RE/MAX Canada Continues Support for Treat Accessibly in 2023

Treat Accessibly aims to recruit 400,000 homes by 2025 – one for each of the 400,000 Canadian children who lives with a disability

RE/MAX Canada is proud to announce its continued support of Treat Accessibly in 2023 – a movement that strives to raise awareness and encourage homeowners and communities to celebrate Halloween in a way that is inclusive of people of all abilities. More than 400,000 children and youth in Canada live with disabilities that pose obstacles to everyday activities, like trick-or-treating. These kids are among the 6.2 million Canadians (22 per cent) who identify as mobility, sensory or intellectually disabled. Treat Accessibly promotes inclusivity, by removing barriers to trick-or-treating activities.

What Can You Do?

Suggestions include distributing candy from an accessible location on the property, like the foot of the driveway, and posting the Treat Accessibly lawn sign in advance of Halloween, to alert community members that treats will be distributed at this home, in an accessible way.

Treat Accessibly has partnered with Canadian Tire once again this year, to distribute free Treat Accessibly lawn signs via in-store displays, free of charge. Signs will be available at select Canadian Tire locations, while supplies last, or through select REMAX offices.

Visit a Treat Village Near You

The goal of the Treat Accessibly movement is to recruit the participation of 400,000 homes by 2025 – that’s one home for each of the 400,000 Canadian children with a disability. The program grew in 2022, with 150,000 homes participating on Halloween, and more than 10,000 kids and parents experiencing Treat Villages in 10 Canadian cities.

Treat Villages see communities come together to transform the entire street into an accessible, curb-side trick-or-treating event. In 2023, Treat Villages will be hosted in the following cities:

• Oct. 14: Halifax, NS; Ottawa, ON
• Oct. 15: Toronto, ON; Oakville, ON; Hamilton, ON
• Oct. 21: Edmonton, AB; St. Albert, AB; Calgary, AB
• Oct. 22: Surrey, BC

Atticus Goes Trick-or-Treating

New in 2023, Treat Accessibly will be promoted in a new book called Atticus Goes Trick-or-Treating, written by Canadian children’s author Janelle Breese Biagioni, whose grandson has mobility and intellectual disabilities. Biagioni saw the Treat Accessibly story in the news and lawn signs in her neighbourhood, and was inspired to write a book championing the movement for parents to share with their children. Five-thousand copies will be gifted to families across Canada, with the goal of distributing more than 100,000 books to homes in 2024.

History of Treat Accessibly

The Treat Accessibly movement started with a single lawn sign in 2017, posted at the Toronto home of 11-year-old Siena and her parents, Natasha and Rich. The family set forth to ensure one little neighbour, who uses a wheelchair, would be welcomed and included in the festivities at their home, by removing stairs from the experience and “treating” from their driveway. To help spread the word of their accessible trick-or-treating station, they posted a Treat Accessibly lawn sign in the weeks leading up to Hallowe’en. What Siena, Natasha and Rich didn’t expect was the number of community members who saw the sign and joined the movement.

“RE/MAX is extremely proud to support Treat Accessibly, and we’re thrilled to see the movement’s continued growth since we piloted the lawn sign program with our network in 2018,” says Christopher Alexander, President, RE/MAX Canada. “Our offices, agents and the communities around us have rallied to support this program that helps make Hallowe’en a fun night for kids of all abilities, but on a broader scale it reinforces the importance of equality and encourages people to think in a more-inclusive way.”

Supporting a Growing Movement

After successfully piloting the world’s first Treat Accessibly Halloween Village for 500 children with disabilities in October 2021, Canadian Tire returned to support the movement’s expansion in 2022, to seven cities across Canada and will be growing again in 2023 with 10 cities. Plus, Do It Yourself versions of the event are popping up across the country.

“On behalf of Canadian Tire Corporation, it gives me great pleasure to confirm our continued commitment to work together with your incredible family, across the country, to help support the Treat Accessibly movement in Canada,” Ashley Curran, Associate Vice President, Community Impact, Canadian Tire Corporation. “Together, we can help make Canada the leader in demonstrating the first accessible holiday tradition in the world.”

Kinder chocolate, inspired by the movement and Treat Accessibly’s founding family, has fully embraced the partnership and will include the Treat Accessibly logo, story and website will appear on every box Kinder Chocolate Mini Halloween packs sold across Canada this year, close to a million boxes this year. Kinder will also increase its efforts in year two of the partnership with a bigger national digital campaign to bring awareness to the movement.”

“Kinder is all about celebrating special family moments, where joy and happiness are part of a child’s growth. We believe every child deserves the same opportunities. That’s why we’re excited to expand on our commitment from last year by bringing awareness to Treat Accessibly right on pack and into the homes of thousands of Canadians,” says Laura MacCarthy, Senior Marketing Director, Kinder, Ferrero Canada. “We’re committed to working with Treat Accessibly to ensure Trick or Treating is accessible to all children this year and every Halloween to come.”

RE/MAX, the very first supporter of the movement, will encourage their offices and Agents across the country to provide free lawn signs in both English and French, to any homeowner wanting to champion the movement.

Helping spread the Treat Accessibly message, TV, radio, newspaper and web media coverage in 2022 resulted in 65 million impressions. Click below to see Treat Accessibly featured in the news, and to experience how RE/MAX offices and agents are joining the movement: