. BRAZEAU: Third party.
10277 THE CHAIRPERSON: Third party.
10278 One of the issues that came up last week I guess that has been talked about is the role of the PSAPs in this whole initiative and particularly when it comes to people with disabilities and the fact that when they try and access a PSAP, they don't have the equipment on their end. It's not connected; it hasn't been connected or they may not have been trained on it.
10279 Have you heard this before as well?
10280 MR. BRAZEAU: No, we did not, but I assume that's probably accurate.
10281 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
10282 I believe ‑‑ and you can correct me if I'm wrong ‑‑ that Shaw is a member of the CCTS now, the Commissioner of Consumer and Telecom Complaints.
10283 MR. BRAZEAU: Yes, we are.
10284 THE CHAIRPERSON: Have you had any third party complaints from the Commissioner with regard to problems by people with disabilities?
10285 MR. BRAZEAU: I'm not aware, but we can confirm that.
10286 THE CHAIRPERSON: Could you, please?
10287 MR. BRAZEAU: Yes.
10288 THE CHAIRPERSON: Probably Commissioner Lamarre is a better person to raise this issue, but SRDUs, you guys provide the service to other cable companies to the SRDU.
10289 Is there any way any non pass‑through described video or closed captioning issues that you are aware of with your customers I guess at the other end of these SRDUs?
10290 MS RATHWELL: Thanks. SBS provides the SRDU service to cable companies and currently, as we have discussed, it's the same for Star Choice. The number of services is 25 that we provide the described video pass‑through for, and when we move forward on the Star Choice platform, because it is integrated, it will be the same towards September 2009.
10291 Cable companies that take SRDU services from us can receive DVS on all of the signals that we distribute. What is required is that on their end they have a digital IRD or the appropriate headend equipment to receive it, which is part of their business.
10292 It may be ‑‑ they have specific equipment suppliers. We don't supply the equipment for that.
10293 So both the cable company and their subscribers have to have appropriate equipment. It is readily available in the market. But as an SRDU, we pass it through fully on the signals where it is carried, and that will soon be all signals.
10294 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
10295 MS RATHWELL: May be one comment, just because there is often a bit of confusion on SRDU versus transport services. Another business that Shaw Broadcast Services is engaged in is transport of digital ‑‑ of specialty and pay services.
10296 And to assist small cable systems that may have limited capacity, we have a couple of products that we serve them with. One of them is called Hits/QT. Another is called QT Plus. QT Plus is a package of all of the specialty services that we carry and it can be received with a full DVS pass‑through and high definition.
10297 So again, they require the proper equipment to receive that service. So there is one service on the transport side that doesn't pass through DVS and one that fully does. Those are both available in the marketplace.
10298 THE CHAIRPERSON: I just want to confirm, Ms Rathwell, that Star Choice is looking at putting an icon on their website for special needs similar to what Shaw has done?
10299 MS RATHWELL: Yes.
10300 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Is there a timeline for that?
10301 MS RATHWELL: I think we will undertake it immediately. We have been discussing it recently, in any event, and we have the appropriate people engaged in figuring out what it will look like.
10302 So we don't have a fixed date, but we could discuss it internally and give you a reasonable date.
10303 THE CHAIRPERSON: Could you, please?
10304 MS RATHWELL: Yes.
10305 HE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.
10306 Those are all my questions.
10307 We will go out to the far stretches of Canada. Commissioner Duncan, do you have any questions of Shaw?
10308 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: No, I don't have any questions. Thank you.
10309 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
10310 Commissioner Molnar...?
10311 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you, I do have a couple of questions.
10312 Let me just begin by ensuring I understood some of the things I heard.
10313 Regarding the set‑top box and remote and trying to address the issue of the six‑step initiation of described video, I believe for Shaw you mentioned it was a four‑step process and you are in the process now of establishing a programmed remote.
10314 Is that what it is?
10315 MR. FERRAS: Yes. What it is, is there would be two ‑‑ we have a four‑step process now to turn it on and then, as we were saying, once it's set, it's set. You can walk away and the next time you turn on the TV, it's still set.
10316 But if you wanted to move to a sort of an on/off feature, there would be two steps or two ways to go at that.
10317 The one way would be to work with equipment manufacturers and IPG suppliers and remote control companies and try to come up and develop that solution in terms of engineering the hardware, et cetera.
10318 The other solution, which would be an interim solution that we are exploring, would be to take those four steps, which would be the four burst and combine those steps into one button so that you would hit the button and it would actually send four commands and turn on and off your described video.
10319 That is something internally; that if we could do it, we would do that internally. We wouldn't need the help of anyone else, any outside supplier.
10320 It would be do we have a spare button on the remote? Can they remote be configured to work that way? Will the box accept those commands and not freeze up?
10321 So that is the approach that we were talking about. That is the macro button approach.
10322 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: How close are you to knowing whether you can feasibly do that?
10323 MR. FERRAS: This is something we just, to be honest, started to think about through the course of this proceeding.
10324 The idea of trying to improve the ability for our customers to access described video, we mentioned we had just finally got this software upgrade that we were talking about that fixed the labelling problem. We have been working on the website.
10325 Hearing some of the discussion at this hearing is really what got us thinking about what we could do.
10326 It has always been an issue in terms of our ongoing conversations with our industry manufacturer equipment suppliers, but in terms of this macro solution we really just got going on it, and it is something that we are going at really hard now.
10327 MR. BRAZEAU: We have engaged our engineering folks and they are pretty excited about it, of course, having a toy to play with. So we are hoping to have the solution.
10328 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: So do you have a date?
10329 MR. FERRAS: No, we don't have a date. Really it has just hatched. I would say this. We would know whether we can do it pretty quickly. If we can do it, it will be done quickly.
10330 What we would do is we would make it known that we have this feature, whether it is through the new local avail spots that we are doing. We would certainly put it on the website.
10331 It would be something that we would make sure all of our customer service reps knew about, or that people could self‑identify.
10332 Then we would send a technician to the home, and set it up ourselves, at no cost.
10333 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: I wish you all the best with that, because I think that is certainly the best solution to the problem that is out there today, which is costly described video that customers can't access.
10334 Could you tell me, from the perspective of Star Choice, if there is any initiative similar to that?
10335 I believe Ms Rathwell mentioned that the new remote had just been designed, and there had been no consideration for this issue in its design, so I wondered if there were any other initiatives on Star Choice's part to come up with a similar sort of interim solution.
10336 MS RATHWELL: We have begun to discuss it, as well, in the context, primarily, of this process. The design of the next remote occurred prior to that.
10337 But initial indications ‑‑ and our engineering staff is looking at it ‑‑ are that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to implement a macro solution. We will keep looking at it, because it does make sense, and if it could be a cost‑effective fix, that would be great, and we are considering it.
10338 Right now it's a different technology than that used at Shaw, and it seems to have more levels of complication, but we will continue to look at it.
10339 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Perhaps I could ask, if that isn't the solution, are you looking at any solutions today to the six‑step process that you have outlined for access?
10340 MS RATHWELL: We will continue to look at possible solutions.
10341 I am personally not in the engineering group, so I'm sorry that I can't offer you specific ideas that we may have, but we will continue to try to make it as easy as possible.
10342 We haven't abandoned looking at the macro approach, I just wanted to indicate that the early indications are that it would be more difficult for us.
10343 But we understand the importance of the issue and, in the meantime, we will continue to do what we can, in terms of customer education, and a website presence, and developing that to make this programming material as useful as possible.
10344 As you said, there is no point in having all of this if it can't even be used.
10345 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you. I want to ensure that I understand, from the perspective of Star Choice, if there were to be increased amounts of described video placed into the system, what are your restrictions as regards capacity or cost?
10346 Do you have any?
10347 Does the amount of described video influence your capacity or your costs?
10348 MR. RATHWELL: No. Right now we are planning to carry described video with every service by September 2009, and that involves the dedication of a described video stream.
10349 That is not something that gets shut on and off as the programming occurs, it is a constant allocation of bandwidth.
10350 So that is planned for. As the system expands with new services that may have accompanying described video, that will be part of our general capacity challenges going forward, given the current satellite base that we rely upon.
10351 We are looking for the development of additional capacity, but that will require a new satellite. It will require changes to existing radio spectrum policy, which we are currently involved in with Industry Canada. We are having discussions.
10352 It is a real constraint that Star Choice, in general, faces, and it affects not just described video, but many aspects of our business.
10353 As we assured Commissioner Katz and Commissioner Simpson, we believe that we are on track to full compliance with the policy and the distribution of described video for September 2009.
10354 As regards the growth of programming services generally, and described video in conjunction with that, we have to manage that very, very carefully at Star Choice.
10355 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you.
10356 I have to admit that I am still not entirely clear when you say "growth of described video".
10357 If there are more hours of described video, does that matter?
10358 If you are carrying it on one of the secondary audio channels, does that matter?
10359 MS RATHWELL: The growth of described video, in terms of the number of hours, in connection with the current services we carry, we believe that all of that can be accommodated by September 2009.
10360 I was talking about the growth of described video in the context of a broader growth of services within the system, as compared to our circumstances with capacity in the near future.
10361 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you.
10362 I would like to move to the issue of working groups. You mentioned at page 5 that you believe a working group approach is preferable to other proposals, such as regulation, legislation, or the establishment of a national fund.
10363 I would like to understand better the type of working group approach that Shaw and Star Choice perceive as being effective.
10364 I am trying to understand, when you say a working group approach ‑‑ who would you see, for example, establishing the priorities?
10365 Or who would you see establishing the members?
10366 And how would we be able to be assured that these working groups would come out with measurable results, with a commitment by all parties to move forward?
10367 Absent any sort of regulations or legislation behind it, how do you see this working group approach being effective to coming up with improved accessibility?
10368 MR. BRAZEAU: What we had in mind ‑‑ and I know that some people thought that CISC has not been effective, but what we had in mind was more a CISC type of working group.
10369 I know that you could certainly improve on how CISC works by imposing tighter deadlines, making sure that you can identify specific issues that are being discussed, and then having the Commission involved.
10370 It has been my experience in the past that once the Commission is there, involved, and encourages parties to come to some resolution of the issues, it normally works.
10371 So I think that that model is certainly a model that could be adapted to these issues, and could be very effective.
10372 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you. That helps me to understand it.
10373 The issue with CISC, of course, is that CISC begins by first having regulation, and it is the vehicle to implement the regulations and the policies.
10374 And consensus is great. Non‑consensus is dealt with by the Commission, and the expectation is that the results of that working group approach are adopted and implemented across the system.
10375 Would you see that to be the type of model we would need to move forward on these issues of disability?
10376 MR. FERRAS: We have regulations in place now on various issues. I think one of the advantages we have moving forward here, in terms of a working group approach ‑‑ sometimes the working groups are very broad.
10377 On the broadcasting side I can think of an example. We had a digital migration working group back in 2001‑2002, which was helpful and productive, but, at the same time, the issues were very broad. It wasn't until this year, actually, that the Commission finalized its regulations.
10378 One thing about the digital migration working group that was helpful was, I think the Commission had established a third party, which ended up writing a report on the progress of the issues. So that is one thing we might want to think about.
10379 But I think one of the advantages that we have here is that we know what a lot of the issues are that we are trying to solve.
10380 For example, with respect to described video, how can we increase the amount of described video? How can we increase the quality of the closed captioning? What can we do to make sure that the amount of described video that is available on a broadcaster's service ‑‑ in other words, what programs have described video ‑‑ how do we get that information to the cable companies and to the satellite companies and our customers?
10381 There is a gap right now. That is not happening.
10382 How do we fix the remote control problems?
10383 What do we have to do to get audio cues on the IPG?
10384 I think, when you review the record, there are a lot of specific questions and issues that we could come up with, and that will be, in my mind at least, helpful in terms of figuring out: Okay. Now we know what we are trying to solve. Who is the best group to be doing that? Is it a broadcaster‑cable group? Is it just a BDU industry group? Does this question involve everybody?
10385 Of course, overlaid with all of that, we want the input of members from the accessibility groups, the CNIB, et cetera, and, as Jean said, the presence of a Commission person is always helpful in those types of processes.
10386 In my mind at least, I think there are a lot of specific issues that have been identified here which will be helpful in working toward solutions in a working group.
10387 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you, those are my questions.
10388 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Molnar.
10389 Commissioner Denton?
10390 COMMISSIONER DENTON: I have no questions.
10391 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
10392 Commissioner Lamarre?
10393 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
10394 I am sure you will appreciate that, as an engineer, I cannot let go of the remote issue without asking at least one question.
10395 My first question is actually about the pricing. I read in your July 10, 2008 submission, under the section concerning procurement and pricing strategies ‑‑ I will read it to you:
"Additionally, the Star Choice large‑button remote control, which caters to customers with limited visibility and dexterity challenges, is available online through the Call Centre and through nationwide retailers at an affordable cost of only $24.99."
10396 Am I to understand that, if I do not want this remote, Star Choice will provide me with a set‑top box and a regular remote, but if I want the large‑button remote, I will have to exchange it and pay an extra $25?
10397 MS RATHWELL: At this time we weren't aware of customers who had needs to be served who weren't currently on the level of the remote. Obviously we would be happy to talk to visually impaired customers who have needs that weren't fulfilled, and we would look at whether we could provide them with such a remote.
10398 I wouldn't think that it would be a huge matter, but we will discuss it and determine whether that is possible.
10399 There would have to be some sort of process of understanding what their needs were, because, as we specified earlier, this was not a remote that was designed for special needs groups in particular, it was designed for a much wider customer base, primarily our older customers, and where that bumps up against special needs is sort of a grey area that we would have to discuss internally.
10400 In principle, we understand your point, and it's a good one. It's valid.
10401 Hopefully, when a visually impaired subscriber initiates service with us, they would have enough information about the remotes that they would be provided with the right one in the first instance, but it is certainly something that we are willing to look into.
10402 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: On the issue of being able to access easily described video, I want to bring some words of encouragement to you. You launched the initiative of trying to address the micro‑button alternative, as you labelled it.
10403 To me, I must say that it sounds a lot like what Rogers has presented to us, and if this could bring any comfort to you, Rogers' supplier is also Universal Electronics, if that is of any help.
10404 The remote they were talking about the other day is the Polaris model.
10405 Those are my comments concerning that.
10406 MR. BRAZEAU: We will look into it.
10407 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Thank you.
10408 With respect to the remote, the large‑button remote, is it available only for Star Choice, or also for Shaw?
10409 MR. FERRAS: The remote that we were talking about for Star Choice is Star Choice specific. It is not available to Shaw.
10410 They are both Motorola platforms, but there are differences within them. We have a different remote.
10411 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: When you are going to approach the micro‑button solution, you will do it for both Shaw and Star Choice, I am assuming.
10412 MR. FERRAS: Yes.
10413 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Thank you.
10414 With respect to customer service accessibility, I note in the submission for Star Choice that you mentioned the customer service was accessible 24/7.
10415 Is that correct?
10416 MS RATHWELL: Yes.
10417 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Is it equally available 24/7 in both English and French?
10418 MS RATHWELL: Yes, it is.
10419 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: What about your website?
10420 MS RATHWELL: Specifically ‑‑ I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.
10421 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: The Star Choice website ‑‑ information for customers on the website, is it also available in both French and English?
10422 MS RATHWELL: The information concerning our packages is definitely available in French. I believe it is, as well, on described video information and other accessibility issues. I will check that, and I can undertake to report on that, and if it's not, we can look into addressing it.
10423 I would assume that it is.
10424 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: The same question goes for the Shaw service, obviously.
10425 MR. FERRAS: Our website is only in English at this point. What we do have is, for billing purposes, including Braille bills, if someone wants it in French, then we translate it.
10426 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: You translate it on a monthly basis?
10427 MR. FERRAS: If someone identifies that they would like to have their bill in French, then we provide it.
10428 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Okay. You don't have to go back every month and ask for it.
10429 Those are my questions. Thank you.
10430 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much, Commissioner Lamarre.
10431 Legal counsel?
10432 MS POPE: In its answer to interrogs, Shaw reported that the Shaw website satisfied all of the WCA Level 1, 2 and 3 priority standards, with the exception of Checkpoint 5.3, which it didn't support because of it not being commonly supported by older web browsers.
10433 Could you provide us, in confidence if you wish, the cost of making that website accessible, please?
10434 MR. FERRAS: We will provide that to you.
10435 MS POPE: Thank you.
10436 Could you please confirm that the Star Choice and Shaw EPGs currently display an icon associated with each program that has an available DV audio soundtrack?
10437 MR. FERRAS: We could answer that now, if you like.
10438 MS POPE: Okay.
10439 MR. FERRAS: At this point, no ‑‑
10440 Are you talking about an audio cue, so that when you ‑‑
10441 Oh, an icon.
10442 MS POPE: An icon, yes.
10443 MR. FERRAS: On the Shaw Cable side, we currently do not have an icon.
10444 MS POPE: But on the Star Choice side there is an icon.
10445 MS RATHWELL: The Star Choice side does have an icon.
10446 MS POPE: Thank you.
10447 With regard to consultations, do you have a view on how the participation of disability groups should be funded?
10448 MR. BRAZEAU: I guess it depends on the kind of consultation. If it's a very broad consultation with individuals, I guess we could contemplate having a fund that the carriers would make contributions to, but for a more targeted consultation with various organizations, it was our view that the group could always apply to the Commission for costs, and the Commission could approve the costs.
10449 MS POPE: Sort of a CISC model, then, in terms of participation.
10450 MR. BRAZEAU: The CISC model, exactly.
10451 MS POPE: Finally, what would be the challenges of expanding the availability of alternative formats to include all promotional materials?
10452 We heard from some parties during the hearing that they would like to know what deals are available ‑‑ special offers and that sort of thing.
10453 MR. FERRAS: That is something we are working on right now.
10454 MS POPE: Have you identified any particular challenges, or you are actually working to make this material available?
10455 MR. FERRAS: We are working to make it available, yes, to move from where we are now to apply it right across the board.
10456 MS POPE: Thank you, those are my questions.
10457 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much. This concludes the Shaw/Star Choice appearance.
10458 It is 3:45. Let's break until 4 o'clock, when we will resume with Bell and Bell Aliant.
‑‑‑ Upon recessing at 1545 / Suspension à 1545
‑‑‑ Upon resuming at 1610 / Reprise à 1610
10459 THE CHAIRPERSON: Order, please.
10460 We are about to resume with Bell Canada, Bell Aliant and Télébec, but before we do I think we have some announcements.
10461 Madam Secretary...?
10462 THE SECRETARY: Yes. Before we proceed with Bell's presentation, legal counsel has something to add.
10463 Me LEHOUX : Merci, Madame la Secrétaire.
10464 Alors, pour le dossier public, le comité d'audience s'est rencontré lors d'une pause, a étudié la demande de RQST, et a décidé de refuser la demande de prolongation pour les motifs suivants.
10465 Un, l'ACR est l'entité responsable afin d'assurer la coordination pour la validation des normes et le dépôt des rapports.
10466 Deuxièmement, originalement, l'ACR devait déposer le rapport du groupe de travail le 30 novembre.
10467 Troisièmement, cependant, le 17 novembre, l'ACR a demandé une extension au 15 décembre afin de déposer les rapports concernant les exercices de validation des normes proposées concernant le sous‑titrage.
10468 Quatrièmement, la lettre de l'ACR a été ajoutée au dossier public le 17 novembre pour commentaires, et le Conseil n'a reçu aucun commentaire jusqu'à ce jour.
10469 Donc, le comité a déterminé que la demande était tardive.
10470 Le comité note que les répliques finales sont dues au plus tard le 12 janvier et veut s'assurer que les parties aient le temps de revoir les rapports avant le dépôt des répliques finales.
10471 Par conséquent, le comité est d'avis que la demande de prolongation déjà octroyée à l'ACR est suffisante afin de s'assurer que toutes les parties puissent fournir des commentaires sur les normes validées au sein de leur réplique finale.
10472 Merci.
10473 LA SECRÉTAIRE : Merci.
10474 We now call on Bell Aliant Regional Communications Ltd., Bell ExpressVu Ltd. partnership and Télébec, Société en commandite, collectively The Companies, to proceed with their presentation.
