Everyone’s business: Accessibility in Canada - Report from the Chief Accessibility Officer, 2023

The Accessible Canada Act (ACA)

To create a barrier-free Canada, we need to bring together the efforts of many people and organisations, tackling a wide range of accessibility issues. The ACA serves to put thousands of organisations on a common path to achieve that goal.

The Accessible Canada Act establishes a legislative framework and principles that support the proactive identification, removal, and prevention of barriers to accessibility. The ACA expands the definition of disability. In addition to physical, mental, and functional disabilities, this definition now includes non-visible, temporary, and episodic disabilities.

The ACA also recognizes that disabilities by themselves do not hinder a person's full and equal participation in society. Instead, it is the interaction of that disability with a barrier that affects their full participation. This shift puts the responsibility on society to be barrier-free.

To that effect, the Act requires federally regulated entities (FREs) to take the initiative to identify, remove, and prevent barriers facing people with disabilities, rather than wait for PwDs to ask for barriers to be removed. The Act introduces new structures and roles, including mine, to support its goal of a barrier-free Canada by 2040.

About federally regulated entities (FREs)

Federally regulated entities are organisations that are under federal jurisdiction, for specific activities. Three categories of FREs have the obligation to follow regulations of the Accessible Canada Act (ACA):

• federal government organisations such as departments and agencies and including the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP
• Parliament (Senate, House of Commons, Library of Parliament)
• private businesses with at least 10 employees in sectors like banking, transportation, broadcasting and telecommunications, and
• First Nations band councils (the Accessible Canada Regulations currently exempt First Nations band councils until December 2026; during this time, the Government of Canada has committed to carry out additional engagement regarding a more tailored approach to ACA implementation on reserve)

Ministerial and departmental responsibilities

The Minister responsible for the ACA is the Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). The Minister is mandated to implement the ACA.

The Accessible Canada Directorate (ACD) within ESDC supports the Minister responsible for the ACA. ACD's responsibilities include:

• developing policies, strategies and frameworks that advance accessibility,
• promoting awareness and sharing knowledge, and
• measuring progress in identifying and removing barriers to accessibility in Canada

ACD also makes regulations for areas outside the responsibilities of the Canadian Transportation Agency and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Others outside ESDC also play important roles under the ACA

The Accessibility Commissioner is responsible for promoting and enforcing compliance with the Accessible Canada Regulations and addressing complaints that fall within the Accessibility Commissioner's jurisdiction. There is currently only one legal obligation outlined in regulation: that federally regulated entities must publish accessibility plans and progress reports, including feedback mechanisms.

Certain decisions made by the Accessibility Commissioner to an ACA complaint can be appealed. In most cases appeals on those decisions will be made to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

If the Accessibility Commissioner's decision relates to a parliamentary entity, the appeal will be dealt with by the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. The Board also interprets and applies the ACA in addressing staffing complaints and grievances related to Canada's federal public service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Parliament.

Federally regulated broadcasting, telecommunications and transportation sectors have their own regulatory organisations who are responsible for promoting and enforcing compliance and addressing complaints for client-facing services. These are the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the Canadian Transportation Agency.

Accessibility Standards Canada is an accredited standards development organisation that develops and revises accessibility standards, supports, and conducts research on accessibility, and recommends standards to the Minister.

Other laws supporting accessibility in Canada

While the ACA is the focus of my work, all levels of government in Canada play important parts in advancing accessibility and disability inclusion. Federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, and First Nations band councils all have roles to play in ensuring we get to a barrier-free Canada. This creates unique opportunities and challenges to protecting the rights of PwDs and removing barriers.

The federal government oversees national and international matters, creates laws, and manages programs and services that affect the whole country. Federal laws, such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Human Rights Act, and the Employment Equity Act protect rights of PwDs against discrimination. The Canada Disability Benefit Act, as well as the ACA, support economic and social inclusion of PwDs. (Consult Figure 2 for an overview of Canadian federal laws supporting accessibility)

Figure 2 - Text description

This circular figure shows the different federal laws working together to support an accessible Canada. From the top of the circle, moving clockwise, the laws listed include: the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), the Human Rights Act (1985), the Employment Equity Act (1995), the Accessible Canada Act (2019) and the Canada Disability Benefit Act (2023).

