Accessible Canada Act (ACA)
Helping your business meet Accessible Canada Act reporting duties, align your digital technologies to Canada’s ICT accessibility standard, and achieve sustainable programs is our focus. Discover what your organization needs to meet ACA compliance requirements in Canada.
What is the ACA?
The ACA came into force July 11, 2019. The purpose of this ACA is to provide benefits to all persons, especially persons with disabilities, through a Canada without barriers. The realization of this, within the purview of matters coming within the legislative authority of Parliament, is to come on or before January 1, 2040. The ACA aims to achieve this by identifying and removing barriers, and preventing new barriers, in the following areas: employment, built environment, information and communication technologies, communications beyond information and communication technologies, procurement of goods & services, design and delivery of programs and services, and transportation.
Types of organizations ACA applies to:
- Federal Government Organizations
- Canadian Forces
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Parliamentary entities (House of Commons, Senate, etc.)
- Regulated Business Entities (Broadcasting, Canadian Carriers, Telecommunication Service Providers, Transportation Network, Banks)
Important ACA guidelines and requirements
The ACA sets CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 as the technical standard for accessible ICT. CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 includes WCAG 2.1 AA plus additional unique requirements.
Accessibility statement
Organizations must publish an accessibility statement for which describes the content covered, the accessibility standard used (CAN/ASC-EN 301 549), the level of conformance achieved, and how users can request support or report accessibility issues.
Preparing and publishing accessibility plans
Plans must be prepared in consultation with people with disabilities, be updated on a every 3 year cycles, and must show how organizations plan to find, address, and prevent barriers. Evidence of continued improvement is required in each cycle.
Providing a mechanism for feedback
Publish how feedback is collected and received from people with disabilities on potential accessibility issues or questions on the accessibility plan.
Progress reports
Annual progress reports are required between plan updates. These progress reports must be public documents describing actions taken, feedback received, and work still outstanding.
Training
Federal public sector organizations and medium and large federally regulated private-sector entities must provide digital accessibility training to employees involved in developing, maintaining, or procuring digital technologies.
Conformity assessment
Federal organizations must ensure accessibility is considered during procurement and maintain assessment documentation as proof of conformity.
How to meet ACA web accessibility compliance requirements and deadlines
The Canadian Government and Provincial Governments are explicit in the goal of integrating web and digital accessibility policy considerations into the day-to-day processes and operations of public and private organizations. If your organization is subject to ACA web and digital accessibility requirements, here are some steps you can take to help ensure your compliance:
- Speak to your organization’s legal counsel to make sure you understand the scope of the requirements and any deadlines you need to be aware of.
- Map out how your organization is currently meeting requirements to provide different materials in an accessible format and note which of those materials are web-based or presented in a digital format.
- Discuss future web properties your team is working on and how you plan to ensure those properties are accessible.
- Provide digital accessibility training for your teams that generate web content and digital materials and seek consulting help.
Start investigating tools and other ways to support and facilitate your teams to build accessible content.
Important ACA accessibility applicability and deadlines
| Accessible Canada Act (ACA) | |
|---|---|
| Applicability | Federal public sector organizations All federal government entities (no employee threshold) Federally regulated private sector organizations Small: 10–99 employeesMed: 100–499 employeesLarge: 500+ employees |
| Type of business | Applies to: federal government entities, the Canadian Forces, parliamentary entities, and federally regulated organizations (including banking, telecommunications, transportation, and broadcasting). |
| Initial accessibility plans deadlines | Federal public sector: Dec 31, 2022 Large fed reg private sector (500+): Jun 1, 2023 Med fed reg private sector (100–499): Jun 1, 2023 Small fed red private sector (10–99): Jun 1, 2024 |
| Updated accessibility plans deadlines | Plans must be updated every 3 years. Federal public sector: Dec 31, 2025; Dec 31, 2028; etc. Large & med fed reg private sector: Jun 1, 2026; Jun 1, 2029; etc. Small fed reg private sector: Jun 1, 2027; Jun 1, 2030; etc. |
| Progress reporting deadlines | Progress reports due: on the 1st and 2nd anniversary of each plan deadline. Federal public sector: 1st cycle: Dec 31, 2023; Dec 31, 2024. 2nd cycle: Dec 31, 2026; Dec 31, 2027. Repeats every cycle. Large & med fed reg private sector: 1st cycle: Jun 1, 2024; Jun 1, 2025. 2nd cycle: Jun 1, 2027; Jun 1, 2028. Repeats every cycle. Small fed reg private sector: 1st cycle: Jun 1, 2025; Jun 1, 2026. 2nd cycle: Jun 1, 2028; Jun 1, 2029. Repeats every cycle. |
| Accessibility statement deadlines | Federal public sector: Dec 5, 2026 Large fed reg private sector (500+): Dec 5, 2026 Med fed reg private sector (100–499): Dec 5, 2027 Small fed reg private sector (10–99): Exempt in Phase 1 |
| Digital accessibility training deadlines | Training must be provided to employees involved in developing, maintaining, or procuring digital technologies. Initial deadlines: Federal public sector: Dec 5, 2026 Large fed reg private sector (500+): Dec 5, 2026 Med fed reg private sector (100–499): Dec 5, 2027. Refresher training required every 3 years. Small fed reg private sector (10–99): Exempt in Phase 1 |
Helpful resources
Important Canada acts to review to meet digital accessibility compliance requirements
Learn more about important applicability, deadlines and requirements for Canada’s various digital accessibility laws
What your organization needs to prepare for Canada digital accessibility laws
Check out this blog to develop a better understanding of digital accessibility requirements in Canada
Not a Checklist: Building Accessibility Compliance into Your Business Processes
98% of the top million website have accessibility issues! Check out this blog to learn how you can remove accessibility barriers
Benefits of ACA compliance
Serving a wider audience
Learn more about important applicability, deadlines and requirements for Canada’s various digital accessibility laws
Decreased legal risk
Organizations who actively pursue accessibility excellence are better positioned to address claims and avoid costly violations
Increased search presence
Providing transcripts for audio visual files are discoverable by search engines
Better overall user experience
Studies show that optimizations made in UI/UX for accessibility also benefit people without disabilities
How Deque can help
As the global leader in digital accessibility with over 20 years of experience helping organizations with meeting compliance requirements, improving internal operations, and reporting on accessibility programs, Deque is your trusted partner in digital accessibility.
Whether you’re responding to an immediate need, or building the foundation for a sustainable and long term digital accessibility practice, we provide the most comprehensive and complete suite of tools, services and training available. Our accessibility library has been downloaded 3 Billion+ times. Our accessibility testing extensions have been downloaded 800,000+ times, and we’ve completed 8,000+ projects.
Audit
Most accessibility projects begin and end with an audit – they assess the current state of your digital accessibility resulting in a clear accessibility report.
Remediation
Getting help from our team of experts will ensure your accessibility fixes will meet your compliance requirements as quickly and effectively as possible.
Axe Platform
The Axe Platform enable accessibility experts and development to test and maintain accessibility end-to-end.
Are you ready to meet ACA compliance requirements, embrace digital equality and create accessible digital experiences?
Deque helps guide you through the process in choosing the right tools for your organization.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Accessible Canada Act?
The resulting Accessible Canada Act is landmark federal legislation that aims to realize a barrier-free Canada by 2040. A key principle of the ACA is “Nothing Without Us”, which means that persons with disabilities should be consulted when developing laws, policies and programs that impact them.
Does Canada have an equivalent to the Americans with Disabilities Act?
The Accessible Canada Act requires federal government organizations and federally regulated entities (banking, telecommunications, transportation) to make their properties accessible by people with disabilities. Some provinces have separate accessibility laws.
What is the Ontario Act for accessibility?
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is a law that sets out a process for developing and enforcing accessibility standards. Persons with disabilities and industry representatives work together with the government to develop the standards.
What is Bill C 81 Canada?
The bill gave the Government of Canada the ability to work with stakeholders and with Canadians with disabilities to create new accessibility standards and regulations for sectors under federal jurisdiction. These sectors include banking, telecommunications, transportation, and the Government of Canada.