10475 Please introduce yourselves and you can start your presentation.
PRESENTATION / PRÉSENTATION
10476 MR. DANIELS: Thank you very much.
10477 Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, I am Jonathan Daniels, Vice‑President of Regulatory Law for Bell Canada, and I am pleased to introduce the panel appearing on behalf of Bell Aliant, Bell Canada and Télébec.
10478 Joining me today are, to my immediate right, Denis Henry, Vice‑President of Regulatory and Government Affairs for Bell Aliant; to his right, Paul Armstrong, Director, Regulatory Affairs for Bell Canada; and to my left, Bill Abbott, Senior Counsel Regulatory Law Bell Canada.
10479 Mr. Chairman, I am reading off of my prepared statement. We had the request of the Hearing Secretary that we would file this yesterday, or provide it yesterday to her. So I assume that it is in the hands of the Commissioners.
10480 For those who are listening on the web, we filed this and served this with all parties so that they would have a chance to follow along, considering how few people are actually in the room today.
10481 We are pleased to have this opportunity to share our thoughts on the important issues related to the accessibility of telecommunications and broadcasting services to persons with disabilities. The record of this proceeding has provided considerable insight into the diverse perspective of many stakeholders.
10482 I would first like to note some of the products and services that The Companies make available to enhance accessibility, including message relay service, free operator assistance, specialized discounts, accessible pay phones and customized customer service through special needs centers in the case of Bell Canada and Bell Aliant serving areas.
10483 As well, BellTV is the first broadcast distribution undertaking in North America to provide an audio electronic program guide for visually impaired customers to describe programming. BellTV also passes through all closed captioning and described video programs provided by programmers.
10484 The Commission has indicated its intention to focus primarily on five key areas in this proceeding. As such, the balance of our opening comments will address those five areas.
10485 There has been considerable interest in relay service in this proceeding, both on the written record and in the testimony of various parties. The existing message relay service provided by The Companies is a long‑standing success.
10486 Now, if I could just add there, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, I noted that there was a comment made last week by Henry Vlug when he was testifying here raising concerns about the quality of MRS nationally, right across the country. That took us a little bit by surprise, because in our experience we think we have a very good quality service and the feedback that we get from customers and users of the service, the feedback that has been on the written record of this proceeding and in the oral testimony, including from the CQDA, who described it as functioning very well and delivers excellent results, is that we provide a very good MRS service.
10487 So we were a little surprised at that comment and just wanted to highlight that fact; that we don't believe that is an accurate description of our MRS service provided, Bell relay service.
10488 Its evolution has benefited greatly from the input of an advisory group comprising organizations representing the deaf and hard of hearing. We have no plans to discontinue the current service even if other forms of relay are mandated in the future.
10489 Of considerable interest to many parties are new forms of relay service, namely Internet protocol relay service and video relay service. What distinguishes IPRS and VRS from the existing MRS provided by The Companies is they are both accessed by users over their Internet connection ‑‑ this is the key to it ‑‑ regardless of who the user's local telephone service provider is or if they even have one.
10490 Hence, for ease of reference I will refer to these two services correctly as IP/VRS.
10491 At the outset we believe that Commission must consider if, based on the record of this proceeding, it is appropriate to mandate IP/VRS. This initial determination should be made in the context of relative costs and benefits.
10492 If the Commission does mandate IP/VRS, the preferred model should be available nationwide and provision on a competitive basis. Indeed, this approach would allow the Commission to minimize the costs and delays in implementation by allowing existing service providers in the U.S. to serve Canadian users.
10493 In the deferral account process Bell Canada had initially proposed to launch a region‑specific IP/VRS exclusively to its residential wireline customers in its traditional serving territory. After further investigation, Bell Canada has concluded that a regional ILEC‑specific IP/VRS model is impractical and, frankly, inappropriate, as provided in more detail in Bell Aliant Exhibit No. 1 which we filed at the beginning of this oral component to this proceeding.
10494 If after assessing the costs and benefits the Commission determines that IP/VRS should be implemented, then appropriate means of funding will have to be determined. If governments are not prepared to provide such funding, all TSPs should be required to fund such an initiative and be permitted to recover such amounts from their customers.
10495 In the case of regulated ILECs this will mean an adjustment to their rates, including their stand‑alone residential local rates in forborne areas.
10496 Moreover, there are a myriad of practical issues that would have to be resolved prior to implementation, including a funding framework, criteria for eligible service providers and access to emergency services.
10497 In addition, the Commission would have to consider the best method of provisioning VRS using LSQ.
10498 If the Commission wishes to pursue IP/VRS, a follow‑up process will be necessary as the existing record is simply not adequate to make detailed determinations about how IP/VRS should be implemented. We would welcome the opportunity to participate in such a process in any manner that the Commission sees fit.
10499 Described video and closed captioning are the second and third issues specifically raised by the Commission.
10500 As you know, BDUs are responsible for passing through the described video and closed captioning provided by programmers. They have no direct input on the availability and quality of what is delivered to them. Although we are not aware of any quality issues associated with the service in the case of our television services, nevertheless we would be pleased to meet with broadcasters and/or the CAB to address any and all operational issues associated with accurate delivery of captioned and video descriptions.
10501 The fourth issue raised by the Commission is customer service and support.
10502 My colleague, Denis Henry, will speak to this matter.
10503 MR. HENRY: Thank you, Jonathan.
10504 Mr. Chairman, The Companies recognize that accessible customer service and support is important and to this end Bell Canada and Bell Aliant have established special needs centers to provide specialized and experienced customer support to persons with disabilities.
10505 Let me speak to Bell Canada's first.
10506 Bell Canada's special needs center provides live call answer assistance, not only to Bell customers but also to Bell Aliant's Ontario and Québec customers in the Ontario and Québec territories of Bell Aliant. Special needs centers are staffed by experienced representatives who devote as much time as necessary to provide quality service to individual customers.
10507 The Bell Canada special needs center handled over 45,000 calls in 2007.
10508 As a result of the enhanced special needs center of excellence project resulting from Bill's deferral account, Bell Canada will also be improving resources and functions of its special needs center. These enhancements will include a greater presence at retail outlets, improved online resources and an expansion of live call answer by accessibility specialists to handle wireless, Internet and television services.
10509 Now, in Bell Aliant we also have a special needs center in our Atlantic territory. Currently the Aliant special needs center is available only to customers in two Atlantic provinces, namely Nova Scotia and PEI, and is limited to voicemail access.
10510 I am pleased to tell you today that as part of Bell Aliant's commitment to improving accessibility of its customer service and support, we have decided to expand the special needs center to serve all four Atlantic provinces and to also improve the service to provide live answer support during regular business hours in both official languages.
10511 As a result of these enhancements, Bell Aliant customers will now enjoy improved access to special needs centers in all six provinces we serve.
10512 Another aspect of customer service and support that has attracted a fair bit of attention is the issue of Web accessibility, which I will turn back to Mr. Daniels to address.
10513 MR. DANIELS: We have heard a number of parties discuss their adherence to W3C guidelines, yet none of these parties have provided detail, how they made this assessment or what level within the guidelines they follow.
10514 In response to the Commission's request to determine costs for proposals made in this proceeding, Bell Canada undertook an extensive examination of the consumer portion of its bell.ca website. The examination, conducted by experts in this field, looked at what it would take to improve the accessibility of its website to meet almost all of the AA criteria of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG, 2.0.
10515 This examination took place over the last month and cost Bell Canada in excess of $90,000 to perform.
10516 Based on the initial cost estimate of these results, Bell Canada estimates a cost of approximately $20 million to meet this objective.
10517 Mr. Chairman, we do not believe an investment of this magnitude is justified in the circumstances, absent deferral account funding. That is not to say, however, that the website is inaccessible. Indeed, it has many features that meet the WCAG Accessibility Guidelines and it will improve as design features evolve in the future.
10518 The last issue identified by the Commission is access to emergency services. A number of parties have raised legitimate concerns in this area. Unfortunately, not all of these problems are within the control of the industry to resolve.
10519 Nonetheless, we do see a role for TSPs and BDUs in helping to resolve these issues.
10520 Take for instance the case of 911 service. The key issue appears to be ensuring that PSAPs are adequately equipped and trained to receive calls from persons with disabilities. For example, a direct TTY call can be delivered to the PSAP, but without TTY equipment and trained PSAP personnel there is no guarantee that the call will be properly handled.
10521 Nonetheless, The Companies are prepared to work with accessibility groups, governments and PSAPs to examine potential improvements to the existing service. And again we can describe in more detail what we are thinking about there.
10522 Another issue that has gained prominence is access to 911 via short message service or SMS. This seems like a simple matter but in fact it raises significant technical issues and huge costs. At this time, SMS 911 is not technically feasible, even if the large cost for this service could be overcome.
10523 The Companies are aware that there has been significant study of this issue in the United States and Europe and we will continue to follow developments and potential solutions.
10524 On the broadcast side, the emergency notification system is a complex arrangement involving public and private entities. BellTV will be able to pass through whatever emergency notification information is adopted in both audio and text formats. This initiative will greatly improve accessible emergency notification broadcasting.
10525 Having covered the Commission's five key issues, I would like to close by briefly addressing Bell Canada's deferral funded account accessibility initiatives.
10526 We are of course prepared to speak to these initiatives. However, one aspect that I wish to point out is that Bell Canada commits to consult with relevant accessibility groups before implementing these initiatives.
10527 Mr. Chairman, this concludes The Companies' opening statement. We would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
10528 Thank you.
10529 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.
10530 I would ask Commissioner Duncan to begin follow‑up questions.
10531 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you, Mr. Daniels. I do have some questions with respect to your presentation, but I have incorporated them in my questions since you were kind enough to send your presentation last evening.
10532 I am just going to start first of all with the customer service and support area, specifically with alternative formats.
10533 I'm wondering what would be the challenges, cost, technical, whatever else, in terms of expanding the list of documents available in alternative formats to include all promotional material and also information regarding, for example, the nonvisual usage of telephone services, information regarding specialized equipment and services, the use of adaptive technologies, rate plans, service options, essentially all the material that would be of interest to persons with disabilities.
10534 I realize you probably didn't come with that number, but you could submit it as an undertaking if you would prefer.
10535 But go ahead with your comments if you like.
10536 MR. ABBOTT: Certainly. Thank you, Commissioner Duncan.
10537 We came with part of that number. I think the main challenge would be the volume of information involved and the expense related to each piece.
10538 To sort of give you a sense of the scope, there are about 10,000 distinct customer messages that go out to Bell customers and potential customers in the course of a year. You could take out, say, the bus shelter ads and the billboard ads, but you are still left with the better part of 9,000 distinct messages that go out to customers.
10539 Some are very short. They may be a single page direct mailing piece. Others are longer; they are a brochure. We are just talking about the promotional materials.
10540 So it is a matter of volume to produce that much in alternative formats and to distribute them in an effective manner. I would not want to understate the size of that undertaking and the expense related to it.
10541 But your question was much broader than that. You are asking I believe about user designs and other information.
10542 Some of that we don't even produce. It is provided to us ‑‑ you know, for example, a user's manual for a piece of product, we wouldn't even produce that so there is an additional challenge there.
10543 Needless to say, I'm sure we have all seen users manuals; they are rather thick. And ultimately I'm not sure that this is the most effective way to accomplish the goal that you have in mind.
10544 I would like to underline the presence of the Bell special needs center which can provide a great deal of this information directly to a customer.
10545 So I don't know if you would like an undertaking. The scope of the undertaking is rather broad and it may take some time to sort of track down every single piece of documentation that we produce and provide to the public in the course of a year.
10546 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I would appreciate some feedback. I mean I realize the why nots, but I think I would be interested to know what you can do and what is reasonable to do.
10547 So, for example, if 9,000 pieces is not reasonable, then I would be interested to hear what is reasonable; your major promotions, for example, perhaps.
10548 I also mentioned things like rate plans and service options. Those things you are not dependent on from another supplier.
10549 So perhaps if you could give it some thought and give us some more feedback, as I say, I would like to get something positive. I realize everything is not possible, but something with something positive, an aspect of something positive would be appreciated.
10550 MR. ABBOTT: Certainly, Commissioner Duncan, I couldn't agree more. There are, as you say, a number of things that we certainly can do.
10551 In listening to the other parties and in reading the record, an idea that we would support is the creation of a pamphlet that has ‑‑ I believe this was described in one of the interrogs, the creation of a pamphlet that has the core accessibility information for each line of business for BellTV, for wireline, for wireless, for the Internet, and also would prominently display the special needs center as a ‑‑ cannot underline ‑‑ a really important source of accessible information and one‑on‑one assistance with our products and services.
10552 So we would be willing to ‑‑ a number of parties brought that up. It was brought up, the idea of a pamphlet that would be available in a number of alternative formats.
10553 We think it is a good idea and we are willing to take that away and provide a proposal as far as content and also how would it be effectively and efficiently distributed to the people who most need it.
10554 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. I think that sounds helpful. I'm sure that would include at least some of the items that I mentioned.
10555 With respect to the special needs center, it is available obviously over the phone and on the Internet. That's correct?
10556 MR. ABBOTT: Yes. There are two distinct presences ‑‑ I'm not sure if that is the plural. The special needs center is a call center and the special‑needs website is ‑‑ well, I guess it goes without saying, it is a website.
10557 They function very differently but provide much of the same information.
10558 The special needs center has been in existence since 1980 and was created on a voluntary basis by Bell Canada, without any intervention. I believe it was coincident with the UN Year of the Disabled.
10559 It is staffed by very experienced individuals and it provides live answer. There is no IVR. You get directly to an agent who is familiar with in particular wireline products and services and also the needs of persons with disabilities.
10560 And there is no limit on the amount of time that they will spend with the customer. There is no average handle time goal or anything like that.
10561 We visited the center actually to ensure that we fully understood it, and they had indicated that from time to time someone had called up to go through their bill line by line. And if it takes an hour, it takes an hour.
10562 So that's the ‑‑ I can give you a lot more information about the special needs center. I don't know if ‑‑ but it is a very important presence for assisting the disabled. It can be easily accessed. It has its own TTY line, obviously.
10563 And then the website, special needs website, is a consolidated presence where anybody can go to view the products and services and discounts, and so on, that would be of most interest, we believe, to persons with disabilities.
10564 Have I answered your question?
10565 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you, Mr. Abbott, for that. You did fine, thank you. I will probably come back to some aspects of it later, but anyway that is a very full answer, thank you.
10566 Just following along on the alternative formats, what would be the challenges again if the list of alternative formats to be made available on request to persons with disabilities was expanded to include plain language, sign language, both LSQ and ASL, and audio recording in both official languages delivered via CD or over the provider's website?
10567 MR. ABBOTT: I think my answer would not be that dissimilar to the answer I gave you with respect to the promotional materials.
10568 I would hope that we frequently write in plain language, if not all the time. I have certainly read our contracts and realize that won't always be the case. But writing in plain language is yet another version of all your materials. Certainly it is doable, but there are costs and other logistical challenges that I think would be similar to the promotional answer.
10569 So if anything, it needs to be done at a very ‑‑ if it were to be done, it would need to be done in a very targeted and efficient manner. Whether it was done across the board might not be appropriate.
10570 With respect to providing materials in ASL and LSQ, I guess what I would say there is that is quite a significant undertaking, and I think we need to balance the costs and benefits, as with any activity.
10571 My understanding is that this measure would largely address those who are deaf or deafened, don't read English or French and therefore can't access it in print, and communicate through one or another version of ASL or LSQ.
10572 I don't think we have a clear idea of how big that group is. I would venture that it might be small, but I must underline that it would be a significant undertaking. No other industry that we are aware of does it within Canada and even abroad on any general basis. So I'm not really sure.
10573 Certainly you come to some huge practical challenges, depending on how far you take this. You don't have to take it very far before you get ‑‑ for example, if you were to provide a bill in ASL or LSQ, each person's bill is different, so there would be ‑‑ each bill would have to be signed and sent. It would be a challenge, a significant challenge.
10574 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: You probably wouldn't have to go as far as every bill, but anyway, I appreciate your comments. They are helpful.
10575 What about the audio recording then? That was suggested actually at the beginning of the hearing by Cathy Moore of the CNIB.
10576 MR. ABBOTT: Because it is not an existing requirement and it wasn't featured that prominently in the record, at least to the extent when I reviewed it, I came without information with respect to what it would take and what the costs and challenges would be with respect to providing an audio format.
10577 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I wonder if you would then take an undertaking to maybe look at the record for what Ms Moore said there on the first day of the hearing, the 17th, and maybe give us your comments?
‑‑‑ Pause
10578 MR. ABBOTT: Mr. Daniels pointed out that this information is available on the website and one has a JAWS ‑‑ Job Access With Speech ‑‑ or JAWS browser. It could be converted into speech. So there certainly are ways for users to make this happen.
10579 And there are a number of alternative formats that are already provided. So there are ways for customers to obtain this information, including by turning the texts that they receive into speech.
10580 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Perhaps I could ask you, though, if you could look at her comments and see if there is anything that you could add.
10581 MR. ABBOTT: Certainly. I'm sorry, whose comments?
10582 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: She was very well informed.
10583 MR. ABBOTT: This is Cathy Moore, right?
10584 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Cathy Moore of the CNIB, yes. Thank you.
10585 MR. ABBOTT: Certainly, I will look into that.
10586 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you.
10587 Now, moving on about CSR training and service, I'm wondering, the Neil Squire Society indicated that:
"CSRs obviously need an excellent understanding of the various disabilities as well as a list of technologies and services most appropriate for particular individuals."
(As read)
10588 You certainly seem to recognize that.
10589 We were wondering what training Bell provides to its CSRs on accessibility, including the availability of fully accessible service bundles and the operation of terminal equipment.
10590 MR. ABBOTT: I can certainly speak to that generally.
10591 With respect to the special needs center, the CSRs who staff the center are long service CSRs who are very familiar with the company and its products and have a passion and a dedication for this.
10592 Certainly one of the reps that we were speaking with had a disabled child, and I think you will find that they are all very dedicated and have perhaps the best training possible in the sense of having gained experience throughout the company before coming to the special needs center.
10593 With respect to our CSRs, the customer service representatives in general, I must say I am not fully familiar with the training that they receive.
10594 But I would like to point out that under the deferral account one of the proposals we have put forward, Bell Canada has put forward, is the long customer ‑‑ no, Enhanced Customer Service Centre of Excellence For Persons with Disabilities. So that has been approved.
10595 One of the measures we are looking at under that proposal is providing sensitivity to all customer facing representatives across the company. This doesn't necessarily mean that each one of them will have the skills and capabilities of our special needs center, but they will at least be sensitive to the needs and requirements of persons with disabilities and be further aware of the sorts of assistance that can be provided through the special needs center.
10596 MR. DANIELS: If I may, Commissioner Duncan, one of the other things I would just say about this is that Bell Canada approach is to rely not exclusively but largely on the special needs center where they get specific training, as Mr. Abbott mentioned.
10597 But one of the things that we are doing as well as part of this deferral account initiative is to take that special needs center and expand, as we talked about, the capabilities to handle other areas of lines of business that they don't handle today, specifically wireless Internet and video television services.
10598 So part of this training will be familiarity with these issues and the chance of getting someone who has been specifically trained and be able to help you address your specific needs will be enhanced, because they will be dealing with it not once every so often but on a day‑to‑day basis they will be dealing with this issue.
10599 So how do I ‑‑ whatever specific needs I may have, if I am deaf or hard of hearing, how do I handle this issue? They will have experience in that. They will be the right people to answer that.
10600 So we think that is the best way to approach this problem and we look forward to having that enhanced service. We have it right now for our wireline service and we want to expand it to all lines of business.
10601 So it doesn't mean that there is not other training for anyone else, but that is primarily what is going to happen. We think that is the best way to handle the situation, at least for our company.
10602 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you, Mr. Daniels.
10603 I'm wondering just quickly on that ‑‑ and perhaps I should already know it ‑‑ when do you expect to have that in place?
10604 I realize it is a part of your deferral account initiative, but ‑‑
10605 MR. ABBOTT: That's correct. We are targeting implementation of most of the measures within that initiative in 2009.
10606 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you.
