James W. Sanders
Jim Sanders has used his lifelong association with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to make a lasting difference in the lives of Canadians with vision loss. Sanders was born with glaucoma in Fort William, Ontario, and was registered with the CNIB as an infant. Through the CNIB, he learned to read Braille and use a white cane.
He also received his first talking book, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, from the CNIB’s library program, which gave rise to his enduring commitment to ensuring accessible books for those unable to read print because of vision loss or other physical or learning disability.
As a student, Jim Sanders worked at the CNIB smoke shop in the Port Arthur General Hospital and later as a water-ski instructor at the CNIB’s Lake Joseph Centre in the Muskokas. He graduated from Lakehead University with a BA in 1969 and moved to Toronto to become a manager trainee in CNIB’s cafeteria operations. In 1972, he switched to the communications branch of the CNIB Ontario Division before progressing to fundraising and managerial jobs. By the 1980s, he had held executive director positions with the Alberta-NWT and BC-Yukon divisions. Sanders returned east in 1989 to set up the CNIB’s Government Relations and International Liaison office in Ottawa.
Jim Sanders spearheaded many momentous initiatives during his CNIB career. He effectively lobbied for changes to the Canadian Copyright Act that would allow for the production of alternate format materials such as braille and audio books royalty free. Moreover, his 1989 report The Right to Know became the catalyst for the creation of the National Broadcast Reading Service, a news source for the visually impaired.
He carried on his groundbreaking work as the Vice President of Client Services and Technology with spearheading the $40-million digitization of the CNIB’s library which established the CNIB as a model for libraries worldwide. At a 2003 meeting with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Jim Sanders told him of his dream “to sit on a seaside beach, download my favourite book and newspaper, and sit back and enjoy the sun.” Sanders' vision inspired Gates to found the Global Library for the Blind Initiative which has enhanced the accessibility of digitized reading materials. Jim Sanders’ career culminated as CNIB President and Chief Executive Officer from 2001 to 2009. This was a time of innovation that involved a structural realignment of the CNIB and a new emphasis on research to prevent and treat vision loss.
Jim Sanders' advancement of the rights and quality of life for people living with vision loss was recognized with a King Clancy Award in 2004 and the Canadian Helen Keller Award in 2007. He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2003 and continues to advocate for a barrier free Ontario as the Chair of the Ontario government’s Accessibility Standards Advisory Council, a Vice President of the World Blind Union, and the Honorary Executive Director of the Sir Arthur Pearson Association of War Blinded.
