As of January 1, 2019, the federal
government and the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia are at
various stages of introducing accessibility laws. Canada is a signatory to the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and as
such has agreed to take appropriate measures to achieve accessibility and to
develop and monitor minimum accessibility standards. Here is a snapshot of the
current situation across the country.

Ontario

The Accessibility
for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is fully operational and,
regardless of the size of your organization, as long as you have one or more
employees in Ontario, your organization should have fulfilled the general
accessibility requirements, complied with the accessible customer service
standard, the employment standard, the design of public space standard and
information and communication requirements (with the exception of websites).  This blog post does not address the education
and public transportation sectors.

Ongoing obligations include training of
staff on the Human Rights Code
disability provisions and the AODA whenever new staff are hired or your
policies change. Employers with 20 or more employees in Ontario must also
report compliance on the Service Ontario website every 3 years and employers
with 50 or more employees must review and update their multi-year accessibility
plan at least every 5 years.  Monetary
penalties have already been issued against certain organizations for a failure
to report their on-line compliance.

Websites and content published after January
1, 2012 will need to meet the WCAG 2.0 Level AA guidelines (with a few
carveouts) by January 1, 2021, except where it is not technically feasible,
your organization does not control the information, the content is
unconvertible or the required technology is not readily available.  These guidelines have been developed by the
World Wide Web Consortium and include “success criteria” that cover matters
such as meaningful sequences, separation of foreground information from
background, functionality by keyboard, avoidance of flashing visuals, providing
non-text content in text format and other criteria to address which make
navigation and use of websites more accessible for those with a variety of
developmental, physical, intellectual, mental, sensory, visual and hearing
disabilities.

Manitoba

The first standard under The Accessibility
for Manitobans Act (AMA) applies as of November 1, 2018 to private sector
employers with one or more employees in Manitoba. The Customer Service Standard
Regulation applies to such organizations if they provide goods or services
directly to the public or to another organization in Manitoba. Fortunately, the
Customer Service Standard Regulation is very similar to the accessible customer
service standard under the AODA and minimal changes will be required to bring
your standard into compliance if you already have an Ontario customer service
policy and training program. Employers with 20 or more employees in Manitoba
must also document training of staff on the AMA and the Manitoba Human Rights Code. Monitoring of
compliance on the Customer Service Standard is expected to start in 2019 or
2020.

Standards on employment and information and
communications have been drafted.  Upcoming
standards will cover the built environment and public transportation and
infrastructure. Apparently the education standard will be the final standard to
be developed.

Nova
Scotia

The Accessibility
Act  was passed in 2017. Standards currently
under development cover education and the built environment. The plan is to
develop other standards at the rate of one per year starting in 2021 to cover:
delivery of goods and services, information and communication, public transportation
and infrastructure and employment.

Federal
Government

The federal government introduced Bill C-81,
An Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada,
or the “Accessible Canada Act” (ACA)
on June 20, 2018. The Bill passed third reading in the House of Commons as of
November 27, 2018. There have been many amendments and much discussion. The standing
committee reported back with 74 amendments. The Bill was in first reading in
the Senate on November 29, 2018.

Note that the ACA does not make Canada
accessible and does not require the provinces to take any legislative steps.
Instead, the ACA will required organizations governed by federal law to
implement accessibility. Such employers include those in telecommunications,
broadcasting, interprovincial transportation, railways, shipping and banking.
Such employers will need to develop an accessibility plan, which needs to be
updated every 3 years, a feedback process, and to publish progress reports.

The enforcement mechanisms go further than
those of the AODA. Enforcement includes inspections, production orders,
compliance orders, monetary penalties and compliance agreements.  There is also a complaint process to the Accessibility
Commissioner, who can order compensation for lost wages, up to $20,000 for pain
and suffering and up to $20,000 in case of a wilful or reckless practice.  The CRTC will be responsible for compliance
and enforcement in the broadcasting and telecom sectors, while the Canadian
Transportation Agency will be responsible for the transportation sector.

Stay
Tuned

We will issue further updates as further
standards are developed under the provincial accessibility laws and when the
federal Accessible Canada Act is
passed.

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