10607 I have just one other question then.
10608 Mr. Stark had raised it. You know, he felt that people serving persons with disabilities should be, you know, I think having their training refreshed.
10609 I'm just wondering how Bell ensures that the training is effective and what protocols it follows to make sure that staff are current and that you don't lose sight of what the message is, too.
‑‑‑ Pause
10610 MR. ABBOTT: With respect to ‑‑ I believe the question asked was to what extent is the training related to serving persons with disabilities refreshed or enhanced or provided on a regular basis?
10611 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Sorry, how do you ensure the training is effective and that your training protocols are followed ‑‑ that your protocols are followed?
10612 MR. ABBOTT: That would be largely ‑‑ two answers to that.
10613 With respect to the deferral account initiative, an element of that is refresher training for CSRs and the current situation would be the special needs center.
10614 They have the normal job reviews. Their responsibility is to serve persons with disabilities and they are rated based on that. If there is a problem with the manner in which they serve persons with disabilities, that would be something that the manager would identify.
10615 Beyond that, that regular ‑‑ given that that is their job, that is what they are rated on.
10616 I am not aware of a specific protocol relating to training for them.
10617 MR. DANIELS: The one other thing I would just add is ‑‑ I just wanted to check with this ‑‑ is we generally have very good feedback about our special needs service. The complaint we usually hear is about that it doesn't cover other services, which we are addressing through the deferral account initiative we discussed.
10618 There has never been a complaint escalated that we know about the quality of service in terms of us providing. So we feel pretty confident it giving you the answer to that, that it is a good position.
10619 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you very much, I appreciate both answers.
10620 What I had done was we had prepared for us sort of a comparison of what is done by the different telephone companies in the different areas of serving the disabled or persons with disability, and I have gone through and I have a number of questions just comparing the level of service between Bell, Bell Aliant and Télébec, and then I have a few questions at the end about Bell Mobility.
10621 So hopefully we can go through it fairly quickly, because I have a number of other questions as well.
10622 First of all, I understand that all three companies provide a special needs call center and I was wondering if it's a common call center.
10623 MR. DANIELS: First of all, I think I have to ‑‑ Télébec does not provide at this time a special needs call center, and it's separate call centers for Bell Canada and Bell Aliant for Ontario and Québec is one common call center, and it is a separate call center in the Atlantic provinces for Bell Aliant, which I believe we have talked about in our opening statement in terms of Mr. Henry described how that service was to be expanded and changed to sort of match the approach that Bell Canada and Bell Aliant take together in Ontario and Québec.
10624 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Two questions sort of fell out of that.
10625 I noticed I think in your submission, in your written remarks there this afternoon, that I didn't get the understanding that the service was available 24/7. I think it says regular business day. Does it say that in your comments?
10626 MR. DANIELS: Yes. In Ontario and Québec it is 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
10627 MR. HENRY: In the one we're planning to expand in Atlantic Canada will be live answer during regular business hours, but it will be accessible through voicemail in after‑hours.
10628 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: So if I was to call ‑‑
10629 MR. DANIELS: Sorry, if I could, I have been corrected that it is 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, and we also have the same aspect of it's live answer during those hours and able to leave a message outside those hours.
10630 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. So if I was to leave a message at 9 o'clock at night or, you know, when people are really interested ‑‑ using their phones, and I leave a message, do I get a call back the next day or are there a few people on call that will call me back?
10631 MR. ABBOTT: The standard is that your call gets returned within one business day for the Bell Canada special needs center.
10632 MR. HENRY: That would be the same. Our plans would be the same.
10633 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: But if I am not a person with a disability and I call in for service, don't I get 24/7 service?
10634 MR. HENRY: Not live answer.
10635 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Not live answer?
10636 MR. HENRY: No, not live answer.
10637 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I guess that tells me how reliable my phone service is, I haven't had to phone.
10638 MR. DANIELS: I don't have the exact hours. It's not the exact same hours, but it's definitely not 24 hours.
10639 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: All right. I take it that that's typical of telephone companies in general.
10640 You probably can't speak to that.
10641 I am just surprised that you can't call at 9 o'clock at night and get an answer.
10642 MR. DANIELS: I am not sure about whether it's 9 o'clock at night, but I have definitely experienced ‑‑
10643 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: No, no, after ‑‑
10644 MR. DANIELS: Yes, I have definitely experienced not being able to get through and having to call during regular business hours.
10645 MR. HENRY: There may be a difference here, Ms Duncan, between repairs and service. If you are calling because you have a question about TTY, or you want to order a service, you might not be able to get through.
10646 But for a repair service, you can get through in off hours.
10647 If you have a problem with your phone, you should be able to get through in off hours.
10648 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you for that distinction.
10649 What are the plans with respect to Télébec and the Special Needs Centre, or do you have any?
10650 I appreciate that you made the announcement today about Bell Aliant, but ‑‑
10651 MR. HENRY: Let me confess. We are not as well equipped on the panel to answer questions about Télébec. We are certainly able to undertake and find out.
10652 But on that particular one, I understand that Télébec, as you know, is quite small, and they do not have any plans to have a Special Needs Centre.
10653 Something that I think they would be willing to look at is whether or not there is an arrangement they could make with Bell or Bell Aliant to perhaps contract that out.
10654 I don't know how easy that would be, because you would be dealing with agents in Bell or Bell Aliant about products that might be different in Télébec, but I think that is something they are willing to take away and have a look at.
10655 THE CHAIRPERSON: Excuse me, could I interrupt, Commissioner Duncan, to get a clarification?
10656 Is Bell Aliant speaking on behalf of Télébec, because I see a Télébec representative in the room.
10657 Am I missing something here?
10658 MR. HENRY: No, you are not. I am speaking to the extent of my knowledge.
10659 We can either get an answer in writing, or if there is somebody here from Télébec, then ‑‑
10660 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is he prepared to address those questions?
10661 MR. HENRY: To the extent that I haven't answered them correctly, he will be.
10662 Sure. Sure, we can do that.
10663 THE CHAIRPERSON: So we can pose questions to him, as well.
10664 MR. HENRY: If you like.
10665 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. If you are saying that you may not have an answer, and you want to provide it later, we would rather get it on the record sooner, so we can ask follow‑up questions.
10666 MR. HENRY: I understand.
10667 I think, so far, I can tell you that I have talked to him about the answer I just gave, and I am comfortable with that.
10668 But if there are questions you have about Télébec that I don't have the answers to, then, by all means, let's bring him ‑‑
10669 THE CHAIRPERSON: But if, hypothetically, we ask you for an undertaking to make the same Special Needs Centre available in Télébec territory as in Bell Aliant territory, would you be the one committing to that, or would he be the one committing to that?
10670 MR. HENRY: Or committing to have a look at it. I don't know that either of us would commit to doing it.
10671 THE CHAIRPERSON: So you are prepared to speak on behalf of Télébec.
10672 MR. HENRY: I am prepared to speak to that item and say that I know ‑‑ I have talked to him ‑‑ that Télébec is prepared to have a look and have discussions with Bell and Bell Aliant about how this might be done ‑‑ how and whether it might be done.
10673 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. We think that there are other questions that we would look to Télébec to respond to, as well, and I am just wondering whether we pose the questions ‑‑
10674 I suppose we could pose the question to Mr. Daniels, and he could refer the question to whomever he wants on your panel.
10675 MR. HENRY: Sure. If they get detailed beyond my knowledge and you would prefer not to have an undertaking, then let's bring him up.
10676 THE CHAIRPERSON: I apologize, Commissioner Duncan.
10677 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: No problem. Actually, I looked at the table, and I do have questions that pertain to Télébec, so we will just proceed and see what we may need to do.
10678 I notice that the special needs section of Bell Canada's website is fully accessible, that Bell Aliant's is partially accessible, and it appears that Télébec's is not accessible, so I am just wondering if you could comment on when they would all be upgraded to be accessible to the extent that Bell's is.
10679 MR. DANIELS: Commissioner Duncan, if you don't mind, I am sort of jumping in here before I hand it over to Mr. Henry.
10680 Your description of our website being fully accessible ‑‑ I think it might be beneficial to have a little discussion on fully accessible, because it's an assumption.
10681 We have heard people use this term, and we are a little reluctant to jump to that conclusion, because I don't think there is such a thing as fully accessible.
10682 I will let Mr. Abbott explain that.
10683 Or we could hold off on that ‑‑
10684 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: We can continue with that discussion a little later, I think, because I have some questions on your whole website. This is just referring to your special needs section, but maybe your comment is pertinent there, too, so you go ahead if you feel that is ‑‑
10685 MR. ABBOTT: Perhaps the comments that I wanted to make about the issue of how you measure accessibility, and the use of percentages, and exactly what it is we are measuring against, may be more appropriate during the later portion of your questions.
10686 What I can indicate to you is that ‑‑ no, I will leave it for later.
10687 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. At this point, then, are you prepared to speak to bringing Télébec and Bell Aliant's special needs sections up to the same level that Bell's is currently?
10688 MR. HENRY: We are certainly willing to look at that, yes. That is one of the improvements we have been considering this week, as we have heard a lot of comments.
10689 So, yes, we are certainly willing to look at that.
10690 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I should ask you, Mr. Henry, when you say that you are willing to look at it, are you then intending to come back to us with some further comment?
10691 MR. HENRY: I will give you that undertaking right now. We will do it.
10692 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: You will actually do it. Okay. Thank you.
10693 MR. HENRY: The special needs section.
10694 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes, that is what I am referring to.
10695 MR. HENRY: I would have a lot of problems with the rest of the site, but ‑‑
10696 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: That's fair. Thank you.
10697 MR. HENRY: ‑‑ I can undertake to do that.
10698 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Bell and Télébec, do they have plans to make an audio version of their Statement of Consumer Rights available on their websites, which I understand Bell does?
10699 MR. HENRY: Actually, I hadn't put my mind to that until today. I didn't realize that that was being done.
10700 I have no idea what is involved. I think it is probably doable. That one I will get back to you on, because I just haven't had a chance to consult with my people.
10701 I think it's the kind of document that is fairly static, and I am hoping that it wouldn't be a lot of work. We will get back to you on that.
10702 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you.
10703 I notice that Bell has an Office of the Accessibility Manager, and I am wondering, as well, with Bell Aliant and Télébec, if your intention is to have the same there, if you have the same necessity.
10704 MR. HENRY: An accessibility manager?
10705 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes.
10706 MR. HENRY: We have a product manager ‑‑
10707 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Office of ‑‑
10708 MR. HENRY: We have two things. On the product side, we have somebody who is responsible for special needs product development, so we have a Product Development Manager responsible for special needs.
10709 Then, on the service side, we will have the Special Needs Centre.
10710 I am not sure how much that differs from what Bell has.
10711 I'm not speaking for Bell, I'm speaking for Bell Aliant.
10712 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Would Télébec have a similar ‑‑
10713 MR. HENRY: I think that goes to the first answer I gave you, that Télébec is willing to explore what it might do in this regard.
10714 I think that Télébec, being the size it is, it will be difficult to construct the same level of Special Needs Centre, but perhaps they could explore ways of contracting it out to Bell or Bell Aliant, and making use of those synergies.
10715 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you.
10716 Just to digress a minute, the Product Development Manager that you referred to, that person is responsible for identifying and sourcing accessible products?
10717 Is that the idea?
10718 MR. HENRY: Yes, that would be one of his responsibilities.
10719 He is also responsible for E‑911. He works very closely with the PSAPs, and, of course, accessibility issues come up there, as well.
10720 He has a few other responsibilities, but E‑911 and product management for special needs are among his most prominent.
10721 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Would you generally include an accessibility requirement in your RFPs when you are placing orders?
10722 In other words, is it a practice to do that?
10723 MR. HENRY: I don't think it's a practice, I would say that it's something that, I am sure, is taken into account.
10724 I think, as we develop this Special Needs Centre, that will be another source of feedback into our product management.
10725 I am hoping that that will also enable us to actually do better in that area, but I wouldn't want to say that that's something that is on our checklist right now.
10726 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Would he also consult with some of the groups representing persons with disabilities as a matter of course?
10727 MR. HENRY: Typically, because of our relationship with Bell, we get a lot of our information that way. We have not had a lot of requests to meet with groups in Atlantic Canada. I think we would be willing to, but we haven't done that to date.
10728 As I say, we have a relationship with Bell, and we get a lot of information that way.
10729 We do have our MRS service, which we contract out to High Communications in Moncton, and they consult regularly, and have sensitivity training from a hard‑of‑hearing society, one of the ones based in Atlantic Canada.
10730 We are also proposing to have our special needs representatives our special needs centre have access to insensitivity training as well from that society.
10731 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: With respect to that question then about what would Bell's answer be, then maybe Mr. Abbott would have to answer that with respect to including an accessibility consideration in our fees?
10732 MR. DANIELS: Actually, I'll take that one. I think what, if I may, you're talking about in terms of including in RFPs, really it depends on the type of service and what role you're talking about playing.
10733 The real question, if I can rephrase it into the way we are thinking about it at Bell is: how do you get people thinking about accessibility issues when they're making business decisions and building services, new products and so forth? In that regard, one of our initiatives that we have, a deferral account, plans for deferral account funding that we have received for is to create an inclusive design or a universal design initiative, so there's been a fair amount of information on the record of this proceeding, on the written record, about inclusive design and some discussion orally.
10734 Maybe it can help if I just sort of describe the way I sort of give you a little bit of a personal answer, that may then tell you how I looked at it and what I have learned.
10735 Until I picked up this file, I come new to this file this summer, I didn't know anything about a lot of these issues, but certainly not about inclusive design. As I have learned about inclusive design, it's really an interesting idea, it's an exciting idea and I have become a believer in the fact that if Bell was to adopt inclusive design principles and how it went about its decision it's going to actually provide for better service, not just to the accessibility community but to its customers as a whole.
10736 That's my personal belief. I had to learn about this. I'm not a product designer person. The constant example that people always give is the curb cut on the sidewalk. The example that we have all experienced in this room or at least that I could give is that this week for the first time, as far as I know, and I have been to a number of CRTC hearings, I have never seen you have the close caption description here.
10737 You have also had sign language going on but the close caption description that has been put in the corner of the room, I find myself always wanting to sit on that side so I can read the close captioned so in case my mind wanders I can look back at what the question was and so on. I found it extremely helpful. I'm using it on the web when I'm listening on the web ‑‑ not just listening, I'm also having the close caption running, so that's a notion of an idea that was created with an accessibility issue that stands to benefit all people, not necessarily those with the disability.
10738 The question is: how do you go about making that part of the way that Bell thinks about things?
10739 We sort of are approaching that initiative from kind of a viral approach, which is, we are going to create, we can get into details of how that would work, but the short of it is we are going to create a couple of projects. We are going to take some learnings from universal design, build it in specifically, have some consultations with accessibility groups and individuals, do some user testing and so on and hopefully we are going ‑‑ it's going to prove its own case. When we see that case, we're going to take that and try to share the benefits of it across the company by having our product managers who are involved in it, who are firm believers in this notion teaching all the other people and product managers: look at what happened when we went about doing this.
10740 It's our intention to share the benefits with Bell Aliant and Telebec as well when we complete that so that all three companies get the benefit of this initiative.
10741 Coming back then to your question, do you include an accessibility into an RFP, our approach here is not to say, have you thought about accessibility in RFP, let's have a rule, we want to teach people to start asking the questions themselves and to think about these issues and to show them that if they ‑‑ rather than doing a checklist, if they actually think about these issues and bring it into the way they go about making their decisions that they're actually going to end with the result of a better service so that people will start including it, various different accessibility issues, in RFP and product designs, you know, so that through a belief this actually leads to a better product.
10742 In many ways I hope that this will cascade through the company. That's our plan for that service. We have a number of initiatives to try to get there. You know, this is not an overnight thing and this is not a mandate. That was the long answer.
10743 The short answer is, no, I don't see us just simply saying RFPs, make sure it's accessible; I see it as in an approach of teaching people to actually think about these issues and to look at ways to actually include accessibility in all their designs, whether it's an RFP or internal or whatever. There are a number of us who are involved in this initiative who are real believers in this, you know, of the benefits of this to the company.
10744 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Daniels, first of all with your help with my question because that's certainly the best answer I could have hoped for, I'm sure. I think I agree with you, and we have heard other people say as well, that this whole process has been a learning experience for everybody and it's obviously not lost on you. I think that speaks well for what has been accomplished so far.
10745 I want to go on then with some of my questions here. For example, I see that Bell and Bell Aliant can action a customer concern via an internal program. I wonder if Telebec has a similar practice.
10746 MR. HENRY: You've stumped the band. I don't have that information here. If you have a number of questions like this for Telebec perhaps we should ‑‑ would you prefer to ‑‑
10747 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I don't think I have too many more, just a few more, so then maybe if you want at the end you could say that they will take an undertaking or give me your answer then.
10748 MR. HENRY: Sure. Okay.
10749 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: All right. I noticed that Bell Aliant and Telebec offer ‑‑ knowing if Bell Aliant and Telebec offer a priority repair service like the one that Bell offers or if they are intending to do so.
10750 MR. HENRY: Yes, Bell Aliant does and I understand that Telebec does not.
10751 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you.
10752 MR. HENRY: I apologize. That should have ‑‑ I realize in our interrogatory responses that was one of the things that Bell had and we did not list and we should have.
10753 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. No. That's fine.
10754 The last thing along this line is with respect to the service offered to persons with disabilities, are the customer service provisions offered by Bell TV, Express Vu, the same as Bell Canada's?
10755 MR. DANIELS: Is it the same as Bell Canada's in what respect? I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?
10756 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Well, I'm thinking of your ‑‑ if I have to call with a question for service.
10757 MR. DANIELS: Certainly, our CSRs have specific training on the Described Video and the close captioning and can provide instructions in terms of how to turn these things on and off or gain access to them. Certainly on the repair side we have provision for in the event you end up in a situation where you can't explain how to address the issue over the phone we will roll a truck.
10758 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you.
10759 MR. HENRY: If I may, Commissioner Duncan, the other thing is when we talked about expanding our special needs centre to be able to handle other services one of the lines of business will be our television service so, for example, Bell TV will be capable of being handled by our special needs centre. Today it is not, but as Mr. Abbott indicated in 2009 it's our intention to ‑‑ well, we will have it done.
10760 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I did actually have a similar question with respect to Bell Mobility and I noticed that that was also going to be covered by your special needs centre when it's in place.
10761 MR. DANIELS: That's correct. I suppose the only other detail I would like to add to what I think is now probably a pretty complete answer is that you can phone to the special needs centre and if you come across say a Bell TV question that can't be handled there, there will be a warm transfer from the special needs centre to say the Bell TV call centre. They don't get dumped into a queue; they go straight to a live agent and the special needs agent will do sort of a warm transfer to explain that this person has, you know, one disability or another and explain their issue and make sure there's a smooth hand‑off before they leave the line.
10762 It's address to an extent now and as Mr. Daniels pointed out, it will be more fully addressed and more seamless once we have rolled out the deferral account initiative in 2009.
10763 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you. So I guess I'm just sort of in summary of all those things that were sort of outstanding for Telebec was the priority repair service whether CSRs can escalate a customer concern via an internal program as they can do at Bell and Bell Aliant. I will just leave that with you for the Telebec and you can probably let us know.
10764 MR. DANIELS: I think at this point we will hand it over.
10765 MR. ABBOTT: Yes. I can speak to Telebec a little bit.
10766 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay.
10767 MR. ABBOTT: Actually, there is, just to give you a picture of how we will operate, our CSRs receive general training to all the services that we provide including what is offered to the handicapped people so if there is a specific concern that a customer has it can be escalated through the regular chain of command, so to speak. There's no specific special needs people or special needs manager that is assigned to that.
10768 As far as priority repairs, I would have to take an undertaking and check that and get back to you.
10769 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you very much. That's fine.
10770 Mr. Daniels, I will continue on then with the web site accessibility. I noted your comment about the $20 million and that is certainly a large dollar amount. What I didn't know, what I can't tell is, I don't know what that would compare to, for example, for the total amount invested in the cost of Bell's web site. Is $20 million 5 per cent or 50 per cent? I just don't know how large a figure $20 million is to Bell.
