Frustrated by lack of 'real action' by city, Cambridge accessibility chair quits committee

A Cambridge dad and advocate has left his role as chair of the city's accessibility committee, saying he doesn't feel like the city is taking real action to address the needs of all people in the community.

Devin Sisak has first-hand experience when it comes to the need for more accessibility, since his 12-year-old son is in a wheelchair. Sisak also works as an educational assistant helping students with different abilities.

He joined the accessibility committee after finding too many people without accessible parking permits were using accessible parking spots, leaving him to circle parking lots and downtown cores. He needs an accessible spot to be able to get his son's wheelchair out of his vehicle.

"I really started to get frustrated because I'd bring my son down, he realizes that we're struggling to find parking and he gets upset. There's been times where he started to cry. So it really started to affect me like mentally and wear on me," Sisak told CBC News.

For more than a year, he said he has raised the issue with the city. He has documented cases where he saw five different vehicles use an accessible space in a four-hour period. On another occasion, he called bylaw and waited for over an hour but no one came to ticket the person without the proper permit.

But a meeting last month was the last straw for Sisak. Ahead of a committee meeting specifically about the parking issue, committee members were asked to submit questions for staff to answer.

"I spent hours carefully preparing thoughtful, solution-oriented questions. But then before the meeting, we were told by the city clerk that they would not be answering them due to workload constraints," he said, adding this "felt deeply discouraging."

"I just felt really defeated at that point because I'm like, here we are, citizens giving up our time, taking time off work like I was to have these meetings, so losing financially, in the hopes of bettering our communities and we can't even get questions answered."

Sisak attended the meeting, hoping the questions would still get addressed there, but they didn't.

Sisak quit the committee that day.

City looks for ways to increase enforcement, awareness

Alana Russell, the city's director of communications, said in an email it is "always unfortunate when a volunteer no longer wishes to contribute to a council-appointed citizen advisory committee, as we know the issues being discussed are of great importance to the entire community."

Russell said the city "applauds" Sisak's "personal efforts to amplify voices, break down barriers, and ensure that everyone can access all that this city has to offer with ease."

She noted the city issued more than 400 tickets in 2024 for accessible parking violations and the bylaw department is looking at different ways to increase enforcement.

As well, she said the city has started plans for an awareness campaign.

"We agree with Mr. Sisak's concerns around unauthorized vehicles parked in accessible spaces and staff will continue our work with the citizen advisory committee, with council, and [the] broader community to build education, continued compliance and enforcement to further develop the understanding and compassion around the importance of keeping these spaces for those who rely on them," Russell said.

'I feel we can make real change'

Sisak initially joined the committee because he said he "wanted the city to better understand the community's needs."

He said that during his time on the committee, there were times when he felt city staff didn't take the accessibility committee's work seriously. He said there were instances when staff bypassed the committee or didn't give them enough time to respond to a report before taking it to council.

In one case, a new water fountain was planned for Market Square. Sisak said the plans for the fountain were taken to city council before the accessibility committee could comment on it.

"Council sent it back, they came to us, we found a better, more accessible option, but it was shelved because it didn't include a dog bowl and the farmers' market wanted to get away from giving out water to dogs," Sisak said. "That's the kind of decision making we were up against."

Now, Sisak said he feels he can be a better advocate outside the committee and he started a grassroots group called Barrier Free Cambridge. 

"We're going to organize, educate and empower residents to advocate for change. We have a council that is very understanding of accessibility needs and I feel we can make real change," he said.

Part of that work, which is posted on their Facebook page, includes calling on candidates in this federal election to answer what their parties will do to make lives better for Canadians living with a disability and what they would do to strengthen the Accessible Canada Act.

Within his community, Sisak said, he also wants to see the issue taken seriously.

"I'd like to see some real action. There's been a lot of talk about, 'We will do this,'" he said. "I've been raising this issue for a year. So it's time to start talking about it and start actually doing things to help people with disabilities in this community and remove barriers to access for them."