Accessibility compliance guides · Canada

Accessible Canada Act compliance

The Accessible Canada Act is the federal accessibility law. It covers the organizations Canadians deal with nationally — banks, telecoms, airlines, and the Government of Canada — and it aims at a barrier-free Canada by 2040.

Digital standard: CAN/ASC - EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA
Goal: A barrier-free Canada by January 1, 2040
Penalties: Administrative monetary penalties up to $250,000 per violation

What it is

The Accessible Canada Act has been in force since July 2019. Provinces regulate most local businesses. The ACA covers federally regulated entities. Digital accessibility is one of its priority areas.

Covered organizations must publish an accessibility plan, prepared in consultation with people with disabilities and updated at least every three years; a feedback process; and progress reports in the years between plans. Those documents have to be accessible themselves, and available in alternate formats on request.

Accessibility Standards Canada adopted CAN/ASC - EN 301 549 as the digital benchmark. For websites, EN 301 549 incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The Government of Canada uses the same standard. Buyers increasingly ask for an Accessibility Conformance Report before they procure.

Who needs to comply

If you are federally regulated, provincial laws do not replace the ACA. You may have both.

Government of Canada. Federal departments, agencies, and Crown corporations.
Banks and federal financial institutions. Online banking, applications, and customer portals are exactly the kind of barrier the Act was written for.
Telecom and broadcasting. Also overseen by the CRTC.
Interprovincial and international transportation. Airlines, railways, and marine and bus operators, with the Canadian Transportation Agency also in the picture.
Federally regulated private-sector employers. Including certain federal works and undertakings. A provincial credit union is not a bank; it follows provincial law instead.

Timeline

The planning duties are already running. The 2040 goal is the horizon, not a reason to wait.

July 2019. The Accessible Canada Act is in force.
Every three years. Accessibility plans are updated. Progress reports fill the years between.
January 1, 2040. The Act’s stated goal of a barrier-free Canada. Digital barriers are expected to come down long before that date.

What the rule requires

Plans without an accessible digital channel do not satisfy the point of the law.

Plan, feedback, and progress reports. Published, accessible, consulted on, and kept current. The feedback channel itself has to work with assistive technology.
WCAG 2.1 AA through EN 301 549. The Canadian adoption of the European ICT standard is the measure for websites and web applications.
Procurement evidence. Vendors selling into federally regulated organizations should expect an ACR. We write it from a test of the product, not from a questionnaire.
Enforcement. The Accessibility Commissioner, within the Canadian Human Rights Commission, can inspect, order compliance, and levy penalties up to $250,000 per violation. Individuals can also seek compensation.

How we help

We help federally regulated organizations and their vendors align sites and apps with CAN/ASC - EN 301 549 and produce the records the plan has to stand on.

An audit against WCAG 2.1 AA as incorporated by CAN/ASC - EN 301 549, including the customer journeys that are the actual barrier: banking, check-in, account opening, and support.
Material your accessibility plan and progress report can cite: what was tested, what was fixed, and what remains.
Manual testing with NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver, plus keyboard-only use and browser zoom. The failures these rules care about are often invisible to an automated scan.
Remediation in your production code by our developers, so the fix lives in the product and not only in a report.
An accessibility statement and, where a buyer or regulator expects one, a VPAT-based Accessibility Conformance Report grounded in the audit.
Training for the people who publish pages, documents, and campaigns after the audit.
A retest after major releases, so a later deploy does not quietly undo the work.

Web accessibility audit and remediation

Our process

Confirm what applies to you. We confirm you are federally regulated, which digital channels the plan must cover, and whether a provincial law also applies to the same organization.
Audit the live experience. We review the pages, flows, documents, and apps people actually use, with assistive technologies as well as automated checks, and map each finding to the standard this rule points to.
Fix the barriers that block access. Our developers remediate structure, keyboard access, forms, contrast, names, and media in your codebase, starting with the journeys that gate a service.
Document what was tested. You receive the findings, what we fixed, and the statement or conformance report your team, counsel, or procurement office needs on file.
Keep it from slipping. We train publishers and retest after significant releases so new content does not reopen the same gaps.

Longer background: Accessible Canada Act website compliance.

Frequently asked questions

Does the ACA replace Ontario’s AODA or Manitoba’s standard?

No. The ACA fills federal jurisdiction. A bank follows the ACA. A provincial business follows provincial law. Some organizations meet both. We audit to the stricter technical level that covers the set.

Is publishing a plan enough?

The plan, feedback process, and progress report are mandatory. An inaccessible banking flow or airline check-in is still a barrier. The plan is how you show the work; the site is the work.

What standard should a vendor build to?

CAN/ASC - EN 301 549, which means WCAG 2.1 AA for web content. We test 2.2 AA as well when the product is also sold into the UK public sector or other 2.2 regimes.

Who enforces it?

The Accessibility Commissioner. Penalties reach $250,000 per violation, and people who are harmed can seek compensation. The CRTC and the Canadian Transportation Agency oversee their own sectors as well.

Related guides

This page is general information from Peradeo Technologies Inc., not legal advice.

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