10771 MR. DANIELS: I have a long answer and a short answer to that. I actually have an answer about web guidelines in general that I am looking forward to giving you at some point, but with respect to your specific question, I would love to shoehorn it into your specific question, but I think you were quite clear and it doesn't quite fit, the $20 million estimate that we have which would bring the consumer portion, which is a very large portion, of the Bell site, we are going to make the main Bell web site more accessible and bring it to the level of WCAG or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, Criteria A and AA, which you can take my word for it that's a significant step forward. That would be $20 million, it would take two years, and I can go into more detail about that later.
10772 As far as what that compares to in relation to the overall web expense ‑‑ I tried to prepare for this question. I know there was some other groups got the question: well, how much did it cost to start your web site? The Bell Canada web site started in ‑‑ it was launched in 1996, just a couple of years after Al Gore invented the Internet, and it's been an incremental thing. These are done based on projects. You know, a business unit will want to roll out a product and part of it will be giving it a web presence.
10773 The short answer is I can't really isolate that in any way. What I can tell you is ‑‑ perhaps I can give you a sense of other things we do.
10774 You are probably aware that Frank and Gordon went into retirement and Bell was rebranded recently in 2008 and that affected our web site. It cost $4.1 million to redesign 44 pages, without touching the functionality but significantly redesign 44 pages, primarily the support, you know, the self‑serve support and shopping pages and then to rebrand the rest of the site. That was a higher level exercise. It involved changing the templates that would affect all of the sites so to do that, to effectively touch 44 pages significantly and then lightly the rest of the site, that cost $4 million. You need to understand that the whole site has over $10,000 pages. It has legacy content, it has 90 back‑end systems, 26 satellite sites. It's a huge and very complex site, probably the most complex site that has come before you in this proceeding. It has a lot of interactivity and transactional elements. So to do a significant portion of that site for $20 million, you know, I think it is a reasonable number.
10775 I just can't tell you what the whole site takes. I don't even know where to start and stop with that, like am I going back to 1996. I struggle with the question. I can tell you our best estimate so far to get to the level is $20 million and I can tell you that this is in line with other work we have done on the web site on a smaller level to put it in context. Otherwise, I struggle with that; I don't have the information.
10776 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I will tell you what I thought after thinking about your $20 million number was if you would be willing to file the study in confidence, for one thing, and also if you are able to identify which measures you are prepared to undertake, $20 million is too expensive, but what are you prepared to do and over what timeframe, for example? Have you given that any thought?
10777 MR. DANIELS: Yes, we have given this a fair bit of thought. There are a couple of steps to that. I think the first thing I need to make clear is that Bell has obtained this estimate in the context of doing this work through the deferral account, as a draw down on the deferral account. When it came to developing this estimate there were several steps involved.
10778 The first was to do a thorough audit of our site, the accessibility of the consumer portion of the site, which we believe is what gives you the most bang for your buck as far as increasing accessibility.
10779 The second step was to think about, you know, what's an appropriate guideline to follow that will balance a significant increase in accessibility while not, you know, blowing the cost right out the window. We settled upon WCAG 2.0, Criteria A and AA, minus two small elements that I can describe later.
10780 Then the third step was to get an estimate to get this work done. Bell has been very methodical. I suspect we may be the only company that has done this work to this detail. It has cost us over $90,000 so far to develop this estimate. We would be willing to provide the audit of the web site in confidence to the Commission. I believe you asked for that, will you be willing to provide the estimate in confidence to the Commission, which I believe you asked for.
10781 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I did.
10782 MR. DANIELS: The third element of your request about doing, you know, maybe parts of things here and there, I don't believe that any analysis ‑‑ that information exists. We have picked the ‑‑ our site is already quite accessible and to bring it ‑‑ particularly the special needs portion, but there is sort of a continuum of accessibility. In any event, it is accessible to make a difference to go to these A and AA criteria and WCAG 2 so we hadn't really looked at a bunch of different stops along the way. That is I would guess a fair bit of work.
10783 Just let me confirm what I'm saying for a second.
‑‑‑ Pause
10784 MR. DANIELS: I was just confirming my answer. There hasn't been any analysis to say what would it take to leave various stops along the way.
10785 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Can I just ask you a quick question then? You did get deferral account funding money to do just the study or did you get it to do some of the upgrades? Sorry; I just don't know the answer.
10786 MR. DANIELS: Actually, I'm glad you raised that because I thought the same thing. What Mr. Abbott said, we have not gotten any deferral account funding to do the study. What we did is in the context of this proceeding, when we met with our web designers and we have Bell Web Solutions which does this professionally, not just for Bell but to many other companies, they assess web sites, they build web sites, they design web sites and they audit web sites, when we met with them as to what would be involved to take bell.ca we kept hearing, well, it's a very big deal, it involves reconstructing the entire site. You can't do this piecemeal. You have to basically tear down the whole site and build it up from the bottom up again.
10787 Knowing that probably that wasn't going to be a sufficient answer to explain in the conceptual we said, okay, what can we do to actually put a dollar figure to this? They said, well, first we would have to do a complete audit, so we commissioned the audit to go ahead to do this. There is no deferral account funding for it and if it turns out part of a deferral account application that we may and I emphasize "may". We haven't done the due diligence yet. That would be something we would bring before you to say we are thinking or planning to bring the entire web site to be accessible to the standards that Mr. Abbott met.
10788 But there is no deferral account funding at this point in time for the money we have spent. I hope that clarifies it.
10789 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes. Thank you for that clarification.
10790 I don't want to disappoint Mr. Abbott, I don't have any more questions on web site accessibility, but that doesn't mean others won't so you might still get to tell us what you want to tell us or you can send it in in writing later.
10791 I am going to continue now with service bundles. A number of witnesses, as I am sure you have heard, have expressed their concerns about the fact that fully accessible bundles are not available to them, such that they are paying for services they can't use because of their disability. I'm wondering if you offer fully accessible service bundles who are blind or deaf or have mobility impairments.
10792 MR. DANIELS: The short answer is we don't have any accessible bundles of particular products but we do have particular products that can be bundled that meet these criteria. For example, in the case of wireless devices, all of our blackberries, for example, come with data‑only plans so you don't have to buy voice if you want data. If there is a bundle that may exist that allows you to bundle a wireless product, you know, it may be eligible in that case or whatever, I can't really speak to any individual products. For example, we offer long distance discounts for hearing impaired who are using TTY. That applies regardless of whatever bundle you take or if you take it on a standalone basis.
10793 We don't have accessible bundles per se but for the most part most of our products, to the extent that they have accessibility features, you can take that as part of ‑‑ on a standalone basis or with a bundle if that's the appropriate bundle.
10794 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: You have heard, I'm sure, the comments of some of the parties. Would you say then that it's just maybe a lack of communication or information that people think these are things that are not available and they are?
10795 MR. DANIELS: I think that could be the case. We would have to get very specific about the services. We have heard the comments about you always have to take voice if you want a data plan and that is, I guess, I take it, a lack of communication. There are data‑only plans available. You can find them on the web and so on. I think on each individual case we would have to look at it to say what is the communication issue there.
10796 One of the things that I see coming from ‑‑ we have had a number of discussions with different disability groups. At one of the discussions we had with the disability groups it struck me that when we have our special needs centre that's able, for example, to handle wireless services and we can give specialized support in that area, that we can go back and approach the accessibility groups to tell them about the initiatives and the services that we have. I see that as a marketing opportunity.
10797 I guess I am sounding a little bit callous on this but nothing is better than when accessibility works together with a business opportunity. To the extent that we heard that we have had previous marketing initiatives, well, one specific previous marketing initiative that we had with this accessibility group wasn't successful and part of that was because although we had the product there wasn't the service to support it to the specific needs, that will be addressed through our special needs centre when we have that.
10798 Therefore, I see it as a real opportunity for us to go back and to say to the accessibility groups: these are our programs; we now have specialized support for it; let's reconsider and come up, in some cases, in the case of wireless, we can create special deals for members of a particular group, no reason that can't apply to an accessibility group. Take advantage in that way.
10799 That's at least some of the ideas we have been talking about, that when we get our special needs centre up and operational covering these other services that we are then going to tell marketing and the sales team how to use that to their advantage because I think what we are hearing is there is an untapped market there.
10800 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: With respect to the point that some raised about being able to customize bundles by adding a feature that they do need in exchanging it for something they are not using that's maybe not relevant because what you are saying to me is you can customize the bundles.
10801 MR. DANIELS: I am a little worried about making generic statements you can always customize a bundle but that's not necessarily the case. In the example that was given I heard a couple of times, why am I paying for a service, bundle them with the phone that I don't need in terms of the voice service, maybe a voice service or a call waiting. It's true we have data‑only programs. Sometimes they may include services that may not be necessary, but there I mean are ‑‑ I imagine I'm going to get some more questions specifically on this but our data‑only packages are very, we think, reasonably priced, very competitive in the market so they are pretty low cost depending what need you are trying to meet.
10802 So in that regard I don't see that we need to worry about a special initiative here.
10803 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you.
10804 I believe there was some comment about IVR systems but I will ask the question because I don't quite recall what was mentioned.
10805 If a customer with a disability tries to access your service do they have to go through an IVR system?
10806 MR. DANIELS: For the special needs centre? Is that the questions, sorry?
10807 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Well, no, period. Does your special needs centre ‑‑
10808 MR. DANIELS: For your special needs centre you do not have to go through ‑‑ there is no IVR. It's direct right into the special needs centre. In fact, I think Mr. Abbott mentioned that we went to visit them. One of their issues is other people try to use the service who don't have disabilities because they discover, oh, I can get right through to a person who is willing to spend time. I mean that's not a big problem. It's sort of a little antidote. No, you don't need to from the special needs.
10809 Then I think Mr. Abbott talked about how even if you call through the special needs at present time if you need to go to another department how they handle the warm hand‑off on the department, so you are able to do that.
10810 The other thing that happens is our operators and our MRS centre will help you navigate through an IVR if you need that help as well.
10811 Both of those are potential solutions and available to customers with special needs.
10812 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you. I'm going to just move ahead with some of my questions. I will come back to them if I have time. I'm afraid the chairman is going to cut me off before I finish with some of these others I want to talk to you about.
10813 THE CHAIRPERSON: Commissioner Duncan, we are going to go until we all get all of our questions on the table tonight, so if anybody is planning on leaving early, I hope they are not.
10814 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I didn't know if there was a six ‑‑
10815 THE CHAIRPERSON: There is no six o'clock curfew.
10816 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thanks, Mr. Chairman; I didn't realize. Okay, I am going to continue on then.
10817 I am going to go to Described Video. I would appreciate first if you could describe briefly your audio EPG. I haven't heard it. We are also wondering how it is produced and the frequency of the updates.
10818 MR. ARMSTRONG: It's Paul Armstrong here, Commissioner.
10819 The audio EPG is simply a verbal description of all the Described Video programs that are coming up on that day. If you turn to Channel 50 on your ExpressVu service, which I'm sure you have at home, you would see not only a listing but a large print. There would be a series of slides and large print that would highlight what programs are coming up, you know, Law and Order at six o'clock on Channel 73 and so on. You would hear a verbal description of each of those programs as well or at least a verbal listing, not the program description.
10820 Now in terms of how it's updated, we have been doing this for five years now, not six, we gather the program listings from the broadcasters manually. They are sent out, we have a professional voice, the big voice that does it. I think it's the same gentleman who does the voice overs at CTV. He has a commanding voice, a very expensive voice. We sent that out. I'm not certain how frequently it's updated but each day it's refreshed. I'm not sure whether we do it a week in advance or a day in advance. I could get you that information if you feel it necessary.
10821 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I think that's fine for our purposes.
10822 If I'm listening to that at any point in time, like if I tuned in at six o'clock, would I hear the program for the next two or three hours like you do with your regular visual programming guide?
10823 MR. DANIELS: It's more like the Rogers visual program guide in that it goes backwards in time. Since it's done once a day, when you tune in at six o'clock it will tell you what show is coming on at 8:00 in the morning. It's not updated more than once a day. It's a daily thing.
10824 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. I understand.
10825 MR. DANIELS: It's on a wheel. It takes about three minutes to run through the entire wheel, maybe five minutes tops. When you turn to Channel 50, the law of averages says you are going to tune in about halfway through any one of the wheels so I think you will get the full information you are looking for within five minutes.
10826 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: What kind of feedback do you get from customers?
10827 MR. DANIELS: I have to tell you this week I was very pleased to hear the positive feedback.
10828 In terms of specific customer feedback other than this week I haven't had very much. I heard Mr. Rothchild last week sing our praises and I have heard some of the other people sing our praises and it is very gratifying because you don't always hear about the positive things that you are doing so we were pleased to hear that.
10829 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Can I just ask you, besides the expense, if things were as you mentioned what other types of costs are involved in the operation of that?
10830 MR. DANIELS: I'm not sure I can put a cost number on it, but the types of costs that would be incurred, as I mentioned, we do have these large print slides that are produced. I wouldn't think that would be too challenging to put these slides together. They don't take very much ‑‑ a slide doesn't take very much bandwidth, unlike a hockey game that takes a lot of bandwidth and therefore you need a lot of bandwidth for that.
10831 A static slide that changes once every 30 seconds doesn't consume a lot of bandwidth. The voice over itself, like any voice signal, takes about 300 kilobytes per second of bandwidth, so there is a cost associated with that. I presume it's in someone's job description to either receive an email or to go changing after the broadcasters on a daily or weekly basis to get these program listings; as I mentioned, they are all done manually.
10832 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: It sounds to me then that you wouldn't consider it a terribly expensive service but one with good value. Fair to say?
10833 MR. DANIELS: I think it was a very good thing.
10834 Also, I should mention that I heard the gentleman from the accessibility channel and from Voiceprint, NBRS, that were up here on Friday, they mentioned that they are actually going to duplicate our service, I guess, because he mentioned that he was not only going to provide 24‑hour listings of the described video programming on TAC, the accessibility channel, but he was also going to provide the listings for all programs that day on every other channel. There may be an opportunity for some collaboration there between ourselves and NBRS in order to improve the service and reduce both sides' costs.
10835 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: That sounds promising.
10836 I'm wondering if you can comment on the feasibility of including an audio tower or a queue, as Mr. Stark and others have suggested, or visual indicators like an icon within your EPG, and perhaps you do now and I don't know, to indicate the availability of DV programming.
10837 MR. DANIELS: That's a bit of a challenge.
10838 First off, take out the audio and we will just talk about an icon or a description. We receive our program descriptions ‑‑ I think all the BDUs use the same source. TV Guide is where we get ours from. I'm not sure if they publish the book any more but they do provide program listings; that's their business. They get the listings presumably from the broadcasters. How that flow works I'm not exactly sure. It doesn't sound to me like it would be too challenging to put in, as we have, TC in a program description when you press the info button, that you would also have a DV description there and able to find that if you wanted to look ahead and see what's on tonight you really need to be a sighted person unfortunately. You would have to refer back to the audio EPG in order to find that information.
10839 It would be helpful to I guess the other people in the household that perhaps are sighted, but for the visually disabled person themself I think it would have limited value. Nevertheless, I think it is entirely doable. I can't see why it wouldn't be doable.
10840 In respect of a tone on the EPG, or even I heard Ms. Mainville‑Neeson from Telus talking about a talking EPG. That would be quite an expensive undertaking. I did talk to one of our engineers about the possibility of doing the kinds of things that Ms. Mainville‑Neeson mentioned. He suggested it would minimum $2 million and two years development cost. That would be separate from what Telus is doing.
10841 In terms of just a tone, we did do some preliminary investigation through Echo Star. Echo Star is our provider. As you know, they are the U.S. provide and we are very small compared to what their needs are and Described Video simply isn't even on the radar in the United States so it would ‑‑ I don't have a number for that, but we are told that it would be very low on the priority scale for Echo Star to turn their attention to.
10842 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Just starting with the icon, what do you think the timeframe might be if we could expect to see such a feature?
10843 MR. DANIELS: Once again, this is something that we can identify. I wouldn't be surprised if it had already been identified to our supplier, so I can't make commitments for our supplier who then has to go back to the sources that they get the information from. All I can say is to me it seems so doable.
10844 I think I heard Mr. Kovacs from Rogers talking about doing an icon and that might be a little bit harder, but simply within the program description I think there are about 60 characters or something like that. You can describe the program: the Corner Gas, they're pumping gas tonight. There are programs about these two characters. To put a DV in, I don't think it would be a challenge but I'd have to find out.
10845 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you very much. I think that's very helpful.
10846 Can I just ask you, I know that we are talking about Bell TV and that was formerly ExpressVu. I have had two tours now of the Bell Aliant DSL IPTV. I'm just wondering, when you were speaking of Bell TV are you including the DSL TV as well in those comments?
10847 MR. HENRY: No. We refer to that as Aliant TV and, you are quite right, it is available in parts of Atlantic Canada. That's our DSL IPTV products offered in Moncton, Fredericton, St. John's, Newfoundland and Halifax and part of Saint John, New Brunswick. We are also a distributor of Bell TV, which is the old Bell Express Vu, if I understand that correctly. I guess it's your IPTV as well.
10848 MR. DANIELS: Bell Express Vu.
10849 MR. HENRY: Bell Express Vu.
10850 MR. DANIELS: We don't distribute our ‑‑
10851 MR. HENRY: We distributed Bell Express Vu in Atlantic Canada.
10852 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Does Bell Canada then offer a similar DSL‑based service in Ontario and Quebec, for example?
10853 MR. DANIELS: You may know that we are licensed to provide a terrestrial I‑programming undertaking and we are working very diligently to bring that service to market but it's in a very preliminary launch mode right now. It has been launched. We are licensed. We do comply with our licence. We fulfil the close‑captioned Described Video. We have everything nailed but the rollout to customers is in the very preliminary stage.
10854 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: So then speaking about the EPG then with respect to the Bell Aliant service, does it flag the DV programming?
10855 MR. HENRY: No, we have not ‑‑ we are fairly new in the TV business. It is a totally different technology, it's a fairly nascent technology and we do not have the electronic program guide, the audio one, that Express Vu has.
10856 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: You must have a TV guide. I think I saw it actually, just a regular ‑‑
10857 MR. HENRY: Yes, we have an electronic program guide.
10858 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes. Does it have DV in it? Does it flag the DV programs?
10859 MR. HENRY: Yes. Right now we have two DV channels and by the end of the first order of '09 we should have the rest of the OTA and Shaw services for a total of I think it's eight services by the end of the first quarter. Then as per the Commission requirements we will be working towards September '09 to bring in the other specialties and have those in DV.
10860 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: You jumped ahead, anticipating my question.
10861 MR. HENRY: The EPG, no, we don't. I'm sorry; I misunderstood your question.
10862 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Are you anxious to get rid of me, answering the questions before they are asked? So you don't have it then, the DV. Would you consider putting it on; is it possible to put it on your TV Guide for that service?
10863 MR. HENRY: Yes, we would have to go back. I think it's the same answer that Mr. Armstrong gave. We would have to go back and talk to suppliers and see what the issues would be.
10864 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. I'm not asking for an undertaking but is that something, a takeaway that you will take from this process and raise with the folks at Bell Aliant then?
10865 MR. HENRY: Sure. Yes.
10866 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you. So you did answer my question about September 1, 2009, so that's fine. Thank you.
10867 I'm wondering, this is under the heading of with regards to ease of access to broadcasting services. I'm just wondering and it may be in part that I don't quite understand the whole of it, but anyway it appears that Bell employs an open and an embedded approach to delivering described video programming. I understand, I have been told, that CTV on Channel 212 is embedded.
10868 I'm wondering, does Bell intend to convert to either of these approaches exclusively to ensure consistent access to describe video programming for its subscribers?
10869 MR. DANIELS: For Bell Express Vu I can answer that question very well. We do provide so‑called open captioning which means if you want CTV Toronto you go to Channel 51 instead of Channel 212 and you would hear the described audio track to the extent that there is an audio description of that program. We used the channels from 51 up to 79 or something like that for those described video channels.
