1. Groupe Robert’s commitment
Groupe Robert is committed to building a culture of inclusion and accessibility. We will contribute to a barrier-free Canada for all by developing an accessibility framework that will ensure that employees and the public we serve enjoy the best possible experience when using our services and visiting our locations and facilities.
Groupe Robert is committed to identifying, removing, and preventing barriers on an ongoing basis. We are committed to developing an initial accessibility plan, as required by the Accessible Canada Act. This accessibility plan will guide our organization in achieving our commitments to establishing a culture of trust and accessibility. We are committed to ensuring that our organization is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. This commitment is directed towards our employees, customers, suppliers, and partners. Our employees with disabilities have the right and, more importantly, the opportunity to perform their job duties in an environment free of barriers of any kind.
Creating a barrier-free work environment requires identifying, removing and preventing barriers. We will be compliant with our obligations under the Accessible Canada Act. To do so, we must understand and recognize the needs of people with disabilities. We will do this through surveys, direct consultation and one-on-one interviews.
2. Groupe Robert
Groupe Robert is a major player in North American logistics. We offer a comprehensive range of services that make us a partner of choice, capable of supporting you in every stage of your logistics operations, from planning to deployment.
Our vision and objectives are clear, and the strength of our network and infrastructure gives us the means to achieve our mission.
In over 75 years of existence, we have delivered countless shipments and have come a long way to get where we are today. Groupe Robert may no longer be the small transportation company it was in Rougemont in 1946, but the legacy of its founder lives on. Our values of partnership, integrity, responsibility and passion continue to guide us in our quest for excellence. We have a prosperous heritage of success.
Currently, Groupe Robert has:
More than 3000 employees;
More than 5 millions sq. ft of warehousing;
more than 40 warehousing facilities and terminals ;
More than 1000 trucks;
And more than 3000 trailers.
3. Comments and/or complaints
Anyone, whether an employee, customer, supplier or partner, can make comments or pass on questions or a file a complaint in connection with our accessibility plan. This should be directed to one of the following 2 parties:
Pascale Williams, Vice-President, Human Resources
Irene Perrin, Executive Assistant to the President & CEO
4. Plan Implementtion
In accordance with the Accessible Canada Act, we are committed to publishing an annual status report evaluating our progress in achieving accessibility. In addition, we will review and update our accessibility plan every three years. These progress reports and updates to our plan will be developed in collaboration with and in consultation with persons with disabilities who are part of our organization.
5. Definitions
Accessibility: Refers to the requirement that persons with disabilities are intentionally and thoughtfully considered when products, services, and facilities are designed or modified so that they can be used and enjoyed by persons of all abilities.
Barrier: Any impediment, including those caused by physical or architectural features, information, communication, behavior, or technology, or resulting from policies or practices, that hinders the full and equal participation in society of persons with disabilities, including physical, intellectual, cognitive, mental, or sensory impairments, learning or communication disabilities, or functional limitations.
Disability: A physical, intellectual, cognitive, mental or sensory impairment, learning or communication disorder, or functional limitation, whether permanent, temporary or episodic, apparent or not, which, through interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society
6. Employment
All current and future employees are entitled to accessibility at every stage of their employment with the company. We encourage all individuals in designated groups to apply for our various positions. We recognize that we must survey and/or identify active employees who live with a disability. It is also imperative that we improve our recruitment practices to facilitate the hiring of people with disabilities.
The actions we are taking are:
Raise awareness among designated recruitment staff about the biases they may have toward designated groups.
Distribute the self-identification questionnaire to our current employees.
Promote the self-identification application form during the hiring process.
Introduce changes to job postings as well as the career section of our website to encourage candidates from designated groups to apply when the job requirements allow.
7. Our working environments / Our already built environment
We have several facilities in the province of Québec. These are very diverse and include terminals, warehouses, and an office building. We maintain and repair the facilities as needed, and all construction and renovation work on our new terminals complies with the Building Code. Some of
our older buildings are less accessible due to the application of an older version of the Code (more recent versions now place greater emphasis on accessibility). Our newer buildings tend to be more accessible as a result. We lease some of our locations, which does not allow us to carry out work for the purpose of making our buildings accessible.
