CAN-ASC-7.1.14 Accessible Travel Journey: Built Environment, Use and Maintenance for Cruise Ship Ports – 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-7.1.14
Standard type
National Standard of Canada – Domestic
Standard development activity
New standard
International Classification for Standards (ICS) codes
- 91.040.10 - Public buildings
- 91.060.01- Elements of buildings in general
- 91.060.99 - Other elements of buildings
- 93.140 - Construction of waterways, ports and dykes
Comment Period Start Date
2025-06-17
SDO Comment Period End Date:
2025-08-01
Scope
This standard will cover how to use and maintain cruise ship ports. This helps everyone navigate a cruise ship port, including people with disabilities. It sets certain requirements to make cruise ship ports accessible for all travellers.
The requirements follow the different steps of a traveler's journey. This makes it easier to understand what to do and how to build each part of a cruise ship.
This standard does not include anything about a cruise ship itself.
This standard will help make sure that all ferry ports follow the same requirements. This will help all travellers know what to expect when navigating a cruise ship port. It will give advice to local authorities on how to use and apply these requirements. This helps create a better travel experience for everyone.
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 Built Environment priority area identified in the ACA and is intended to remove barriers in transit facilities. 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.
There are common areas where people with disabilities may face barriers related to travel and the built environment. These include:
- Accessibility requirements are not always the used the same way for different parts of a transit system (for example, different requirements for airports and train stations)
- Transit stations and facilities across Canada do not always follow the same accessibility requirements.
- Difficulty for people with disabilities to exit from transit stations.
Posted on
2025-06-12