10870 Now, you mentioned Channel 212 in particular and it being embedded. I was surprised by that too so I followed up with a phone call to our technicians and I said: why did you do that for Channel 212, you know, it's still at Channel 51, isn't it? Yes, we confirmed it's still at Channel 51 but some of our people that work here had noticed this is the way Rogers does it and so thought maybe we should try it the way Rogers does it.
10871 I had a further conversation and suggested that maybe ‑‑ our open captioning is so successful why would anybody bother switching to Channel 212 and going through the multiple buttons that we have heard so much about this week and that we should stick with the open captioning and so I don't know to what extent they are going to revert but there is certainly no plans to convert any of other channels to this Rogers solution, if you well.
10872 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Embedded.
10873 MR. DANIELS: Embedded solution.
10874 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: If I am a subscriber and I look at Channel 51 and there isn't a Described Video program airing do I get the regular audio or do I get nothing?
10875 MR. DANIELS: You get the regular audio. You would see CTV as anybody else would see it if they were tuned to Channel 212.
10876 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: So on 212 then, this is probably more involved. What happens on 212 then; does the equipment automatically go to the DV audio stream if it's available? How does that work?
10877 MR. DANIELS: Once again, that was sort of an outlier. It's not the way that we do our Described Video. If somebody wanted to, and I tried it myself at home, if somebody wanted to do it the embedded way there is a button sequence you have to do. You go to menu, select audio and then select an alternate program, very much like Shaw described. You could get the described audio track that way.
10878 If you left it on when the Described Video program was over you would get silence and you would have to flip back in order to get to the regular voice, which is why to me it's not a very elegant and not a very useful approach.
10879 Now, I have to salute the cable operators who promised one‑button access. I think that's wonderful. We have a zero‑button access. That's even better.
10880 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Get your advertisement in.
10881 Is there a channel capacity issue there for you then?
10882 MR. DANIELS: Yes. I will give you a Bell Express Vu ‑‑ sorry, I'm still in the old school here back with Frank and Ernest. I will give you a Bell TV DTH answer and then ‑‑
10883 MR. HENRY: It's Gordon, it's Gordon. Who is Ernest?
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
10884 MR. DANIELS: That's in the comic strip, but I'll ask Mr. Henry to comment on Aliant. What was the question again?
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
10885 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: General capacity.
10886 MR. DANIELS: General capacity. Thank you.
10887 The capacity issue for Express Vu we think right now is manageable in terms of the existing commitments to Described video where we have four hours and I think the programming undertakings have a specific condition of a licence. It's manageable because, for one thing, the programming is spread out over the day. Given the fact that children's programming is a priority, you will often find a lot of that programming in the morning and the larger broadcasters would have their prime time programming at night.
10888 Where we would run into difficulty is if the number of ‑‑ if the number of hours on a particular programming undertaking expands, that doesn't bother us particularly. Where we are impacted is if more channels are required to provide video descriptions and that video description is coincident.
10889 So you can imagine at 8 o'clock at night, for example, if you had 200 channels, each of them with a described audio track, we would have to find 300 kilobits times 200 at 8 o'clock at night. That would cause capacity issues and opportunity costs and things like that.
10890 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: So as you look down the road you must consider the possibility that there may be, in addition to having hours increased for existing services, which you say presents no problem, but there is a possibility that other services will be required to provide hours of descriptive video programming. So are you making ‑‑
10891 MR. ARMSTRONG: I don't mean to be ‑‑ I wouldn't say no problem. I would characterize it as it is manageable. We think we can manage that with more hours on a given day.
10892 And yes, it is something we have looked at and we have made references to those sorts of issues in our submission, in the BDU regs for example. I think we made submissions in this regard in this proceeding, about this is something we are going to have to monitor over time.
10893 One of the things that we want to do is, for example, we carry CTV Edmonton and CTV Calgary and if they are both showing, I don't know, Canada likes to dance, or whatever that show is called, if it has a described track on it, in the same time zone why would we have both audio descriptions at the same time? They are identical.
10894 So there are some management issues that we can do there in order to reduce the amount of overlap.
10895 But over time absolutely, it is something that we are going to have to monitor very closely. And if we require relief, if we have to make some hard choices, particularly given the new must carry obligations that were announced a couple of weeks ago, we will have to come back to the Commission and raise those issues.
10896 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you.
10897 THE CHAIRPERSON: Commissioner Duncan, can I just interrupt for a minute?
10898 I don't have you sitting next to me so I need a sense for your timeline so that we can take an appropriate break.
10899 My guess is we are probably going to go until about 7:15 or so, because I have about half an hour of questions and I'm sure some of my colleagues do.
10900 I just want to get a sense for what an appropriate time for a break is and how much longer you have.
10901 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I have quite a bit longer actually, so I will leave the break to you.
10902 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Well, let's take a break right now we will reconvene at 6 o'clock.
10903 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Do you want to do that?
10904 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes.
10905 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you very much.
‑‑‑ Upon recessing at 1750 / Suspension à 1750
‑‑‑ Upon resuming at 1800 / Reprise à 1800
10906 THE CHAIRPERSON: Order, please.
10907 Commissioner Duncan, are you there and ready to proceed?
10908 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I am ready to go.
10909 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
10910 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I guess I have gotten the hook here so I'm going to start with asking questions about the relay service.
10911 The Chairman would appreciate it if we could keep the questions and the answers as brief and to the point as possible, and we will see how many of my questions I can get through. But for sure the other Members of the Panel have questions.
10912 So with regard to the relay service I'm wondering if you would take an undertaking to provide us with the monthly rate, the revenues over each of the past five years and the associated cost of providing the MRS service.
10913 If you would also identify the types of costs incurred in providing the service.
10914 MR. DANIELS: I can take that undertaking.
10915 One thing, just to clarify, is that we do provide ‑‑ we do for Bell Canada contract this out on the wireline side to a third party provider, Nordia.
10916 So I can certainly give you the cost that we have paid to that third party provider along with the revenues that we collect from our customers.
10917 But there are costs on top of that. They are not a significant amount of costs, but they are available and they are on top of that.
10918 So I can provide all of that.
10919 THE CHAIRPERSON: Give us the volumes as well, please. Thank you.
10920 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: That would be great.
10921 MR. DANIELS: Yes, we will provide the volumes as well.
10922 MR. HENRY: For Bell Aliant, if I could just interject?
10923 For Bell Aliant the revenues, there is no explicit revenue. It is bundled in.
10924 So one thing I could give you as a proxy perhaps is our wholesale rate that we charge competitors who use our wholesale MRS service. But our revenues, there is no specific charge for MRS in Atlantic Canada.
10925 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: The charge that you pay to Nordia, is it based on a per unit?
10926 MR. DANIELS: Yes, it is. It is based on a volume. It is volume based, so it is not purely per unit.
10927 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: What we are trying to get at is the volume and the trend as well over the five years, so maybe you could provide us some information for Bell Aliant along that line.
10928 MR. HENRY: Sure. We can get traffic volumes for five years.
10929 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you.
10930 THE CHAIRPERSON: And Télébec as well.
10931 MR. HENRY: Yes.
10932 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes. Is the MRS rate applied to both business and residential ‑‑
10933 MR. DANIELS: In the case of Bell Canada ‑‑ and when I'm just talking about Bell Canada I'm talking Bell Aliant for Ontario and Québec ‑‑ we have a 13‑cent levy that applies for all of our lines, so it is business, residential. All customers pay that of the line.
10934 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you.
10935 In Télébec was their rate buried in as well or does it have a separate rate?
10936 MR. GILBERT: Michel Gilbert for the sake of the record.
10937 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you.
10938 MR. GILBERT: For Télébec it is blended in the rate as well, and it is applied to both ‑‑ it is factored into both residential and business.
10939 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. So you understand we are trying to establish sort of volumes so if you could ‑‑ if you can't give us the revenue, if you can attempt to give that. Thank you.
10940 MR. DANIELS: We will.
10941 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Now, I read your response, we all read it, of November 17th, which is marked Bell Exhibit No. 1, and I have some questions on that.
10942 First of all, as you noted, the CRTC approved approximately $4 million for the startup costs of both your proposed IPRS and VRS service offerings and you proposed to withdraw your services as you have explained. But you haven't proposed what you would otherwise spend the money on, so we are interested to know what your plans are in that respect.
10943 MR. DANIELS: Well, our plans are at this point in time undefined in terms of exactly how much, because we don't know exactly what order will come out of this Commission, if any at all, with regard to IP and VRS.
10944 But assuming that there is a national program or whatever and there is some cost to implement that, we don't think that would be very significant. It would be a very small portion of the $4.29 million.
10945 We would assume that we would make a drawdown on that point.
10946 As for the vast majority, which would be the rest of the money left over, we propose that that be included in the Bell Accessibility Fund which right now is basically a pot of $13 million which will be expanded by this extra bit of money. So we have to come up with proposals as to how that would be spent and of course we would come back to you, to the Commission.
10947 So we just see moving it and addressing it the same way that the rest of the $13 million is to be defined.
10948 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: What is the extra amount there, Mr. Daniels, that you referred to?
10949 MR. DANIELS: When you see the extra amount...?
10950 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: How much is it?
10951 MR. DANIELS: Sorry, the difference between the $4.29 million and whatever the cost to implement? If there is a national solution, is that what you are referring to? I'm not sure.
10952 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Actually, no. I was referring to the money that you suggested would be moved over to your accessibility issues, two other issues.
10953 MR. DANIELS: Like how much are we talking?
10954 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes.
10955 MR. DANIELS: I don't have a proper cost for you for what it would cost to implement. We haven't done that study to set up, assuming that it was just a billing and collection function.
10956 But it would be really ‑‑
10957 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Excuse me, Mr. Daniels. I'm not making myself clear.
10958 I understood you to say that there would be some monies that you would redirect from the IVRS/VRS proposal into additional initiatives to do with your service centers.
10959 MR. DANIELS: That's correct. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's all of the $4.29 million would go into the Bell accessibility fund, except for what small portion of the $4.29 million that would be required to implement whatever the Commission, if the Commission does adopt the national VRS, if there is some cost associated with that.
10960 So assuming that the cost of it is, you know, a very small amount, you are looking at, you know ‑‑ I don't have a number, but it would be around the $4 million figure. That's what we were talking about.
10961 So the $4 million on top of the $13 million, so the vast, vast majority of it.
10962 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. I was just trying to understand your answer.
10963 Now, you now support a national IPRS/VRS model, but I would appreciate your comments on whether or not the two services have to be tied together or whether IPRS could be implemented in Canada on a basis similar to MRS.
10964 It surprises me that you have tied the two of them together.
10965 MR. DANIELS: I appreciate that question because it is something that actually has concerned me throughout this proceeding in terms of the discussion here of the way some people have approached this.
10966 There has been talk about, you know, that is IP relay service the extension of the existing message relay service. It may be from a user perspective in terms of functionality, next generation in terms of providing, so I have no doubt about that.
10967 But if you look at it from a service provider perspective, they are not related because, for example, start in terms of providing the actual service. The service is accessed over the Internet. The way our MRS system is set up today is whoever your local provider is, that is your MRS provider.
10968 Now, we also wholesale the service and we are required to and we have a tariff for it and we wholesale that tariff and other customers buy it from us. But, for example, we heard Shaw say that their provider is Bell. So that means if Shaw buys it from Bell, if you sign up with a local service provider from Shaw, your MRS provider is going to be Bell relay service.
10969 It is the same thing with all Bell customers on our wireline have their MRS provider as Bell relay service, which, as I mentioned, is contracted out to Nordia.
10970 So that is the system.
10971 What you are talking about with IP relay is how it works in the U.S. is that each individual end user is able to sign up themselves and choose who they want their provider to be. One of the things that you get out of that is some of the best of the solutions that you have talked about in terms of competitors in that market.
10972 There are 13 telecom relay service providers in the U.S. Ten, for example, provide VRS. I'm not quite sure, I could look it up, what the number is of how many provide IP relay.
10973 But there is a whole host of different competitors who can provide the service, and what they are competing on is ‑‑ they all get paid the same, so they are competing on service level.
10974 So you have a whole different model. It has nothing to do with who your local service provider is.
10975 So to turn the issue of who your local service provider is and tie it in as an extension of MRS would mean creating ‑‑ which I think is a big mistake. It would mean creating, taking the existing service providers and saying now you have to qualify and figure out who your local provider is to make sure they are local customer for you when they are trying to access through the Internet on the service.
10976 There is no connection between the service. I am emphasizing this because I really think there has been a misunderstanding about that service and how it has been described in some of the questions and the answers that have been given throughout.
10977 For example, Sorenson, who came to you and they are the leading VRS provider and a large IP relay service provider in the U.S., they don't offer MRS. They don't have an MRS offering.
10978 I don't know if that was clear in their description to you, but I have confirmed it with them after in talking with them.
10979 So why? Because it is a different game. This is the game that you are talking about or the opportunity, the business opportunity, is getting customers, whether it is VRS are IPRS, getting those customers to sign up with the service over the Internet directly, choose who their provider is and have a competitive model out there, where they compete and offer better service to try to win the customers, because it is free to the customers to sign.
10980 I guess what I'm trying to say ‑‑
10981 THE CHAIRPERSON: Let me try to save some time here, because I think a number of Commissioners are asking the same question.
10982 I understand that Sorenson or others may not be offering message relay service, but the reality is IPRS is just a data text service that can be provided readily over the Internet. VRS requires a lot of bandwidth, because it is video, and it is also very labour‑intensive.
10983 So when you look at the two services, one of them is very costly and very labour‑intensive, the other one is more akin to a data service that requires less cost and much less labour.
10984 That's why we are looking at the two of them separately, because the implementation of one of them may be readily easier to implement than the other one. That is the point we are trying to make. I just want to clarify.
10985 MR. DANIELS: Okay. And that's very helpful. I understand you are making the distinction is there is a meaningful distinction between IPRS as supposed to VRS. But that doesn't mean that the model you would do if you are going to implement IPRS is to just simply say to MRS providers, we want you to be ‑‑ we are going to mandate you to be ‑‑
10986 THE CHAIRPERSON: Granted. Granted.
10987 MR. DANIELS: So my point, what I am trying to say is that if you are going to go IP, don't go regional model. If you are doing IP relay, go national. If it is not tied to VRS, that's fine. But the access is a broadband access and let customers sign up, choose who they want and set up a national fund to collect the money and to pay into that fund in order to finance it and don't confuse that, as some of the questions have, which is an extension of the existing MRS.
10988 I hope that answers why I'm making my distinction.
10989 THE CHAIRPERSON: The existing MRS from our perspective is a separate issue completely in terms of its capabilities, where it's going, the cost, the associated costs. You are all providing it in‑house and yet many of you are contracting it out to Nordia.
10990 So it is national anyways to some extent because some parties have seen fit to contract it out to the same provider as well, because there is value in volume obviously in Nordia's side as well.
10991 So all we are saying is can a company like Nordia or somebody else provide the next generation of IPRS distinct from VRS, which we understand from what we have heard so far on the record, is very, very labour‑intensive and very limiting in terms of having the availability of the sign language expertise?
10992 That's all we are saying.
10993 Go back to Commissioner Duncan, please.
10994 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. What I just was trying to get out there ‑‑ and I think that the Chairman has covered it. But I wanted to just make the point that you had said moments earlier that the largest factor or cost factor in the MRS was the labour pool. I think that you would agree it is the same with IPRS and that it is the same people that would be able to deliver the service.
10995 MR. DANIELS: Again, that is not something I am offering. I think if providers ‑‑
10996 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I understand you are not offering it.
10997 MR. DANIELS: But I'm just trying to say the technology is similar. There may be some advancements that you can do with IP relay. There may be other things you want to do with IP relay that may be different, and the providers who are set up and geared to doing it may be different from those MRS providers.
10998 That's my whole point, is that you need a separate collection mechanism and let customers choose directly from the providers. And whether Nordia Bell relay service or any other company wishes to enter into this market, let them win the customers in the competitive market.
10999 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Daniels. That's good.
11000 I'm just going to go along now. In your response at paragraph 7 you refer to GoAmerica's projections of annual operating costs for a national relay service between $50 million and $100 million. The amount is significantly higher than the operating costs that you provided for your regional video relay service.
11001 We are just wondering on what basis you are now supporting the GoAmerica's cost estimate. That is, have you performed a new cost study for the VRS service that would support their estimates; and if so, could you provide the cost study?
11002 MR. DANIELS: The short answer in terms of why are we quoting GoAmerica or Purple's number is because they know better than us because they are actively providing it.
11003 To give you a sense, you are referring to a number that we filed with the Commission in confidence in response to our deferral account initiative.
11004 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Yes.
11005 MR. DANIELS: When we originally proposed to create the deferral account VRS, because we were responding to the disability community needs and so on. We were hearing that this is the service they wanted created.
11006 We were asked in an interrogatory which was wondering why is it that the cost ‑‑ you can't just afford to do it. Like why isn't just the operating costs ‑‑ sorry, the upfront cost of the $4.3 million sufficient to run it.
11007 So at that point we did our best guess of trying to answer the question by doing some back of the envelope notions. So it wasn't a cost study, it wasn't a tariff application. It was just to give you a sense of how much money it would take based on what we understood from the service at the time.
11008 I have been asked, I know, to try to say what I can publicly about these numbers, so although it is in confidence we have no confidence in these numbers which makes me feel no reason to keep them in confidence. So we basically ‑‑
11009 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Well, can I ask the question ‑‑
11010 MR. DANIELS: Yes.
11011 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Mr. Daniels, can I ask the question this way then. I'm sure that you heard the Chairman the other day questioning GoAmerica on their numbers and certainly raised some doubt as to the numbers. I mean, it wasn't clear how they were calculated and if they really took the Canadian circumstances into consideration.
11012 What did you do to satisfy yourselves that those numbers were the right numbers that you should base your decision to pull out on? Like how did you satisfy yourself that you should be relying on those numbers?
11013 MR. DANIELS: Oh, I see, okay. So why do we think the $50 million‑$100 million is more reasonable than the numbers that we filed?
11014 For a number of reasons we don't believe the numbers that we filed for concern. So the starting point ‑‑ and I can take you through a concern with the numbers that we actually filed, why we no longer believe those numbers. In a sense they were our best guess estimate and we have learned more.
11015 But the reason why I think the $50 million‑$100 million is sort of a reasonable figure is, if you go back to what Purple ‑‑
11016 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Excuse me, Mr. Daniels. Maybe in the interests of time you could actually take an undertaking and explain why your numbers are no longer to be relied upon and why you think the $50 million‑$100 million is. That would give us a chance to also study your response.
11017 MR. DANIELS: I certainly can give that undertaking, but I can also in one sentence just ‑‑ I mean, the amount in terms of the American numbers, the total amount is set every year by the FCC through NECCA.
11018 It's clear. In 2008 the amount of money that they are spending on VRS specifically is $690 million. The 10‑to‑1 typical answer that everyone does says that $69 million for Canada. That makes the $50‑$100 million range seem pretty reasonable to us.
11019 That's our full extent of why we think they are reasonable. It is the real number out of the U.S. That is not one company. That is the entire country put together and they know for sure because that is the amount of money that the regulator approves for this initiative.
11020 So given that, that is why we think their number is reasonable.
11021 But I will take an undertaking to provide to you a written explanation as to why we are no longer comfortable with the number we filed two years ago.
11022 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. Thank you.
11023 I understand that VRS is growing very rapidly in the States and I'm wondering if you expect the same thing to happen in Canada?
11024 MR. DANIELS: We don't know much about the service other than what we have learned, but one thing ‑‑ and one of the reasons we think our old number is wrong is that we expect that it would have the same aspect because we don't know why it wouldn't. That's the best way to put it.
11025 In fact, we think it would actually have a quicker growth rate in Canada largely because the Americans took a while to get to know the service, whereas Canadians probably are familiar. There is a pent‑up demand for the service that didn't exist through the American curve to the same extent.
11026 So our guesstimate ‑‑ and it is truly a guesstimate ‑‑ is that we just think that we probably have a quicker growth rate to catch up to the Americans because people know about the service and they are waiting for the service.
11027 We don't have any more expertise on that than what I have just said.
11028 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay. I will make this my last question, although I have others, but at any rate.
