Accessibility compliance guides · Canada

Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Act and your website

Nova Scotia was the first Atlantic province with accessibility legislation. The Act sets a 2030 goal and gives the province penalty power. The information and communication standard that would name a web rule is still in development.

Goal: An accessible Nova Scotia by 2030
Statute: Accessibility Act, 2017
Penalties: Up to $250,000 once standards are in force and contravened

What it is

Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Act received Royal Assent in 2017. An Accessibility Directorate administers it. Standards are developed in several areas, including information and communication — websites, web applications, and digital documents.

Public sector bodies, including the provincial government, municipalities, universities, colleges, school boards, and prescribed organizations, prepare accessibility plans in consultation with people with disabilities and update them at least every three years.

There is not yet an enforceable WCAG clause for every Nova Scotia website. The pattern across Canada is consistent: Ontario requires WCAG 2.0 AA, Manitoba requires WCAG 2.1 AA, and the federal standard is EN 301 549 (WCAG 2.1 AA). Building to WCAG 2.1 AA now is how a Nova Scotia organization stays ahead of the standard instead of retrofitting under it.

Federally regulated employers in the province already answer to the Accessible Canada Act. Businesses selling to U.S. or EU customers already face the ADA and the European Accessibility Act.

Who needs to comply

Plans are a public sector duty today. The technical standard will widen from there.

Public sector bodies. Provincial government, municipalities, universities, colleges, school boards, and other prescribed organizations, which must keep an accessibility plan.
Organizations the future standard will name. Information and communication standards are in development. The Act’s penalty provisions — up to $250,000 — apply once a standard is in force and contravened.
Federally regulated and export-facing organizations. Banks, telecoms, and transportation already have federal duties. Stores that sell into the U.S. or EU inherit those customers’ laws.

Timeline

2030 is the goal. The plan duty is earlier.

2017. Accessibility Act receives Royal Assent. Built environment and education standards moved first.
Ongoing. Public sector accessibility plans, updated at least every three years, developed with people with disabilities.
2030. The Act’s goal of an accessible Nova Scotia. Information and communication standards are the path for websites.

What the rule requires

Treat the website as a barrier category in the plan you already have to write.

An accessibility plan. For public sector bodies: consulted, published, and refreshed at least every three years. Digital barriers belong in it, because that is how most residents now meet the organization.
WCAG 2.1 AA as the working standard. Not yet the letter of a Nova Scotia web regulation, and already the Canadian benchmark you will be measured against.
A feedback path that works. People need a way to report a barrier and receive the information in another format. We test that path with the rest of the site.

How we help

We help Nova Scotia organizations put a real digital section into the accessibility plan and fix the site the plan describes.

An audit against WCAG 2.1 AA that you can cite in the accessibility plan before a provincial web standard names the same level.
Remediation of public content and documents residents use to apply for or receive a service.
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 whether you must publish an accessibility plan, whether an information and communication standard has landed for your sector, and which federal or foreign laws already apply.
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: Nova Scotia Accessibility Act and web accessibility.

Frequently asked questions

Is our website illegal in Nova Scotia if it is not WCAG conformant?

The Act does not yet impose a province-wide WCAG clause. Public sector bodies do have to plan and consult. Human rights duties and any federal or foreign law that reaches your customers still apply. The penalty provision — up to $250,000 — matters once a standard is in force.

Why start before the standard is final?

Every Canadian web standard so far has landed on WCAG AA. Retrofitting after the deadline costs more than building to 2.1 AA while the plan is being written.

Do municipalities have to publish a plan?

Yes. Municipalities are public sector bodies under the Act and update plans at least every three years. The plan and the feedback channel should themselves be accessible.

What about a private business in Halifax?

You may not have an AODA-style filing duty yet. If you employ people, watch the information and communication standard. If you sell outside the province, other laws may already apply. We can tell you which list you are on.

Related guides

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

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