The actions we will undertake are:
Involve those in charge to a greater extent when developing new facilities and/or choosing locations.
Conduct an assessment of all our business locations to identify accessibility issues.
Involve those in charge to a greater extent when major repairs are made to buildings.
8. Information Technologies and Communications (ITC)
We rely on a variety of different technologies and systems. Some of these are standard products that are ready to use and distributed to companies. Others have been customized or created by us. We have a large IT team composed of information technology experts, which allows us to stay up to date with changes and thereby continuously improve. We ensure that our website complies with the Government of Canada’s web accessibility standards in terms of both content and presentation.
The actions we will undertake are:
Carry on keeping new systems up to date with modern accessibility standards.
Maintain awareness of emerging communications technologies and consider them when developing and acquiring new software.
9. Communications other than ITC
The priority area of communications recognizes that each person gives, receives, and comprehends information in varying ways. Organizations are expected to consider these differences and deliver their communications in a variety of formats accessible to those who need them. Examples of communication outputs include hiring documents, compliance documents, and our company policies.
We recognize that our current communication processes do not take these differences into account.
The actions we will undertake are:
Assess how we can make key documents more accessible to all groups.
Empower the HR team to promote internal and external communication in plain language.
10. Goods, services and facilities acquisitions
We seek to constantly adapt our practices to make our services as inclusive as possible for people with disabilities. It is therefore necessary to always consider accessibility criteria in all our decisions and operations.
We must consider accessibility from the outset of all acquisition processes in order to reduce potential impediments.
The actions we will undertake are:
Commit to providing an assessment process that addresses accessibility to facilities and services.
11. Design and Provision of Programs and Services
Our services consist of freight transportation and warehousing. Our clients are mainly companies. Therefore, people with disabilities who work for our clients may interact directly with our customer service, operations managers or sales team. To date, no complaints have been filed from our clients regarding the accessibility of our programs and services.
The actions we will undertake are:
Ensure that accessibility is taken into account in the creation of programs and services.
We are committed to developing an internal accessibility policy to demonstrate Groupe Robert’s commitment.
12. Consultation
In order to fulfill Groupe Robert’s commitment to providing an accessible work environment for all, we have collaborated with our employees, including those with disabilities, to develop an accessibility plan.
We will meet with organizations that provide support to people with disabilities in order to better adapt to this reality. We will welcome their recommendations in order to improve the experience of our customers and employees with regard to accessibility to our facilities, work equipment, and computer tools.
We will keep doing surveys with our employees as part of this accessibility plan to see how we’re measuring and ensure we’re making the changes we’ve committed to.
FEEDBACK PROCESS
Groupe Robert welcomes feedback from anyone regarding accessibility to our facilities and systems. If any barriers are encountered, we wish to hear about them.
The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) for people with disabilities defines a barrier as:
Any element, including physical or architectural elements, that is related to information, communication, behavior, or technology, or that is the result of a policy or practice, that hinders the full and equal participation in society of persons with physical, intellectual, cognitive, mental, or sensory disabilities, learning or communication impairments, or functional limitations.
Person responsible for the Feedback Process:
Your comments about our plan and accessibility within the Company are welcome. Please submit your feedback to:
Mrs. Pascale Williams, Vice-President, Human Resources [email protected]
Telephone: 514-521-1416, ext. 2728
Mailing Address: 20 Marie-Victorin, Boucherville, Qc J4B 1V5
List of Terminals and Distribution Centers Covered by the Accessibility Canada Act
Boucherville Lac Mégantic
Rouyn Noranda Mississauga
St-Nicolas
Rougemont Sherbrooke
As part of our accessibility plan, the term «Groupe Robert» refers to all our federally regulated subsidiaries, namely:
Transport Robert (1973) Ltée
Transport Robert Spécialisé Inc. 1641-9749 Québec Inc.
Entreprises S.M.T.R. Inc.
Services d’Administration P.C.R. Ltée