What You Need to Know about Canadian Accessibility Laws

Canada’s accessibility initiatives have resulted in a number of new accessibility regulations. Since 1985, the Canadian Human Rights Act has prevented discrimination against protected classes by federally regulated organizations, including people with disabilities. But recent laws are more stringent, requiring organizations–often both public and private–to actively remove barriers to Canadian accessibility. 

 National Laws

The House of Commons and Senate of Canada unanimously passed the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) in 2019. The ACA is the first legislation to apply nationally to federal and private sector organizations under federal jurisdiction, like banking, transportation, and telecommunications. While the Canada Human Rights Act prohibited discrimination within those industries, the ACA specifically requires that organizations remove barriers in several areas of society- employment, built environment, IT and communication technology, non-IT communication technologies, the procurement of goods, services, and facilities, design and delivery of programs and services, and transportation. 

Specific requirements for exactly how organizations should remove barriers will be decided by the newly-assembled Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization (CASDO). For now, organizations have flexibility in how they comply with the ACA. Essentially, they are required to ensure that every person their organization serves has equal options and opportunities, and that any laws or regulations impacting people with disabilities must include people with disabilities and their needs in their creation. 

Until exact requirements are developed, organizations can decide for themselves how they will implement these requirements. The ultimate goal is for Canada to be fully accessible by 2040.

Province-specific laws

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

Ontario passed the first law of its kind, called the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), in 2005. The AODA outlines a plan for Ontario to become fully accessible for all people by the year 2025. This provincial legislation applies to both public and private organizations located in Ontario. The AODA applies accessibility requirements to five separate areas- customer service, employment, information and communications, transportation, and design of public spaces. 

Accessibility would provide opportunities for people with disabilities to participate equally in society, businesses would have a broader talent pool, and the production of universally designed products would harness the buying power of people with disabilities. In an effort to truly adopt a cultural shift towards the adoption of accessibility, the AODA is the first of its kind to require staff to be trained on accessibility. This goes beyond merely mandating that organizations produce accessible products and services. When staff members are trained in accessibility, they are able to spend their time actively making their workplace, products, and services accessible. 

Accessibility for Manitobans Act

Manitoba passed a law similar to the AODA in 2013, in which five mandatory accessibility standards apply to all organizations, both public and private. The Accessibility Advisory Council develops these standards, which compiles the ideas of a standard into a discussion paper. The council invites feedback from various organizations of people with disabilities on these discussion papers and then drafts them into standards for the Minister responsible for the AMA to review and approve, pending any amendments.

The Council is working on developing these standards one at a time, rolling them out in stages as they are completed. Standards apply first to the Manitoba government, then the public sector, and finally to small municipalities and private organizations. 

The Accessibility Standard for Information and Communications was recently enacted in May of 2022. Requirements reflect Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), among others. The goal is to make Manitoba more inclusive by 2023.

Manitoba’s Accessibility Standard for Employment, which was passed in 2019 and has been phased in to different sectors one at a time since then. The final deadline required all private sector, non-profit, and small municipalities to comply as of May 2022. In general, the employment standard requires employers to, “…establish and implement measures, policies and practices respecting employment to reasonably accommodate employees and applicants who are or may be disabled by one or more barriers in the workplace.” This includes digital resources.

Respecting Equal Access to Employment in Public Bodies- Quebec

Quebec prohibits discrimination in employment by public entities in their Act, Respecting Equal Access to Employment in Public Bodies. The industries impacted include schools, healthcare providers, and public transit. 

These public industries must report on how many people with disabilities (and other protected groups named by the legislation) work for them and in which occupations. This data is used to determine which groups are underrepresented. Organizations must also implement an equal access employment program to address potential barriers within employment systems to people with disabilities. The equal access employment programs make suggestions for making hiring and employment more equitable and attractive to people with disabilities, and set goals for implementing these suggestions. 

Nova Scotia Accessibility Act

The Nova Scotia Accessibility Act was passed in 2017 with the goal of making Nova Scotia accessible by 2030. The Act outlines five areas of accessibility standards that will apply to both public and private organizations. Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Directorate will work with people with disabilities and organizations that serve them to create and implement specific standards that organizations will follow to achieve compliance and accessibility. 

Areas covered include goods and services, information and communications (including websites), transportation, employment, built environment, and education. In an effort to lead by example, the first group to develop and implement specific standards is the Government of Nova Scotia. Between 2018 and 2021 they’re working with government staff and people with disabilities to raise awareness and work towards accessibility in IT communications, the built environment, employment, and the delivery of goods and services.

Newfoundland and Labrador Accessibility Act

The Accessibility Act was introduced in October 2021, and passed in December of 2021. The goal of the act is to allow “… the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to outline the principles and goals for an accessible province. The Accessibility Act will improve accessibility by identifying, preventing and removing barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from full participation in society.” 

Included in the Act is the Accessible Communications Policy, which requires provincial organizations to ensure the availability of “Accessible public documents, government publications, news releases, electronic and web-based information, public information sessions, meetings, consultations, press conferences and events.” The policy requires compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA as a minimum, and specifically mentions that PDFs also need to be formatted for accessibility.

The Accessible British Columbia Act

The Accessible British Columbia Act received royal assent in June of 2021. It gives the BC government the ability to create accessibility standards in an effort to build a “barrier-free BC,” says Dan Coulter, the Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility. Like similar legislation in Manitoba and Nova Scotia, the Act would consult people with disabilities and organizations that serve them when developing standards. This Act complements British Columbia’s existing “Accessibility 2024” plan, which outlines the province’s goal of accessibility by 2024. In September of 2022, an additional regulation was added requiring more than 750 public sector organizations to establish an accessibility committee, an accessibility plan, and a tool to receive feedback on accessibility by September 2023, and many additional organizations will need to comply by September 2024.

Digital accessibility affects all provinces

While additional provinces do not have accessibility requirements, the passage of the Accessible Canada in 2019 will certainly encourage additional laws. “But what many provinces have told us is, once we do our law, they will then do a mirror image in their province which would then get to the coffee shop,” says Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, Carla Qualtrough.

What you can do now

If your province doesn’t have specific accessibility requirements right now, it’s still a good idea to start implementing accessibility into your organization now. The sooner you begin, the more time you have to address accessibility practices going forward and to remediate your website and the digital documents that exist already. Working towards accessibility before it’s legally mandatory allows your organization to reach the 6.2 million Canadians with disabilities. Get a head start on accessibility by evaluating your website and other digital resources using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which most accessibility regulations reference. Audit files like PDFs so you know how many there are and where they’re located so you can develop a plan to remediate them. 

Need help making your website and PDFs accessible to comply with provincial or federal legislation? Contact us!

Nina Overdorff

Nina comes to Equidox with years of sales and marketing experience from a variety of industries and holds a BS in Language Arts Education. Nina has a passion for words, storytelling, and information, which she believes everyone should have access to regardless of ability. After spending time as a teacher with a blind student, she became much more aware of the limitations and abilities of web accessibility, and how essential it is to those experiencing disabilities. “Being able to access information equally ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity for education, employment, and success in life.”