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PRESS RELEASES

For Immediate Release October 26, 2004

DEAF CHALLENGE MOVIE INDUSTRIES

On October 27, 2004 at 10am, the movie theatre, studio and distribution industries, including Famous Players, Universal Studios Canada, Paramount Pictures Canada, Cineplex Odeon, and Alliance Atlantis Cinemas will appear before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario at 400 University Avenue, 7th Floor, Toronto.

Three Deaf complainants, namely Nancy Barker, a University of Toronto student, Gary Malkowski, Vice-President, Consumer, Government & Corporate Relations at The Canadian Hearing Society and Scott Simser, a lawyer, along with representatives of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, allege that the movie theatre, studio and distribution industries have failed to accommodate deaf, deafened and hard of hearing movie-goers by not providing 100% captioning on movies in theatres.

In the light of proposed Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Ontario Human Rights Code, these movie theatres, studio and distribution industries have a legal obligation and duty to accommodate movie-goers with disabilities, including deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals.

Jennifer Jackson, Executive Director of the Ontario Association of the Deaf and Chair, Ontario Deaf Community Coalition, states: "The whole movie-going experience should not be restricted to only people who can hear. Deaf people have the same right to enjoy movies. After all, entertainment is essential to humanity and is integral to a free and democratic society that is Canada."

Miguel Aguayo, President, Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, Ontario Chapter, adds, "After much fanfare about rear view captioning, I expected to have a choice in the films available me at the movie theaters. Regretfully, this was not the case. With only 1 of 6 theaters equipped with this technology, the film that my young daughter went to see wasn't being shown in a theatre outfitted with this technology despite having been the demonstration film for the press conference. Instead, the theatre manager tried to direct me to popular action film that we had no interest in whatsoever. As it stands, the cinema chains seem to believe that limited choice is equal access. For people with hearing loss, this is absolutely unacceptable! We have a right to full access and the cinema chains must make every effort to install rear view captioning in all their movie theatres."

"We urge the movie theatre, studio and distribution industries to make movies in the theatre accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing movie-goers so they may enjoy the same movie entertainment as all members of society," says Kelly Duffin, President and CEO of The Canadian Hearing Society.

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