11029 Would you comment on the submission of a number of parties that regulation is necessary to ensure improvements in service to persons with disabilities.
11030 MR. ABBOTT: I guess to begin with I'm not sure I agree with the premise as a general premise that nothing gets done without a regulatory prompt in this area.
11031 I would point out that, you know, what I believe to be the single biggest advance in accessibility, at least for Bell Canada, was the special needs center that was established almost 30 years ago and that wasn't in response to any regulation.
11032 I'm told by a number of sort of thirty‑year service employees of Bell Canada that some of the discounts that are provided were in fact proposed at Bell's initiative and the initiative of other companies in, I guess it would be roughly the '80s and '90s. But because everything is regulated, they could only be given through a tariff filing.
11033 So I'm not sure that it's fair to say that nothing is done without regulation.
11034 Beyond that Bell has engaged, as you can see on the record, in a number of research activities and has funded external research, again not in response to a regulatory obligation.
11035 That being said, I'm not sure I agree with the premise of the question.
11036 Beyond that, I think it is fair to say that there are certain things, particularly in the social regulatory area, that even if we think they are a great idea, they require regulation.
11037 For example, 911, everyone might think it's a great idea, but to make something like that work across the nation and across the industry there is some role for regulatory intervention.
11038 In that sense I think the real question in this area is not, you know, is regulation the only answer, but really when do you regulate and how do you regulate.
11039 You know, it shouldn't be the first answer. I think the when is that it should be a last resort, and the how I think there is a number of helpful guidelines set out in the policy direction with respect to regulation generally and social economic regulation in particular.
11040 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Maybe, Mr. Abbott, I could just ask you a couple of questions here with respect to orders and decisions where the Commission encouraged Bell Canada specifically in the instance of the Order, 2001‑164. Bell was encouraged:
"... to work with handset manufacturers to develop handsets that would better address the needs of persons who are blind as well as instruction manuals and related materials that are accessible to blind persons." (As read)
11041 So I guess just your comments on whether a regulation would have made a difference in the outcome or what the outcome was as a result of just doing it by an encouragement?
11042 Another instance is in decision 2007‑720, and maybe you have an update on that, where the Commission considered that:
"Information on appropriate terminal equipment for persons who are blind might be difficult to obtain. The Commission considers that the telephone companies websites, as well as the websites of TSPs, can be a valuable source of information for consumers. The Commission is of the view that it would be beneficial to consumers who are blind if information on accessible terminal equipment were included on their websites, including where such equipment can be purchased, to the extent that the TSPs provide information on other terminal equipment. The Commission therefore encourages the TSPs to provide information on accessible terminal equipment on their websites." (As read)
11043 So I'm just wondering the status of those two?
11044 MR. ABBOTT: Thank you, Commissioner Duncan.
11045 It's not clear to me that we haven't responded to those. The special needs website has information on ‑‑ well, specifically on wireline websites. There is I think a Uniden and a Clarity wireline terminal sets that are suitable for some disabilities. And we carry a number of wireless handsets that have features that would increase accessibility.
11046 So I guess I'm not entirely sure the nature of your question. We have responded to that. We do have the information on our websites and, more importantly ‑‑ well, I shouldn't say more importantly, but in addition to that, you know, there is the special needs center which can provide assistance.
11047 I think that's ‑‑ I hope that responds to your question.
11048 I suppose the last thing I would mention is we do do referrals ‑‑ I'm sorry, by "we" I mean the special needs center does referrals to a number of equipment suppliers and also the Canadian Hearing Society and the CNIB in order to point customers who require accessible terminal equipment to the right sources.
11049 I think there are four companies. Ultratec is one that comes to mind which I believe is a supplier of TTY equipment that we know and we will refer individuals to.
11050 Obviously we have to be careful about that, because when we refer a customer to a third party and if anything goes wrong, they are going to come back to us.
11051 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: I think, Mr. Abbott, I have your answer.
11052 I think what you are saying is that in some instances regulation is necessary, as you pointed out in the 911.
11053 MR. ABBOTT: That's correct.
11054 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: In some instances.
11055 MR. ABBOTT: In some instances.
11056 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Daniels, and your panel. I appreciate your patience.
11057 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Duncan.
11058 I have a couple of questions and then we will revert over to some of the other Commissioners.
11059 I am going to take you through your submission this afternoon and just ask you a couple of questions first on that.
11060 I refer you to paragraph 4 first. You indicate towards the latter half, you say:
"As well, BellTV is the first production distribution undertaking in North America to provide an audio electronic program guide for vision impaired customers to describe the programming." (As read)
11061 What was the motivation behind introducing that service?
11062 MR. ARMSTRONG: My understanding was that we had consultations through Mr. Trimbee at NBRS. We have been a big supporter of VoicePrint from day one. We provide them lots of free stuff, and this is something that came up and one of our executives thought that that was the right thing to do and he just did it.
11063 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do you know how much money was invested in the research leading up to the development of the product?
11064 MR. ARMSTRONG: I don't think there is any research. I think the Vice‑President of Technology said to one of the guys on a Thursday see what you can do about this, and I'm guessing within two weeks it was operational.
11065 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. We have heard throughout the last six days of hearings how difficult it is for providers to effect change by manufacturers, and yet what you are telling me is on the basis of a Vice‑President saying I want something it materialized without any major cost or anything.
11066 MR. ARMSTRONG: No, no, no, you misunderstand me. There was no change in technology here. What was required at our end was to find out what programs are coming up in described video, find somebody with a big voice that could enunciate these listings and put in place the processes in order to record it and put it up on a channel on our service on Channel 50.
11067 So we had production facilities at our broadcast center. For example at or pay‑per‑view undertaking we have barker channels. We also have barker channels for our BDU service. So we had production facilities. It was just a matter of having the will and the direction to go and do that. But there was no change in technology required.
11068 THE CHAIRPERSON: So there was no material cost. I'm sure there are parties that will be following this proceeding. Can I assume, then, that anybody who has a production facility, who has an R&D facility, like Shaw Communications, like Rogers in broadcasting, can't effect a similar type of thing as readily?
11069 MR. ARMSTRONG: I won't speak for them.
11070 THE CHAIRPERSON: But you are telling me that Bell was able to do it with minimal cost and relatively quickly.
11071 MR. ARMSTRONG: I will take an undertaking to find out from ‑‑ when the trigger was pulled, from the time the trigger was pulled until the time the service went on the air, I'll take an undertaking to see if I can get that timeframe.
11072 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can you also let us know if there was any cost associated with this and file it in confidence, if you don't want a file it publicly?
11073 MR. ARMSTRONG: It was launched five years ago, but I will do my best to see if I can find that information.
11074 THE CHAIRPERSON: I would appreciate it, Mr. Armstrong.
11075 In paragraph 7 you talk about the fact that the existing message relay service has had a long‑standing success. I had asked Shaw earlier whether they were aware of any complaints all. We had heard from some parties that it was a bit of an older technology and maybe there was something that was more youthful, more accommodating, more appropriate in this day and age. And they said they had not heard of any complaints until this hearing.
11076 Have you folks at Bell, Bell Aliant or Télébec heard of complaints about this product?
11077 MR. ARMSTRONG: We have received comments. I mean, we get all sorts of different comments. Most of them are pretty positive.
11078 What we have is every month we conduct a survey of users of the service to see how happy they are with the survey. That is part of our contract that we have with Nordia.
11079 So from that there are comments and most of them are good. A lot of the comments honestly had talked about well, we would really like you to do VRS or we would like you to do IP relay, and so on. And then there are other comments that sometimes the type is too slow, sometimes they are too fast. I can't keep up. That kind of thing.
11080 So I would have to say to you I haven't examined all of them, but I'm sure we have received all sorts of comments because we go actively looking for them.
11081 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can I ask you to file all those surveys that Nordia has provided to you as part of your contract with them, please?
11082 MR. DANIELS: Can I take that away to consider?
11083 I don't know whether ‑‑ because in terms of giving people's comments and so on.
11084 Could I undertake to file a summary of what the key things are ‑‑
11085 THE CHAIRPERSON: I'm not particularly interested in the names of the people ‑‑
11086 MR. DANIELS: No, no, I understand.
11087 THE CHAIRPERSON: You can certainly take the names out, but I wouldn't mind seeing the comments and the results of the surveys.
11088 MR. DANIELS: I don't have a problem with filing the results of the surveys, which are numerical. So I can provide that. For example, a month or something like that.
11089 I just ‑‑ I don't want to say 100 per cent yes. Let me just look into the comment issue, if that's okay. I just don't know enough about it.
11090 THE CHAIRPERSON: Please. Thank you.
11091 You also said in that same paragraph 7 that:
"The reason for the long‑standing success is because of the input from an advisory group comprising organizations representing the deaf and hard of hearing." (As read)
11092 Is that group still active today?
11093 MR. DANIELS: They are two separate groups, one in Ontario and one in Québec, and they are active today. They meet regularly to go over, including these results that I talk about are shared with them, as well as input they are taking about changes to be made to the service.
11094 I have examples, if you want, of some of those changes that have been made as a result of that input.
11095 But yes, the answer is they are active.
11096 THE CHAIRPERSON: I would also like to know who the parties are, both in Québec and Ontario, that are on these advisory groups, if possible.
11097 MR. DANIELS: I have that answer, if you would like me to tell you now, or I could just undertake and provide it in writing.
11098 THE CHAIRPERSON: If you can read it into the record now, by all means please do.
‑‑‑ Pause
11099 MR. DANIELS: In Ontario ‑‑ my French is not ‑‑ I'm going to get Bill to read this because his French is better.
11100 The Ontario Association of the Deaf is one participant and the other is...?
11101 MR. ABBOTT: Association ontarienne des sourds francophones.
11102 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
11103 MR. ABBOTT: And in Québec, I'm sorry ‑‑ I will follow the bouncing finger ‑‑ l'institut Raymond‑Dewar.
11104 There are five in total in Québec.
11105 The second one is l'Association des Devenus Sourds et des Malentandants du Québec.
11106 The third is Centre ‑‑ it's the party that appeared for you, the CQDA, le Centre Québécois de la Déficience Auditive.
11107 The fourth is l'association des personnes vivant avec une sourdite de Laval.
11108 And the fifth ‑‑ pardon my accent here as we go through this ‑‑ l'association des malentendants Québécois, the AMQ.
11109 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Thank you.
11110 I think other folks want to follow up on the IPRS/VRS issue so I will allow them to pursue those issues.
11111 I was trying to find a special needs icon on your website. I couldn't find one, but when I went in and simply put in special needs, I got a manuscript of various locations for various items. But there is no homepage icon for special needs.
11112 Is that correct?
11113 MR. ABBOTT: Not entirely, Mr. Chairman.
11114 The link is at the bottom along with privacy and legal.
11115 I must say when I access it, I just type special needs ‑‑ it had not occurred to me. I type special needs into the search function.
11116 However, this is a file where you are always learning things and this afternoon I heard what Shaw and Star Choice had to say and have spoken with the designers, and we have the authority to move the link to a more prominent position at the top of the page, which I understand from a design point of view is where that type of link or icon is normally located.
11117 So having received that authority, we will proceed with that.
11118 THE CHAIRPERSON: Great. Thank you.
11119 I want to come back to MRS for a minute.
11120 I think I heard Mr. Daniels, you say that Bell Canada has a rate of 13 cents per telephone number in Ontario and Québec, but that Mr. Henry, yours is blended into the monthly rate?
11121 MR. HENRY: Yes, it is, similar to SaskTel.
11122 THE CHAIRPERSON: SaskTel told me that when they did it, they thought it was in that period of time when they weren't regulated by anybody and they were going to follow up.
11123 Did the CRTC approve that blending in of the MRS rate into your monthly rate, because at one time there was a tariff item clearly and it was a different tariff item for every one of the Maritime telephone companies as well.
11124 MR. HENRY: My understanding, and subject to check, is that this was basically done back in the days of rate base rate of return. So we would have identified a cost for it and our rates would have reflected that cost. It was an allowable cost.
11125 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can you go back in your history and just find out when that was and what you ended up blending into your monthly rate at that time for us?
11126 MR. HENRY: I'll try. Certainly I can find out when that was, at least I think I can.
11127 Finding out what number was embedded in there, I think we have already tried to do that unsuccessfully because of the records.
11128 There was a proceeding recently, a contribution proceeding, where we had to try to separate this out because it turns out we had been calculating our contribution incorrectly, and you accepted that. And we could not get these numbers.
11129 What we did do was give you as a proxy ‑‑ and I suggest it's maybe not a bad proxy ‑‑ what we established roughly 10 years ago as the rate that we are charging to competitors in each of those four provinces for the wholesale service.
11130 Now, that wholesale service would have been cost‑based. There may have been a mark up.
11131 I can give you those numbers now.
11132 THE CHAIRPERSON: Sure.
11133 MR. HENRY: I think in New Brunswick it was five cents, in Newfoundland eight cents and in Nova Scotia and PEI 17 cents.
11134 Those were the numbers that you approved that we used in this contribution filing.
11135 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
11136 MR. HENRY: That was a proxy for the revenue portion of the bundled rate.
11137 THE CHAIRPERSON: If you can go back and just find out when that ‑‑
11138 MR. HENRY: Sure, I will find if there is anything else I can find; and if not, why not.
11139 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
11140 Mr. Daniels or Mr. Abbott, that question when you said Bell would do an undertaking to move that icon up, I will ask the same question of Mr. Henry on behalf of Bell Aliant and Mr. Gilbert on behalf of Télébec: Do you folks have a similar icon at the bottom of the page that can be made more prevalent with regard to special needs on your homepage?
11141 MR. HENRY: We have a link. It is on the bottom of the page.
11142 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is it the same as Bell's?
11143 MR. HENRY: Sorry, and Bell Aliant.
11144 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is it the same as where Bell's was located, Bell Canada?
11145 MR. HENRY: I don't know where Bell's is.
‑‑‑ Pause
11146 MR. HENRY: So it's on the bottom of the right‑hand corner of the main page. It is not an icon. It is a special needs text.
11147 THE CHAIRPERSON: But is it next to privacy in that faint little writing on the bottom that says careers and whatever else?
11148 I can look it up right now I guess, if I wanted to.
11149 MR. HENRY: No, it's much more prominent and it's once in the top right hand and once in the bottom right‑hand.
11150 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay, we'll take a look.
11151 Mr. Gilbert...?
11152 MR. GILBERT: In the case of Télébec it is definitely not as prominent as what is the case for Bell. I won't ask you to go try to find it.
11153 As part of this proceeding we found out I would say the weaknesses in that and as part of the undertaking we could provide the Commission with more information on that.
11154 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
11155 I'm going to come back in a minute to the deferral account and the fact that initially Bell Canada had plans to introduce a trial, I guess, for a VRS and IPRS service within your territory.
11156 You have basically given us some reasons why you think it should be more on a national basis.
11157 Have you thought through the regulatory issues associated with signing the deferral account to a service that would be of a national basis as opposed to a regional basis, utilizing the funds that are in Bell Canada's deferral account for more of a national service, which I think is what you are advocating now?
11158 MR. DANIELS: I think we are advocating if you do adopt the model, we are not taking a position whether it should or shouldn't ‑‑ that it should be national, just to clarify that.
11159 In terms of the deferral account funding, two quick answers on that.
11160 Number one, the deferral account funding was always for the setup costs and I think we heard from providers that came from the U.S. that they don't need setup costs. They are just going to build it into a permanent rate.
11161 So it's not a wise use of the funds in that sense.
11162 THE CHAIRPERSON: No, I understand that. But the question I have is: The money in the deferral account was money that came out of rates out of Ontario and Québec, and as part of the decision that the CRTC rendered it basically said thou shalt use that money for services in the province or alternatively rebate it back to the consumers from where it came.
11163 What you are now saying is it may make more sense to make the video relay service a national service, which means taking that money, if we are going to do that, and applying it towards the VRS on a national basis which may have tentacles beyond just customers in Ontario and Québec.
11164 MR. DANIELS: But I guess if I'm to be clear, our position is that that money should not go to a national VRS. All we talked about is that there be a small portion for the cost for Bell to set up that service, the billing collection function for its customers in its territory, that we should be able to draw down.
11165 But the vast majority ‑‑ and I estimated roughly $4 million ‑‑ would go to our Bell accessibility fund.
11166 So we would be opposed to the notion of the change that you are talking about because we think it's inconsistent with the CRTC's directive of spending that money in our territory for our customers.
11167 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. The amount of money that Bell Canada earmarked for accessibility coming out of the deferral account, the decision said a minimum of 5 per cent.
11168 Was it 5 per cent that Bell Canada was prepared to recommend or was it something beyond that?
11169 MR. DANIELS: It's 5 per cent in terms of the amount of money that was set aside and that we are talking about. It's the 5 per cent.
11170 THE CHAIRPERSON: If Bell Canada believed that the Commission felt that there needed to be more money going into accessibility, it could increase that amount of money beyond the 5 per cent that's there today?
11171 MR. DANIELS: I'm going to escape that question or not answer it in the sense that, if you don't mind, the issue of the 95 per cent is before the Supreme Court of Canada in terms of how it should be handled and treated.
11172 So I know that I would need counsel's permission to talk about that, and if I were counsel I wouldn't give me permission to talk about that while it's before it.
11173 So I am, with all due respect, going to say I'm not going to offer any comments on that.
11174 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. TTYs for people who utilize them, do they get them from Bell or do they get them from a third party?
11175 MR. DANIELS: They get them from a third party because there are programs in both Ontario and Québec that fund it. My understanding it is 100 per cent funded in Québec and 75 per cent funded in Ontario by the provincial government.
11176 So this is one case where the provincial government is directly doing what we think they should be doing in terms of accessibility initiatives. So that's how it works.
11177 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. There has been a lot of talk about communication gap between what is actually available by all the parties and what people with disabilities actually are aware of or made aware of in terms of information. And I'm talking predominantly now about the wireless industry because there seems to be a miscommunication on the wireless side as well.
11178 Bell is a member of CWTA. What would you folks think of the idea of having the CWTA become the custodian of information on their website for all services in Canada for people with special needs?
11179 MR. DANIELS: I haven't canvassed that with our CWTA representative. So can I take an undertaking to respond to that one, because I don't have an answer today for that.
11180 THE CHAIRPERSON: You can.
11181 Those are all my questions.
11182 I will move to the people that are in the regions on videoconference.
11183 Commissioner Molnar...?
11184 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you.
11185 I just have a couple of questions actually. The Chair covered off many of the issues I wanted to discuss. Those issues are related around IPRS and VRS.
11186 I would like to move first to paragraph 9 of your opening comments where you say:
"At the outset, the Commission must determine if based on the record of the proceeding it is appropriate to mandate IP and VRS." (As read)
11187 We have had parties before us, and I'm thinking particularly of Rogers, who stated that they did not feel the record of this proceeding was sufficient for us to make such a determination.
11188 Do you have any comments on that?
11189 MR. DANIELS: We had discussion about whether we were going to say if there was enough information are not. I have to say I am a little concerned about the amount of information, because there is some, especially in VRS, about the cost associated with it.
11190 But we sort of thought that there is a certain amount of information that gives you a rough ballpark as to what you are dealing with.
11191 Again we emphasize the notion that if you are going to do this, you are going to have to approve some sort of rate increase for the regulated ILECs to be able to fund the difference.
11192 With that understanding, I think you can make a determination as to whether or not you are prepared to go in that direction, not necessarily knowing the exact amount, but having a pretty good set of range.
11193 But that's about, we think, all you can probably do in this proceeding in terms of workout because there is a lot of detail that would have to be worked out.
11194 You may determine that there is not enough information, that you need to be more precise and you need to examine what the actual costs would be and in order to do that maybe you don't have enough information.
11195 So we decided to not say in our opening statement whether you could or couldn't. We leave that for you to decide. We don't have a position one way or another.
11196 If you are prepared to go there, we are prepared to work on it and to do our part to contribute to it. But we sort of decided that it's not really our position to choose between the expense of all of our customers having this increase as opposed to the benefit of the community.
11197 It's a tough issue and I know that's not very helpful, but that's the safe course we are taking.
11198 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Okay. I would say thank you, but...
