Preparing your progress reports

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

On this page

• Introduction
• Required heading: “General”
• Required headings: areas in section 5 of the ACA
• Required heading: “Consultations”
• Required heading: “Feedback”
• Going beyond required headings

Introduction

The Accessible Canada Regulations (regulations) require you to include certain mandatory headings in your progress reports:

1. “General”
2. headings for the areas in section 5 of the Accessible Canada Act (ACA)
3. “Consultations”
4. “Feedback”

This section explains what you must include under each of these headings. It also suggests other things you could do to go beyond the regulatory requirements.

Required heading: “General”

What the regulations require for the “General” heading

Like in your accessibility plans, the “General” heading in your progress reports must include:

• the position title of the person you designate to receive feedback on your organization’s behalf
• information about how people can communicate with your organization
  • this information must include at least:
    • the mailing address of your organization’s publicly accessible businesses
    • a telephone number
    • an email address
    • information on any other means your organization uses to communicate with the public (such as, potentially, a social media account or website)
  • this information must also allow people to:
    • request copies of your accessibility plans, progress reports, and feedback process descriptions in certain alternate formats
    • submit feedback about barriers they have encountered when dealing with your organization
    • submit feedback on your organization’s implementation of its accessibility plan

Additional information we recommend you include under the “General” heading

You could include some or all of the following under the “General” heading:

• a summary or overview of the progress report
• the position title and contact information for the person you have designated to receive feedback
• the position titles and contact information for others who have a role in accessibility
• any changes in how people can communicate with your organization, submit feedback, or request alternate formats of plans, reports, and descriptions

Required headings: areas in section 5 of the ACA

What the regulations require for headings reflecting the areas in section 5 of the ACA

Section 5 of the ACA identifies the following areas:

• a) employment
• b) the built environment
• c) information and communication technologies (ICT)
• c.1) communication, other than ICT
• d) the procurement of goods, services and facilities
• e) the design and delivery of programs and services
• f) transportation

Future regulations may designate additional areas.

Your accessibility plans must reflect your organization’s policies, programs, practices and services in relation to identifying and removing barriers, and preventing new barriers in these areas. Your progress report describes your progress in doing so.

Remember: Some organizations may also be required to prepare accessibility plans and progress reports that fall under additional regulations under the ACA, developed by either the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) or the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). The required headings for progress reports (dealing with areas under section 5 of the ACA) should follow headings for accessibility plans required by specific regulations. For more information on this topic, consult the Required headings: Areas described under section 5 of the ACA section of the guidance on accessibility plans.

Read the section on different regulatory and enforcement authorities for more information.

Additional information we recommend you include under the headings reflecting the areas in section 5 of the ACA

Organizations will likely have different barriers to identify, remove, and prevent in the areas identified in the ACA. This gives organizations some options for what they include under each area heading. Your progress report could include some or all of the following under each heading:

• progress in removing or preventing barriers identified in your accessibility plan
• updates to timelines for specific actions or goals in your accessibility plan
  • you may choose to emphasize any actions that you expect to complete before you publish your next progress report or updated accessibility plan
• any new barriers you have identified since you last published your accessibility plan
• any long-term plans or activities that may continue beyond the current planning and reporting cycle

Required heading: “Consultations”

What the regulations require for the “Consultations” heading

The ACA requires you to consult persons with disabilities in preparing your progress reports. Your progress reports must describe how you did so. You must include this description under the “Consultations” heading.

• Read the section on preparing the “Consultations” heading in your accessibility plans
• Read the full guidance on consulting persons with disabilities

Additional recommendations for the “Consultations” heading

How you describe your consultations will depend on many factors. These include the type of consultations you conducted and what you learned in the process.

We recommend including information that best supports your organization’s efforts to identify, remove, and prevent barriers. This could include information about some or all of the following:

• whom you consulted
  • the names of disability organizations or experts who participated
    • be sure to protect the privacy of any other participating individuals
    • do not include their names or personal details without their permission
  • the number of participants and the range of disabilities represented
• how you consulted and what you asked
  • a description of the consultation format(s) you chose (such as in-person, virtual, or hybrid) and the activities or events they involved
  • an explanation of why you chose your format(s) and what you did to remove barriers for participants
  • a list of the questions you asked
• when and where you consulted
  • a schedule of the dates or period of time over which the consultation took place
  • a list of the communities, regions, or other locations where you held your consultations (if applicable)
• what results you obtained
  • a summary of comments participants gave in answer to your questions
  • a tentative assessment of how you took the consultations into consideration and how you could act on what you learned, especially when preparing your updated accessibility plan

Required heading: “Feedback”

What the regulations require for the “Feedback” heading

Unlike your accessibility plans, your progress reports must include a “Feedback” heading. Under this heading, you must provide information about:

• feedback your organization has received on:
  • how your organization is implementing its accessibility plan
  • barriers persons who deal with your organization have encountered
• how your organization has taken this feedback into consideration

Read the guidance on descriptions of feedback processes for recommendations and tips on receiving feedback and taking it into consideration.

Additional information we recommend you include under the “Feedback” heading

We recommend including the information that best supports your organization’s efforts to identify and remove barriers, and prevent new barriers. This information could be about both positive and negative feedback, or about both anonymous and attributed feedback.

Other information you might provide under your “Feedback” heading includes:

• feedback statistics
  • the amount of feedback you have received over the past year, or during the period that the report covers
    • some organizations may not be able to cover the entire year in their first progress report, considering the time required to get the report approved, translated and published
    • these organizations may choose to cover the left-over period for the year in their subsequent progress report
    • for their first progress report, organizations may want to consider adding content relating to work on removing barriers that occurred prior to the past year, if applicable
  • a breakdown of feedback by topic, such as
    • by barriers
    • by areas in section 5 of the ACA
    • by specific items in your accessibility plan, and how you are implementing your plan
  • a breakdown of the ways people submitted feedback
• feedback gaps
  • any aspects of your accessibility plan on which no one has yet submitted feedback
• various other information that may be relevant
  • comments on the accessibility of your feedback process
  • any changes you plan to make to your feedback process or to the means by which you communicate with the public

Going beyond required headings

The regulations specify the headings you must include in your progress reports. You may include other information that is not required. This is information that may be useful to clients, employees, members of the public and others.

This can help when some of your organization’s accessibility priorities may not fit neatly under one of the existing headings.

What you have learned

This section could provide more detail on what your organization has learned while creating, implementing or updating its accessibility plan.

This could include some or all of the following:

• improvements that were the most urgent and challenging
• plans or improvements that did not work out as intended (for better or for worse)
• discovery of new or unexpected barriers to remove or prevent
• plans or improvements that ended up creating new barriers
• logistical, personnel, and budgeting realities related to implementing the plan

Training

This section could provide updates on any training you have offered your employees on topics relating to accessibility or disability. It could include details on:

• specific training or courses
• the number of employees who have completed them
• how this training has affected the way your organization works
• any effects it has had on implementing your accessibility plan

Glossary

You must write your progress reports in language that is simple, clear, and concise. This can be difficult when you have to use terms and ideas that may not be familiar to all readers. Including a glossary can help. Your glossary could provide definitions of:

• technical or professional terms that you must use in describing your operations
• disability or accessibility terms, including those found in the ACA and its regulations
• terms relating to the planning and reporting requirements in the regulations