CAN/ASC-5.4: Accessible Justice: Federal Courts and Tribunals – Notice of intent
This notice of intent informs the public and other standards development organizations of our intention to develop or adopt a new standard. This is to avoid duplication in the development of accessibility standards. The notice also defines the scope of the standard that we propose, defines the need for the project, and provides the period of time during which we invite the public to send us their comments about this standard.
Standards development organization
Accessibility Standards Canada
Contact information
Email:
Info.Accessibility.Standards-Normes.Accessibilite.Info@canada.gc.ca
Mailing address:
320, St-Joseph Boulevard
Suite 246
Gatineau, QC K1A 0H3
Telephone:
1-833-854-7628
Work program
The work program lists all of Accessibility Standards Canada’s in-progress and completed standards. It is available on our site.
Designation number
CAN-ASC-5.4
Standard type
National Standard of Canada – Domestic
Standard development activity
New standard
International Classification for Standards (ICS) codes
- 03.080 - Services
- 11.180 - Aids for disabled and handicapped persons in general
- 35.020 - Information technology (IT) in general
- 91.040 - Buildings
Comment Period Start Date
2025-06-17
SDO Comment Period End Date:
2025-08-01
Scope
The purpose of CAN/ASC-5.4 is to develop a standard that goes above mandatory minimum technical specifications and produces equity-based technical requirements.
There are common areas where people with disabilities may experience barriers to accessibility in federal courts and tribunals. These areas include, but are not limited to:
- built environment including parking, doors and doorways, interior routes, waiting areas, washrooms, hearing rooms, witness boxes, speaking podiums and seating;
- information and communication technologies including electronic documents and forms, websites, and technologies for court/tribunal hearings (e.g., technology for remote hearings);
- communication other than ICT including physical documents and forms, and verbal communication;
- design and delivery of programs and services including information about court and tribunal processes, hearing formats, and filing fees.
To address these barriers, the standard will establish technical requirements to support the accessibility of federal courts and tribunals. These technical requirements will include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
- Parking
- Interior of federal court and tribunal facilities
- Verbal and written communications
- Language interpretation
- Information and communications technologies
- Hearing formats
- Procedural accommodations
- Filing fee waivers
- Reduced process lengths
- Accessibility awareness training for federal court and tribunal staff
This standard will align with relevant technical requirements of other Accessibility Standards Canada standards. These include:
- CAN/ASC-1.1:2024 – Employment
- CAN-ASC-2.2 – Emergency Egress (Exit)
- CAN-ASC-2.3 – Model Standard for the Built Environment – Accessibility for Federally Regulated Entities as Defined in the Accessible Canada Act
- CAN-ASC-2.4-Wayfinding and Signage
- CSA/ASC B651:23 – Accessible Design for the Built Environment
- CAN-ASC-2.4 – Wayfinding and Signage
- ICC A118/ASC-2.5 Acoustics
- CAN-ASC-2.6 Existing Built Environment - Accessibility for Federally Regulated Entities as defined by the Accessible Canada Act
- CAN-ASC-2.7: Heritage Buildings and Sites
- CAN-ASC-3.1 – Plain Language
- CAN-ASC-4.1: Accessible Procurement
- CAN-ASC-5.2.1 Part 1: Design and Delivery of Accessible Programs and Services: Accessible Service Delivery
- CAN-ASC-6.2: Accessible and Equitable Artificial Intelligence Systems
Project need
The Accessible Canada Act has a goal to create a barrier free Canada by 2040. To inform the development of the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), between June 2016 and February 2017, the Government of Canada conducted extensive consultations with Canadians. These consultations included participation and input from interested parties, including 6,000 Canadians and 90 organizations and identified barriers to accessibility for Canadians with disabilities in seven key areas. Following the consultations, the ACA was created and came into force in June 2019 and includes these seven priority areas to address the barriers identified during the consultations. Accessibility Standards Canada was created under the ACA and has a mandate to contribute to the realization of a barrier free Canada through:
- the development of standards to prevent, identify, and remove these barriers to accessibility for Canadians with disabilities in the seven priority areas in the ACA; and,
- the recommendation of these standards to the minister for regulatory adoption.
The strategic need for this standard aligns with the Design and Delivery of Programs and Services priority area identified in the ACA and is intended to remove barriers to accessibility in federal courts and tribunals. This strategic need has also been confirmed with the Governor in Council appointed Board of Directors, who are primarily people with disabilities and who have approved the development of this standard.
In addition to these identified needs, Accessibility Standards Canada’s standards are developed following the principle of “nothing without us”. This means that Accessibility Standards Canada’s standards are developed with research that has been led by people with disabilities or lived experience and participation of people with disabilities on our technical committees which contribute to the development of equity-based requirements that take into account the needs and perspectives of people with disabilities. This also means that the public review process for this standard will be accessible, allowing even more people with disabilities to be part of the standards development process.
Posted on
2025-06-12