11199 Let me go back to the issue of MRS versus IPRS. Chairman Katz was I think clear in how we are thinking about this. I think IPRS is separate from VRS, and I do believe that there is, from a customer perspective, a natural transition from MRS to IPRS.
11200 What I would like to know from you is if you see any issues as it regards MRS in making that as well a national service versus the regional service as it is provided today?
11201 MR. DANIELS: A couple of comments in that regard.
11202 We don't think that would be a wise move. The reason why I say that is the service is working today. When we file our data as to our customer response and our measures, you will see that our customers are quite satisfied with the service and it's a good service.
11203 So do we want to go through the expense to convert that to a national model, figuring out how to do that, how you would set it up, change the nature of the funding, and so on and so forth? Does that make sense to do for a service that is working and functioning well today? We don't think so.
11204 I guess there are contractual issues that would have to be addressed, some people mentioned. So there are other hurdles.
11205 I don't want to say none of them can't be surmounted. They are not insurmountable. The question to me is to what benefit are you trying to achieve by going with the national model?
11206 If you have quality concerns of some of the other providers, then we suggest you can address that. We know that we are pretty confident ‑‑ and it may sound a little cocky. But we have consulted and we know we provide a good service, so I'm not sure why you would want to change all of that by going to a national model.
11207 It is a lot of effort and work, to what end, we don't see the benefit. So that is kind of my take on it.
11208 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Okay. Well, in the interests of time, I am not going to go through what I think are the values of going to a national model.
11209 I want to move on to paragraph 24 of your opening statements related to the issues regarding 911 via short message service.
11210 You have stated that it raises significant technical issues and huge cost.
11211 So perhaps you would like to begin by expanding to identify the technical issues. And we do have on the record today that two technical issues being that it is not a live service, it is a store and send service; and the issue related to no location identification.
11212 Are there other technical issues related to 911 over SMS?
11213 MR. DANIELS: I think we have categorized them as four issues.
11214 One of them is network in terms of how the network gets priority. So when you talk about store and forward, it is the fact that right now our voice network gets priority over the data, so you would have to change that.
11215 Second of all, you would have to change within data to be able to identify a 911 text message from any other text message.
11216 So that is the first one, network.
11217 The second one is the one you mentioned already, location ID.
11218 The third one is interconnection to each of the PSAPs to be able to handle and receive this. That is not again insurmountable, but it would have to be set up.
11219 The fourth one is that the PSAPs have to be set up, their equipment, and so on.
11220 So those are four issues.
11221 I have a comment coming to me and it is something that I want to check.
11222 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Mr. Daniels, just so that we kind of contain our discussion at this point, what we have been discussing with other parties and I would like to discuss with you as well is the feasibility of SMS to the relay centers.
11223 So from that perspective interconnection to PSAPs and PSAPs themselves, I do recognize that those are large issues. So as an interim measure we have been talking about SMS access to the relay centers.
11224 I believe that would take away your last two issues, interconnection to PSAP and PSAP being able to accept these calls.
11225 MR. DANIELS: It would. But then you are raising a different issue.
11226 Let me answer this in a couple of different ways.
11227 Your question really should be: How do we get a text message for an emergency response?
11228 SMS is one possible solution. There have been two others that have sort of been discussed: IP relay, which has the benefit of IP relay either directly to a PSAP or going through a relay center.
11229 The third one, which was in the submission of one of the parties who came to talk to you about it, Arthur Rendall, is RTT.
11230 So my one caution here is that there is more than one possible solution there.
11231 Our statement in our opening address of saying that we would be willing to sit down and talk to the parties about the various different solutions is a real statement that's like we are in favour of consultation, especially when it is focused and purpose driven.
11232 And this is in my mind a perfect example of one where we would be prepared to do it, to sit down to weigh the pros and cons of looking at all three of these solutions, which I can talk to in more detail but in the interests of time I am avoiding here.
11233 But if you would like me to, I could explain some of the pros and cons of all three solutions, of looking at what the benefits of going in the directions.
11234 I think if you examined it, SMS would not be the one you would choose. There are other solutions you may talk about it, even if you are talking about with the relay center.
11235 On the other hand, one of the things that I don't want to dismiss ‑‑ and I know my colleagues will insist that I mention ‑‑ is we said that it should be all levels that sit down. It should be the PSAPs. It should be the service providers. It should be the disability groups and it should be the governments.
11236 I don't know ‑‑ because I don't think it has really been discussed ‑‑ but some governments, some areas, like for example Nova Scotia, they have set it up. They have mandated it on a provincial basis that their PSAPs have to be set up to handle TTY directly into their PSAPs.
11237 They don't have the same problems in Nova Scotia that you have heard exist in the other countries, and that is because the government stepped up to the plate.
11238 So although I don't want to dismiss the ability of us to sit down to work and come up with next best solutions, but I think that if consultation goes on, you can examine these things and we bring the governments to the table there can be even better solutions.
11239 It is doable. It's possible today and, I mean, frankly in some ways it is the best solution for lives at stake.
11240 Having said that, we would be prepared to sit down and discuss and we think the industry should be invited along with the other participants to look at it. SMS may not be the best solution that you are talking about.
11241 One of the concerns, just at a high level without getting into all the technical difficulties and so on, one of the concerns is you don't want to create an expectation. A lot of people will start to use SMS and expect it to have certain parameters that it doesn't have. You don't want people using SMS, but there are other solutions and some of them were mentioned by Mr. Rendall that may provide some promise and it's something that we are willing to explore on the part of consultation.
11242 So this is something that I think is perfect for sending off in that direction. It is an important issue and in the short time here I can't ‑‑ I'm cognizant of time and don't want to go into all the details, but if you would like me to, I'm happy to do that, too, as to why I make that statement.
11243 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: I think that the whole issue of emergency services is an issue that does certainly require more attention than we can give it here or through this proceeding.
11244 My concern, and the reason why I personally have been discussing SMS, is when you talk about consultations, when you talk about involving different organizations and different levels of government, you are talking about a long process.
11245 I don't believe that 911 via SMS is a Nirvana solution, but it seems to me something that potentially could be used in the short term.
11246 I mean, as simple as it is, we talk about the location ID. Well, we know that we have a lot of other services out there that don't have location ID.
11247 As you know, basic cellular doesn't have it. VoIP doesn't have it. Frankly, PBX multiline key doesn't have it. And we allow those services and we give them access to 911.
11248 SMS, which is a service that is used by a group of the disabled is ‑‑ I mean, it is simple, in my simple head you SMS to the operator and it provides you a lifeline in certain instances. And so I don't want something like that to be entirely disregarded as we deal with the long‑term solutions, if you will. So is this something you think is entirely impractical as a near‑term measure?
11249 MR. DANIELS: I think there is better near‑term measures is what I am trying to indicate to you. For example, real‑time text has some of the advantages over SMS. We don't know enough about it, it can be explored. But it has some of the advantages and if it is doable and can be looked into, it may be a solution.
11250 So my point is SMS is probably a big mistake to go that way. A little bit of consultation, a little bit of discussion we can probably quickly resolve as to if they have a mandate that said come up with some short‑term solutions and long‑term solutions. We don't want to take the pressure off though, this is the issue.
11251 I understand short‑term solutions and, I mean, we are not saying no, we are willing to sit down and talk about it. We have some contractual issues, some things, ways to figure out how to give priority at a, you know, call and so on. There is things that can be done that are in our power and we are willing to ‑‑
11252 THE CHAIRPERSON: Mr. Daniels, why don't I suggest you document all those issues that you have in terms of for and against SMS or any other solution and append it to your final submission?
11253 MR. DANIELS: We can do that.
11254 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
11255 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Okay. That is a great solution in dealing with this. So those are all my questions. Thank you.
11256 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Molnar.
11257 Commissioner Simpson.
11258 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Just a comment and very brief, and one question.
11259 First of all, I would like to tell you how pleased I was and gratified to hear your explanation of the holistic approach that Bell is looking to with respect to product development.
11260 And, you know, the whole issue that I was trying to bring up earlier, which is to move up the issue of disability features and benefits into decisioning on product development, and I look very much forward to whatever results come out of that, it was very good to hear.
11261 I have one question that comes up, and my memory fails me, but last week we had heard from one presenter from the blind and visually impaired who had been telling us a story regarding their experience in the issue of disabling certain features of a wireless device to get it down to a plan level. And while the intent of the presenter was to disable the features that were not usable to him, the costs to do this were going in the other direction.
11262 And I know that this is not a question that can be easily answered, but if you could give me some comfort in the idea that when you do approach disabling features in wireless devices, that the price goes down as the delivery of services goes down commensurate with the lessened need of that customer?
11263 MR. DANIELS: I can't give you assurance that as you want to take away features that are bundled in that the price go down.
11264 What I can say is that let's talk about what specific need you are talking about. If you are talking about a deaf or hearing impaired person who is not interested in voice service, we have data‑only plans. Our data‑only plans, the cheapest data‑only plan, for example, on a prepaid basis is 50 cents a day gives you unlimited SMS, plus depending if you are Solo or Bell Mobility. You are looking at anywhere from $15.50, assuming 30 days a month, to $16.00 a month in terms of the service to be able to text.
11265 Now, you can make a call on that, for example. You will be charged a lot more money per call and so on in the rare instance that maybe you lend it to a friend who wants to make a call. And the actual phone itself, like the phones start as low as, for those two services, $59 or $69.
11266 So I guess my point is there may be a feature bundled in that may be of no interest to a deaf or hearing impaired person in that 50 cents a day, but that is our cheapest, lowest price. And for getting a phone, it is a cheap phone in terms of like as an entry level phone. And I guess the marketing guys would not like me to call it a cheap phone, it is an entry‑level priced phone.
11267 And so to talk about, well, I don't ever want to use call display or call waiting because I am not using it for voice purposes that may be included in that, can I get less money? Well, this is our lowest price point entry. So my answer really is it is unnecessary in that circumstance, so to give you one example.
11268 But we certainly don't charge more money, to the best of my knowledge, to take away features. Anyway, so I hope that addresses your concern.
11269 COMMISSIONER SIMPSON: Your example does. My only parting request is that as you embark as a very large organization enlightened by the processes of this hearing, that perhaps you look at establishing some standards with work groups from various organizations that can set some package pricing in place that make these currently customizational issues more standardized so that everyone can approach, you know, these entry level reduced service offerings, make them easier to market and easy to understand in the community.
11270 Thank you very much.
11271 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Simpson.
11272 Commissioner Denton.
11273 COMMISSIONER DENTON: Yes.
11274 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any questions?
11275 COMMISSIONER DENTON: Yes.
11276 THE CHAIRPERSON: Go ahead.
11277 COMMISSIONER DENTON: I have three questions, briefly.
11278 Another witness in this proceeding has indicated that Bell TV has recently changed the manner in which described video programming is passed through its network. This has had the effect of allowing downstream distributors to pass through the described video signal to the end user.
11279 Three questions. Can you elaborate on any changes you have made to the provision of described video? How do these changes effect how described video passes through the chain? And are these changes applicable to all channels? If you lose the tract, I have got them in front of me, I will ask them one at a time.
11280 So can you please elaborate on any changes you have made to the provision of described video?
11281 MR. ARMSTRONG: Yes, thank you very much, Commissioner.
11282 I believe that comment was in respect of our transport business where we are transporting specialty services. We internally refer to that as SRDU, but it is not actually an SRDU licensable function.
11283 There was an issue identified to us as an SRDU. We have a very small SRDU business, of course Shaw is the dominant provider. And it was identified to us that we weren't passing through certain streams and we took corrective action immediately.
11284 I have a technical explanation or at least a dumb‑downed technical explanation that my colleague sent to me. And he stated:
"Basically, we enable DV audio on the main channel on the PSI so that the BDU decoders can detect it and decode it as second audio. We had no reason do to so for DTH, since we carried a separate channel for described video. Once we found out their issue for SRDU we proceeded to add all the DV to the main channel output profile." (As Read)
11285 COMMISSIONER DENTON: So that answers question number two.
11286 And are those changes applicable to all channels?
11287 MR. ARMSTRONG: Yes.
11288 COMMISSIONER DENTON: Thank you, those are my questions.
11289 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Commissioner Denton.
11290 Commissioner Lamarre.
11291 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Merci, Monsieur le Président.
11292 You should know I am turning into an ice cube here, so I won't be keeping us any longer than necessary, I can assure you that.
11293 Monsieur Gilbert, restez aussi à portée de micro parce que je peux vous assurer que j'ai besoin de vos réponses.
11294 Présentement, Télébec offre un service de message relais?
11295 M. GILBERT : Oui.
11296 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Est‑ce que c'est un service autonome ou c'est le service de Bell?
11297 M. GILBERT : C'est le service de Bell.
11298 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : C'est le service de Bell.
11299 Alors, in reference to paragraph 7 of the presentation, in reply to Chairman Katz, you mentioned that you had one advisory group in Ontario and one advisory group in Quebec.
11300 Est‑ce que Télébec fait aussi partie du groupe conseil au Québec?
11301 M. GILBERT : À ma connaissance, non.
11302 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : À votre connaissance, non.
11303 Am I correct in assuming that the discussions in Quebec are taking place in French and the discussions in Ontario are usually taking place in English?
‑‑‑ Pause
11304 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: I am sorry, I thought that was an easy question.
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
11305 MR. DANIELS: It was, but the answer is conversations take place French and LSQ, in Quebec. And in Ontario it takes place in ASL, English and LSQ because, as you may remember, one of the names is a Francophone organization. So we try to find an interpreter who can interpret in both languages.
11306 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: It was worth waiting for the answer, I can assure you.
11307 Now, in paragraph 13 in reference to VRS, in the last sentence you say, "In addition the Commission would have to consider the best method for provisioning VRS using LSQ."
11308 Now, I do take the point that if we are talking about national service we are going to need interpreters in ASL and LSQ. But, to me, that is not a method, that is a fact.
11309 So I am wondering why on earth the method for implementing the service would be different with regards to LSQ than it would be to ASL? I don't get it.
11310 MR. DANIELS: What we had in mind when we made that statement is that one possible model would be to open up and allow all ‑‑ there is 10 VRS providers over the internet who are able to provide ASL into Canada, that if you just set up the appropriate funding mechanism and deal with the 911 issue, that they would be up and operational to provide ASL across the country today.
11311 The question that I have is ‑‑ or what I would suggest that you need to think about in a subsequent proceeding, is how do we do LSQ? Do we make it a requirement that every single one of the ASL providers who wish to provide service have to offer LSQ or do we look at it and say, if we are going to do this, that there is a very small interpreter pool for LSQ and what we don't want is that each ASL provider simply hiring an LSQ provider to meet a criteria to be eligible when there is no demand.
11312 And you may need and you may find that actually LSQ ‑‑ actually for ASL you use the American model, let them in, and for LSQ you may want to put it out to an RFP and have one provider do it so that you can get a better level of service, more hours in the day and so on initially, so that you don't draw the interpreter pool and split it amongst many different providers.
11313 So that is the reference there. It needs some serious thought, but it is certainly not a suggestion that LSQ should not be offered.
11314 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : O.K. Je comprends où vous voulez en venir.
11315 Monsieur Gilbert, au sujet du service à la clientèle pour vos clients qui ont des incapacités, on est pris avec une petite contradiction ici au dossier.
11316 Tout à l'heure, si j'ai bien compris... et la contradiction, je voudrais que vous l'éclaircissiez maintenant ou sinon, par écrit ensuite...
11317 M. GILBERT : Mm‑hmm.
11318 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : ...si ce n'est pas possible de résoudre le problème immédiatement.
11319 Si j'ai bien compris l'intervention de Bell et Bell Aliant tout à l'heure, c'était à l'effet que le centre de services adaptés de Bell, Télébec n'y avait pas accès. Est‑ce que j'ai bien compris?
11320 M. GILBERT : Non. Bien, enfin, je peux... Télébec pourrait, pourrait toujours y avoir accès. Présentement, on n'a pas d'entente spécifique à cet effet‑là. Ce n'est pas quelque chose qui a été regardé dans le passé.
11321 Maintenant, comme l'a dit monsieur Henry, on a appris beaucoup de choses à l'intérieur de cette instance‑là, et c'est quelque chose qu'on pourrait considérer regarder, en fait, comme utilisateur du service. Évidemment, ça pourrait être... c'est plus complexe qu'il n'y paraît puisque chaque entreprise peut avoir des tarifs différents, des services qui peuvent légèrement différer.
11322 Mais, bref, pour répondre de manière courte, on pourrait examiner l'utilisation des services du centre de réponse de Bell pour répondre aux besoins de notre propre clientèle. On pourrait examiner ça.
11323 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : O.K. C'est parce que dans votre soumission du 5 septembre...
11324 M. GILBERT : Oui.
11325 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : ...puis je ne tiens pas à sortir les bebites là, mais dans la soumission du 5 septembre, en réponse à une de nos questions, vous avez relevé que ce centre d'appel là adapté était disponible à Télébec.
11326 M. GILBERT : Oui. O.K. Bien, je peux vous expliquer d'où vient la contradiction.
11327 C'est qu'un client de Télébec peut toujours... et si je ne m'abuse, ce qui est indiqué, c'est, notamment, à propos des appareils téléphoniques plus spécialisés.
11328 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Oui, c'est à propos des appareils téléphoniques.
11329 M. GILBERT : C'est ça. Donc, dans un cas comme ça, la préposée de service de Télébec peut référer le client au centre de Bell Canada aux fins d'obtenir davantage d'information. C'est l'essence du message.
11330 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : C'est l'essence du message. Donc, ceci dit, j'imagine que, quand même, quand vous parliez de la formation de votre service, des représentants...
11331 M. GILBERT : Oui.
11332 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : ...à votre service à la clientèle, vous parliez d'une formation générale?
11333 M. GILBERT : Tout à fait!
11334 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Cette formation‑là inclut les questions d'accessibilité et les produits et services qui sont offerts par Télébec?
11335 M. GILBERT : Oui.
11336 CONSEILLÈRE LAMARRE : Oui. Merci.
11337 THE CHAIRPERSON: If I can just interrupt, the closed‑captioning folks have to leave. But for those people that are using closed captioning, the information will be on the transcripts tomorrow morning on our website. So the last few minutes of today's proceeding will be captured on the website tomorrow in the transcripts. We apologize.
11338 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Merci, Monsieur le Président.
11339 Mr. Daniels, I would assume you would be the one who could answer that question. In paragraph 18 of your opening statements today you are talking about Bell Canada's special needs centre. And you refer to 45,000 calls in 2007.
11340 Would it be possible to have more specific data as far as those calls are concerned? Specifically, what I would be looking for is the percentage of calls that were made in French or in English, the waiting time to access a live person during the opening hours ‑‑ I do get your point about the opening hours ‑‑ whether you are asking for a French or an English representative, and also the hang‑up ‑‑ for lack of a better term, the hang‑up percentage of calls, that people give up before they do reach a person during opening hours.
11341 MR. DANIELS: Well, I don't know that I can answer all those questions, I see what information we can and then we will get back to you.
11342 But one thing I can tell you is the centre is in Montreal. We went there, we met with them, they are all bilingual. They are all bilingual, capable of communicating in both languages. And so I don't know that they even bother to track it, because it is just part of what they do, but they could be, but we will find out.
11343 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Yes, let us know if you do have that information and, if you don't, well, I cannot ask you to make it up, that is for sure.
11344 Now, with regards to the special needs centre again, in paragraph 19 you are talking about the deployment of that centre in the Maritimes. And you point out that currently in Nova Scotia and PEI it is limited to voicemail access, but you are planning to expand into all the Atlantic provinces.
11345 All the Atlantic provinces, that means New Brunswick and Newfoundland included?
11346 MR. HENRY: Absolutely.
11347 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Okay. And did I hear you in answering Commissioner Duncan's questions, that that would be done in 2009?
11348 MR. HENRY: We are aiming to have it done by the end of this year.
11349 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: By the end of this year. Okay, that was my next question, if it was, you know, in six weeks or 58 weeks. But the end of this year, then I guess early 2009 would be a fair assessment of the schedule for the full deployment in the Atlantic provinces as what people in Ontario and Quebec are currently getting?