Provincial and territorial governments have their own areas of responsibility. Examples include education and health care, which have direct impacts on PwDs' participation in Canadian society. All provinces and territories have human rights laws that protect PwDs, but currently only seven have an accessibility legislation in place.

Provinces with accessibility legislation and the year it came into effect:

• Quebec (1978)
• Ontario (2005)
• Manitoba (2013)
• Nova Scotia (2017)
• British Colombia (2021)
• Newfoundland and Labrador (2021)
• Saskatchewan (2023)

Provinces and territories without accessibility legislation

• Alberta
• Northwest Territories
• Nunavut
• Prince Edward Island
• Yukon

Work is currently underway in New Brunswick that may lead to provincial legislation.

Municipal governments follow the laws of their province or territory and share important roles in managing local issues that impact day-to-day life, such as public transit in cities, towns, and districts. This authority also includes local accessibility by-laws.

First Nations band councils are the elected governments in First Nations communities that have not pursued self-government. They are considered federally regulated entities under the ACA but do not have to comply with the Accessible Canada Regulations until December 2026. The federal government has recently engaged with national Indigenous organisations to better understand barriers and how best to advance accessibility in communities on reserve.

Although the ACA only applies to organisations regulated by the federal government, people with disabilities face barriers in all aspects of their lives. Provinces, territories, and by extension municipalities, need to act now. A barrier-free Canada cannot be achieved without laws in place in all parts of the country.

I am pleased to see initiatives underway that support this harmonisation, such as the agreements recently signed between Accessibility Standards Canada and four provincial governments. These agreements show a commitment to align work on accessibility standards, so that PwDs can expect the same level of accessibility wherever they go.

Building awareness

To fix a problem, you first must realize there is one and then understand what it is. This is awareness. It is a key part of culture change and is critical to removing barriers.

Barriers keep PwDs from equal and full participation in everyday life activities, including in ACA priority areas. A lack of awareness makes it difficult to identify barriers, and to understand their impact.

For example, a sighted person attending a theatre event may not be aware that the event has barriers for PwDs. That person could learn about barriers if a friend who is blind joins them. If there is no live audio description provided for the audience, then the event is inaccessible for their friend and other audience members who are blind or have low vision.

A lack of understanding of barriers may make solutions ineffective. For example, an organisation may take steps to identify barriers based on consultations with PwDs. But if the representatives they consult are only familiar with visible disabilities, they may not consider non-visible disabilities, and the result may still be inaccessible. For example, PwDs with physical mobility limitations may not represent the perspectives of PwDs who have cognitive challenges following a brain injury.

Building awareness is a first step in making Canada barrier-free. The ACA definition of disability is broader than in previous laws. Most people, disabled or not, do not have the opportunity to experience or understand all the existing barriers in society.

Building awareness starts with listening and asking questions, from a place of genuine curiosity. This is one reason why ACA regulations make it mandatory for FREs to consult with PwDs in developing their accessibility plans. Such consultations can help influence meaningful action.

Committing to action

While awareness is essential to identifying barriers, it alone does not guarantee accessibility for PwDs. Canada has shown awareness about accessibility issues for decades. Yet, as the federal government heard during cross-country consultations that led to the ACA, PwDs are still experiencing significant barriers in their daily lives.

Awareness must lead to a commitment for change to happen. A commitment is the expression of an intent to do something. It provides a framework for concrete action. Because of Canada's complex governance structure, commitments must be made at its various levels of government and by FREs to ensure consistency of accessibility practices across the country.

The ACA is an example of a legal commitment made by the federal government. It commits to action for all Canadians with disabilities and it states what that action should look like.

The federal government has also made specific commitments as an employer to be more inclusive of PwDs in their own practices. With over 350,000 federal public servants, the federal government is the largest employer in Canada. It has a unique opportunity to be a leader in advancing accessibility.

Turning commitment into action

The ACA is a big commitment. It is being watched domestically and internationally. What everyone is waiting for is action. No matter what FREs do to raise awareness and how specific their commitments may be, actions speak louder than words. I am pleased to see FREs taking action to identify, remove and prevent barriers.