11350 MR. HENRY: At the latest.
11351 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: And that is going to be available in French and English also?
11352 MR. HENRY: Yes, indeed.
11353 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: A very quick question for the Bell TV customer service.
11354 Is it available 24/7?
11355 MR. ARMSTRONG: I don't know the answer to that question.
11356 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Okay. And is it available in French and in English?
11357 MR. ARMSTRONG: Yes, absolutely, French and English.
11358 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: But you will let us know what the schedule is to get a live person instead of a voicemail?
11359 MR. ARMSTRONG: I will get that information to you.
11360 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Thank you.
11361 I just have a quick comment, that I did make note of the issues you raised with regards to providing 911 calls and the involvement of PSAPs and we do understand that some of these issues that were raised cannot be dealt alone by telecom providers.
11362 Now, my last question. Mr. Daniels, I am going to quote you here, maybe not verbatim, but I will try. And I am going to refer you to paragraph 26 of your opening statement.
11363 At one point in the discussions you mentioned that when you were talking about the comments you got from the special needs centre about the wireless service, you said you take those comments under advisement, and that is where I quote you, "We go back to the accessibility groups and tell them the initiative we have taken."
11364 At the end of paragraph 26 you also say that Bell Canada commits to consult with relevant accessibility groups before implementing these initiatives.
11365 Now, one comment that came back over the past six days of hearing from interest groups, accessibility groups, related to consultation in a situation where they felt that when they were being consulted they felt that they were actually asked to rubberstamp what the providers had thought of.
11366 And when I first heard you, you know, come up with the last sentence of paragraph 26, my reaction was the question I am going to ask right now; is how about consulting the relevant accessibility groups before identifying the initiative rather than right upon implementation or is that what you were meaning by that?
11367 MR. DANIELS: To be clear, that is exactly what we are talking about, before implementing.
11368 Now, some of them we did consult beforehand. For example, without going through all the deferral account initiatives, voice‑activated dialing, we heard that is what we wanted, now we are in the designing and implementation stage, we are going to still take the design parameters and consult with accessibility groups on that before we actually put it to press, if you will.
11369 The inclusive design, there is ‑‑ without getting into the whole long gambit of all the things that we are doing there ‑‑ there is consultation. I mean, that is the first stage we are doing. We are not just consulting with the accessibility groups, we are actually doing focus groups with actual disabled users or various different disabilities to make sure ‑‑ testing a whole bunch of different ideas and so on.
11370 We don't even know where that is going to lead to in terms of the actual projects that will come out of the Bell accessibility fund.
11371 We are going to invite the accessibility groups in to give us ideas as to what should be spent on the Bell accessibility funds. And, for example, if we want to pursue one of our ‑‑ you know, if we decide that we think it is making the entire Bell.ca website accessible ‑‑ the consumer portion, let me rephrase that, the consumer portion of the Bell.ca website accessible. That is something that we want to run by and discuss with them and make sure that we are in the same wave of thinking and comparing that to some of the other projects.
11372 So the reason we put that statement in there is to send a strong signal for the way that you should interpret it, which is we are going to consult. And we started to do that, we have done it as part of this proceeding and we heard loud and clear that they didn't like our regional VRS proposal, and so we have changed our position partly as a result of that input and partly our own learnings.
11373 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: So you are stating today that the consultation you are talking about is not right before implementation where everything is set and nothing can be changed. Bell is committing to consulting, accessibility groups at the early stages of designing new services and analyzing what new services need to take place?
11374 MR. DANIELS: For the deferral account initiatives, absolutely. And in fact, I mean, that is what one of the projects is about. It is how to do that for everything.
11375 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: But never mind the deferral account, there will come a day where there is not going to be any money in the deferral account maybe, I don't know. But past the deferral account perspective, on your day to day business practices of looking at new ways to serve your clientele, will you be undertaking to consult with these groups from the get‑go?
11376 MR. DANIELS: That is what I am saying we are going to ‑‑ that is our inclusive design proposal, is to teach the company about the benefits of doing it.
11377 But I am not going to take an undertaking to say every time we are going to come up with a new product we are going to take it accessibility groups to review it with them. I don't want to be misquoted as suggesting that is what we are undertaking to do.
11378 We have a specific project to teach about the benefits of consultation and taking into consideration ‑‑ let me rephrase that ‑‑ to taking into account the benefits of accessibility issues, which may mean user testing. It doesn't necessarily mean talking to accessibility groups.
11379 It may mean user testing, building that in, so that you include disabled people in your user testing. There is other different ways to do it, we have to learn that. And when we learn the benefits of that we want to teach that to the rest of the company.
11380 But in terms of actually consulting with disability groups, the comment there related to our various deferral account initiatives, because we have a number of them and we have also a large amount of money that hasn't been accounted for and that is what has to be decided.
11381 COMMISSIONER LAMARRE: Okay, I understand what you are saying.
11382 Thank you, no more questions, Monsieur le Président.
11383 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much. I just want to return to Commissioner Duncan, if she has any questions that weren't covered off on those that were still outstanding.
11384 COMMISSIONER DUNCAN: No, I will leave it to legal, if they think there are any gaps, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
11385 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
11386 MR. DANIELS: Mr. Chairman?
11387 THE CHAIRPERSON: Sorry?
11388 MR. DANIELS: If I may, just before you go to legal, there is another thing that hasn't been covered that ‑‑ and I can do it in one sentence, by just giving an undertaking, if you don't mind.
11389 We have heard a lot of discussion over the last week and a half where ‑‑ we didn't get the question today, but many others did about undue hardship. And the one thing I just wanted to say is it hasn't come up, but we don't think that that is the proper legal test, either under the Telecom Act and the Broadcasting Act.
11390 And I can go into that now if you would like, but alternatively ‑‑ well, not alternatively, I would like to give an undertaking to file a legal opinion which we have commissioned after we heard the Arch presentation about the proper legal opinion ‑‑ legal interpretation. We have commissioned one, I don't have it yet, but I would like to file it and I thought we should do it before final argument to be fair to Arch so that they could actually see it and respond to it.
11391 So with your permission, I know this is a little unorthodox, but I am prepared to offer up an undertaking that you haven't asked for.
11392 THE CHAIRPERSON: I will accept your undertaking. But why don't you also spend a few minutes now talking about it, because I think this is a very important issue as well.
11393 And to the extent that all parties need to better understand each other's views in this matter, I think it is instructive for the Commission to hear them from you firsthand as well. So please go ahead.
11394 MR. DANIELS: Thank you very much.
11395 What we have heard in this proceeding, a number of times there was a number of questions that people asked about undue hardship, would that be an undue hardship? And again, we don't think that that is the legal test.
11396 That test comes from the Canadian Human Rights Act, it is a human rights test.
11397 Arch is correct and has pointed to the VIA Rail decision as a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada last year which articulated that looking at the Canadian Transportation Act and the Supreme Court concluded that under the Canadian Transportation Act, which has a specific provision that calls for, "the transportation system is accessible without undue obstacle."
11398 So the test under the Canadian Transportation Act was "undue obstacle" to the mobility of persons.
11399 The VIA Rail case ‑‑ it is correct that the court determined in the VIA Rail case that "undue obstacle" is substantially the same test as "undue hardship" in the Canadian Human Rights Act.
11400 And so the suggestion has been made that because that was the test adopted by the Supreme Court, that the Canadian Transportation Agency, the CTA, should apply, that that should be the same test that applies in all administrative tribunals that are charged with looking at accessibility issues, and we don't think that is correct.
11401 One of the reasons why I say that is if you look at the VIA Rail case, what they specifically talk about is the actual provision of the Canadian Transportation Act, they examine it. So again, I make reference to that section 5, they have a very specific provision there about accessibility as a particular objective and layout the test undue obstacle there.
11402 But they even have a whole section of their act, Part V of their act. They are not reading it into unjust discrimination, for example, under the Telecom Act. They have a whole section, Part V, Transportation of Persons with Disabilities, and they layout the test there.
11403 The Supreme Court also noted that in that section, Part V, section 171 says that:
"The Agency," that is the CTA, "and the Canadian Human Rights Commission shall coordinate their activities in relation to the transportation of persons with disabilities in order to foster complimentary policies and practices and to avoid jurisdictional conflicts." (As Read)
11404 So there is a specific provision in the CTA that says get together with the Canadian Human Rights Commission and workout your approach. Within that context, and the court specifically, the majority of the court, specifically adopted that notion.
11405 And I direct the Commission's attention to paragraph 139 of the VIA Rail decision, where the court said, when they determined that undue hardship was the same test as undue obstacle, in that they specifically cited that section I just talked about, 171, and said:
"No difference in approach is justified by the different context, particularly since Parliament directed the Agency in section 171 to foster complimentary policies and practices with those of the Canadian Human Rights Commission." (As Read)
11406 That is not the case here. That is not the case under the Telecom Act, that is not the case under the Broadcasting Act. You have different language, different tests under that Act. You have unjust discrimination, that would be the basis of making a decision under the Telecom Act. And you have section 3(1)(p) I believe of the Broadcasting Act, which you were discussing briefly with Shaw, which said as resources become available.
11407 So now, all I have done so far is told you that is it is not the test. So the question is what is the test? And that is where I am going to say we are going to articulate it better in our legal opinion, because we asked for our lawyers to look at it in light of what we heard from Arch and our concern about how we kept hearing that expression being used by the commissioners throughout the proceeding.
11408 And so we went to them and said, can you please draft us up an opinion. They have given me a rough indication of what I expect them to say, but I actually haven't seen it, so I think it is best for me, rather than to get that wrong, to say that they will tell you what we think the test is under the two acts that you have to consider.
11409 But we think it is a different threshold and a different standard, and that is why I specifically want to raise it, because I think it is key to all of your decision‑making.
11410 THE CHAIRPERSON: I think it will be instructive for us to get that on the public record as soon as possible, so other people will have an opportunity to digest it and review it and comment on it, as appropriate.
11411 Have you got a delivery date for that opinion?
11412 MR. DANIELS: We are going to try to have it as soon as possible. They are under pressure because, ideally, I wanted it for today, but they couldn't do that.
11413 Can I commit to by a week ‑‑ I think you were asking for other undertakings by December 2, and so for this one we were thinking ‑‑ that is for other parties who came a week earlier ‑‑ so we were thinking a week later, which is December 9. Would that be acceptable? That gives people over a month to review before final comments.
11414 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is that fine?
11415 MS LEHOUX: Absolutely.
11416 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay, thank you very much.
11417 Before I make my concluding remarks, I am just going to pass it over to legal, and then the secretariat to identify anything else that is outstanding.
11418 Legal.
11419 MS POPE: Thank you.
11420 Just to follow‑up on the discussions that had with Commissioner Molnar about the SMS 911 issue. I note that in your comments you refer to studies done in the United States and Europe, this is at paragraph 24 of your comments today.
11421 Could you undertake to provide copies of these studies when you are making your submissions on those issues?
11422 MR. DANIELS: Can you just give me one second?
11423 MS POPE: Sure.
11424 MR. DANIELS: Because I think what we said is there is significant study going on. I don't think that means that there is documents out there. I think what we are trying to allude there, and I am just going to confirm, is that there is an NG 911 initiative going on, next generation 911 initiative, and there is discussions going on and we participate on that on that on the North American side, looking at what possible solutions.
11425 But I don't think there is actual documentation. But if you bear with me, I have got a person who knows better than me, so give me one second.
11426 MS POPE: Sure.
11427 MR. DANIELS: There is something, so we will include that as part of our response.
11428 MS POPE: Great, anything that is available, that would be helpful.
11429 And just to return to the issue of expanding the availability of alternative formats. I have three requests for undertakings which I think narrow down the questions quite considerably.
11430 So could you please provide the cost ‑‑ backup one bit. You currently provide certain information in Braille and other formats for people blind, and I believe that would include not only the bills, but bill inserts that are required by the Commission, rate plans and services.
11431 And taking your point that each bill is individual, the remaining items would be of general application, so bill inserts required by the Commission, for example, or rate plans and services. Could you please provide the cost of providing those forms of information in ASL, plain language, LSQ and audio recordings in English and French, taking the last 12 months as an example?
11432 So whatever was produced in the last 12 months of those documents; bill inserts required by the Commission, rate plans and services, what it would cost to make those available in formats that would be accessible to not just people who are blind, but people who have other disabilities.
11433 MR. ABBOTT: You are talking about ‑‑ I guess there are a couple of different things here and I'm sorry I'm not giving you a yes or no.
11434 These are things we don't currently do. So you are asking ‑‑ it's not information we have or figures that we have. These are things we don't do and we don't know what the demand would be as well. There is the production issue and then the distribution or demand issue.
11435 This isn't information that we have so I'm reluctant to give an undertaking for information that we don't currently have for something that we don't do.
11436 MS POPE: Well, I think what we are looking for is some kind of financial information.
11437 Do you have a proposal for something else that you could provide that would give us some sense of what it would cost to extend your current obligations?
11438 MR. ABBOTT: Certainly. We will undertake to look into this and get back to you with something. I know that is imprecise, but you are asking for information we don't have.
11439 MS POPE: Well, could you take a single bill insert and a single copy of a rate plan or a service, or whatever, and tell us how much it would cost?
11440 I mean, that is sort of a question of asking the interpreter, I would think, or whoever would produce it. Am I oversimplifying it?
11441 MR. DANIELS: That's what we were talking about as trying to see what we could do, and we will see what we can do. I guess a representative was sort of the idea that we kind of thought about rather than taking all of our pieces and getting a sense of what is involved.
11442 I mean, I suppose you guys are probably going through a very similar exercise right now in terms of issuing this decision or something like that.
11443 So the same demand, I would think, so we will all try to learn this together.
11444 MS POPE: Sure. Maybe a cost per page, for example, in those different formats, something that allows us to kind of extrapolate so that we have some sense of the real costs.
11445 MR. ABBOTT: Certainly we can do that. We will do that.
11446 MS POPE: So the cost per page you can provide?
11447 MR. DANIELS: I think what we are saying is we are going to see what we can get. We are thinking along the same lines, which is trying to get either a cost per page are taking a couple of examples and seeing what they would be to convert it, you know, to give you guys an indication along with then you can extrapolate based on we can give you samples of, you know, what our other services ‑‑ we understand what you are looking for.
11448 It's just how big a deal is this and how costly is this and whatever the test that the Commission adopts, being how do we judge, we need the sense of a cost. So we're going to see what we can do.
11449 MS POPE: Okay. Thanks very much.
11450 MS LEHOUX: So you have about 26 or 27 undertakings and the list will be posted either tomorrow or Friday on our website.
11451 Besides the legal submission you undertook to submit by December 9th, when could you provide the answers to the other undertakings, keeping in mind that we want parties to look at it before filing their final submissions and have the chance to see it?
11452 MR. DANIELS: Can you just give me one minute here ‑‑
11453 MS LEHOUX: Sure.
11454 MR. DANIELS: ‑‑ because I'm going to turn around and I just want to make sure that we are all aligned before I make a commitment that people tell me about.
11455 MS LEHOUX: Yes.
‑‑‑ Pause
11456 THE CHAIRPERSON: We are about to shorten the timeline you have for submissions.
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
11457 MR. DANIELS: Sorry about that. I was just trying to make sure.
11458 Can we propose ‑‑ we are going to aim for December 15th, if that's possible, but there may be some that we would commit by the 19th of December. That gives people over three weeks.
11459 Probably what we will aim to do is get you as much as we can earlier in that week and later and that gives people enough time.
11460 Is that acceptable?
11461 THE CHAIRPERSON: I'm going to interrupt because, first of all, we have people who are intervening who have disabilities and we also have the Christmas holidays, and I don't want to get into a situation where I am going to be asked for delays in the final submissions which will push everything even further.
11462 So I beg you to please try and find a way to get it in sooner rather than later.
11463 MR. DANIELS: We will endeavour to get ‑‑ how about we say we are going to try to get as much as we can earlier rather than ‑‑ to see if we can get a number of them in earlier, because I think some of them are easier to provide. If that's acceptable...?
11464 THE CHAIRPERSON: What is the date for final reply?
11465 MS LEHOUX: The 12th of January. Don't forget Christmas.
11466 THE CHAIRPERSON: That's why I said, I said there is a holiday in between there.
11467 How much of this stuff will actually take you until the 15th and 19th and how much of it is readily available as an undertaking that most parties normally provide within 72 hours?
11468 MR DANIELS: I think a fair amount of it we can do pretty quickly. The problem is, I don't have a list in front of me to go through that.
11469 THE CHAIRPERSON: I remember my days, Mr. Daniels, when I was on your side and I know it's always easier to get more time rather than less just to be on the safe side, and it sort of builds upon itself.
11470 So I'm not going to ask you for an answer now, but you will see the list of undertakings tomorrow morning and perhaps you can get back to us then and deal with the Secretary and legal if there are one or two outstanding issues that may take longer.
11471 But let's try and get as much as we can on the record sooner rather than later.
11472 MR. DANIELS: That's completely fair. I feel a lot more comfortable once we have looked at the list. I wasn't keeping track of what I said yes to.
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
11473 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. This is the I remember nothing defence.
‑‑‑ Laughter / Rires
11474 THE CHAIRPERSON: Anything else from legal counsel?
11475 MS LEHOUX: Yes.
11476 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes, there's more. Go ahead.
11477 MS LEHOUX: Now, for the record I will read an interrogatory that groups representing persons with disabilities, TSPs and BDUs are required to answer by December 15. This interrogatory will also be sent by e‑mail to all parties in both official languages tomorrow.
11478 Okay, then I go:
"A number of parties representing persons with disabilities have submitted that there is equipment available in Canada and in other jurisdictions that is more accessible than that available in Canada from the service providers. Some parties have also submitted that software exists that would make devices accessible that would otherwise not be accessible, examples, software for a mobile device that enables an accessible feature. Finally, some parties have requested that service providers provide at least two devices for each service offered that are fully accessible for persons with various disabilities, blind, deaf, mobility impaired. To groups representing persons with disabilities, please identify all of the fully accessible devices and, where applicable, the software that would make the devices fully accessible of which you are currently aware that provides access to broadcasting and telecommunications services for persons who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing and who have a mobility impairment or cognitive impairment. This includes, at a minimum, set‑top boxes and wireless devices. For each device or software provide a detailed description, its functionalities, the manufacturer and where it can be obtained. Where you are aware of network modifications that such devices or software may require, please provide details. To all TSPs and BDUs, for each of the following, persons who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing and who have a mobility impairment or cognitive impairment, please identify all the fully acceptable devices and, where applicable, the software that would make the device fully accessible that provides access to broadcasting and telecommunications services and would not require prohibitive network modifications. This includes, at a minimum, set‑top boxes and wireless devices. For each device or software provide a detailed description, its functionalities, the manufacturer and where it can be obtained." (As read)
11479 Thank you.
11480 THE CHAIRPERSON: Madam Secretary, do you have anything you wish to add?
11481 THE SECRETARY: No, not at the moment. Thanks.
11482 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. This will conclude the preceding.
11483 I first of all want to thank all the parties for their cooperation and in particular Bell Canada, Bell Aliant and Télébec for still being here at this late hour. I apologize, but I think it was all for the best in getting this proceeding completed today.
11484 I also want to particularly thank those parties that participated from Vancouver, from Winnipeg and from Toronto via videoconference last week and the Commissioners that participated via videoconference today as well.
11485 I think the technology actually worked and proved itself out. I think it is a testament to technology as well as to our expertise.
11486 I will single out Claude Perrier, who very rarely gets singled out in a public hearing, for doing a fantastic job and linking everything together and making it all look so seamless and so easy when I'm sure it was an awful lot harder than it just looked.
11487 I also want to thank Commission staff, legal staff and my Commissioners here on the Panel as well for the diligence and patience in putting this proceeding together.
11488 Again, this concludes the proceeding and we look forward to future proceedings together. Thanks again.
‑‑‑ Whereupon the hearing concluded at 1948 /
L'audience se termine à 1948
REPORTERS / STÉNOGRAPHES
____________________ ____________________
Johanne Morin Monique Mahoney
____________________ ____________________
Jean Desaulniers Fiona Potvin
____________________ ____________________
Sue Villeneuve Madeleine Matte
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