The importance of data

In the context of accessibility and disability inclusion, data is information that we can collect, measure, and analyze to:

• increase awareness on diverse lived experiences
• identify and learn more about barriers and their causes
• challenge assumptions that may hinder progress, and
• see progress in efforts to identify, remove and prevent barriers

Data can come in many forms like text, numbers, or facts. It can come from many sources including surveys, public records, interviews, or stories.

What I have seen so far is that, too often, organisations' data do not include PwDs. For example, surveys that do not ask about disability status, organisations using different definitions for disability, or grouping PwDs experiences in with other diversity and equity groups. In some cases, people are not comfortable disclosing their PwD status.

We need data to learn about the unique and complex lived experiences of PwDs, especially when making decisions.

Data helps increase awareness of diverse lived experiences

A 2018 study by the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies confirmed that PwDs who also belong to minority groups based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and/or socioeconomic status are more often excluded from society. They also experience greater disadvantage and higher levels of discrimination. This kind of data shows that disability affects diverse groups in society. It provides the evidence to support targeted actions that account for multiple aspects of PwDs' identity.

Data can be used to determine the cause of a barrier

Through conducting a 2-year benchmarking study, TBS gained important knowledge about employees' and supervisors' experiences with workplace accommodations and identified ways to improve their experiences. They learned that negative attitudes, long wait times to receive accommodations, and inconsistent knowledge of accommodations across the public sector create barriers to accessing workplace accommodations. The study has resulted in the recommendation of a centralized accommodation process and sensitivity training to help reduce workplace accommodation barriers.

Data helps correct false assumptions

Some organisations assume that building accessible spaces is too expensive. A private company, hcma Architecture + Design, challenged this assumption in a 2020 study. They estimated the cost of building accessible environments, using requirements of Canada and Ontario's building codes as a reference. They found that the cost increase was only 1%, compared to costs for minimal requirements. This data creates opportunity for change by showing decision makers that accessible design is financially feasible.

Data helps measure progress

When the same data is measured repeatedly over time it can show trends in progress and confirm if a person or organisation is on track for change or if an adjustment is needed. For example, Statistics Canada learned during consultations for their Accessibility Plan that they had insufficient tools available to ensure the procurement (that is, purchase) of accessible goods, services, and facilities. Standard office items like printers or workstations had no accessibility features. Often this resulted in having to buy an accessible version separately or paying for the addition of an adaptive device.

Statistics Canada identified a need to increase staff's knowledge about accessibility in the procurement process. They committed to increase training on the purchasing of accessible items, with the goal to train 100% of procurement staff. They will be able to measure progress towards achieving their goal by simply tracking the number of employees that have completed the training.

The ACA regulations include a requirement for FREs to report on progress on commitments they made in their accessibility plans. This will allow for organisations and myself as Chief Accessibility Officer to measure progress over time.

Measuring progress for the ACA

My mandate is to monitor and report on outcomes achieved under the ACA, as well as systemic and emerging issues. To do that, I need data.

As mentioned earlier in this report, the ACA created several roles within the federal government to support its goal of a barrier-free Canada. I will rely on them to share information about progress on ACA outcomes, and emerging and systemic issues.

My team and I will continue to collect information directly from FREs, PwDs, their allies, and other stakeholders. Each of these groups have their own data that will also help me monitor progress. We will also examine studies, research and reporting from organisations in the disability space. These reports, along with continuous engagement and dialogue, will support my work to build awareness about diverse lived experiences of PwDs, barriers and their causes, and build the case for accessibility.

Similarly, we will continue to review FREs' accessibility plans and progress reports. In these published documents we are able to learn more about the barriers and causes for barriers that have been identified. We will also monitor what commitments and progress are being made to address them.

Finally, we will be relying on partners who are building ways to measure progress. We will work closely with ESDC. ESDC is responsible for the Federal Data and Measurement Strategy for Accessibility (2022-2027). In collaboration with Statistics Canada, they have developed a publicly available accessibility data hub to share data related to accessibility at the national level. They are also defining ways to measure progress for each priority area under the Act. This includes building a measurement framework and reviewing the results of accessibility questions introduced in the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability. I will look to their work to help monitor progress under the ACA.