Summary of the 2025 Accessibility Plan

Accessibility Standards Canada (ASC) continues its efforts to meet the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act, which aims for a barrier-free Canada by January 1, 2040. The organization must update its Accessibility Plan every 3 years and publish progress reports in the years between. The plan focuses on identifying, removing, and preventing accessibility barriers across the 7 mandated priority areas under the Act:

• employment
• built environment
• Information and Communication Technology
• communication (non-Information and Communication Technology)
• procurement
• program and service delivery
• transportation

Alternate formats

ASC provides alternate formats on demand, including large print, print, braille, MP3 (audio), e-text and Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY). You can make requests by phone or email.

ASC welcomes feedback on:

• the plan or any subsequent progress report; and
• any barriers you encounter when dealing with Accessibility Standards Canada, including:
  • the accessibility of our services,
  • in our offices,
  • on our website,
  • our support to technical committee members and the Board of Directors, and
  • any other issue.

Feedback informs future actions and is included in progress reports. All non-anonymous submissions are acknowledged within 48 hours. You can submit feedback:

• online
• by email
• by phone
• by Video Relay Services (VRS)
• by mail

The Chief of Staff and Director of Communications and Outreach is responsible for receiving feedback from the public on the Accessibility Plan or any issue related to accessibility.

The plan was shaped by feedback from people with disabilities and others who interact with ASC. It reflects:

• internal and external feedback received this year,
• comments received from previous years that apply to this new plan
• the result of our 2025 general consultation with:
  • employees of Accessibility Standards Canada (ASC)
  • members of ASC’s Board of Directors
  • members of our technical committees who are responsible for drafting accessibility standards
  • recipients of research funding from our Grants and Contributions Program

Between June 9 and 23, 2025, NAC consulted 286 individuals who regularly interact with the organization. A large majority of participants reported a high level of satisfaction, while others identified areas for improvement. No feedback was received between October 2024 and September 2025. Ten comments submitted between 2023 and September 2024 were addressed in the 2024 progress report. Internal feedback remained positive, with ongoing work to strengthen the accommodations process.

Employment

Objective 1

To enhance recruitment, onboarding, retention, training, advancement, job satisfaction and support of employees with disabilities.

Barrier 1

Inflexible and often inaccessible hiring procedures.

Actions

1. Provide all recruitment materials in an accessible format, including the use of plain language for questions and job requirements.
2. Continue providing accommodations and establish clear guidelines on how to request accessibility supports.

Barrier 2

Unnecessary job requirements when advertising job opportunities.

Actions

1. Through advice and training, ensure that hiring criteria are based on the job requirements and that the focus is put on the core responsibilities and not on a particular way of doing the work.

Barrier 3

Biases in assessment tools and assessors' perception and behaviours.

Actions

1. Provide assessors with disability awareness training, including the language to use when referring to people with disabilities.
2. Ensure assessment of biases and barriers is completed before assessing candidates.

Barrier 4

Complexity and length of accommodation process.

Actions

1. Launch the Digital GC Workplace Accessibility Passport and promote with managers and employees with disabilities.
2. Include Digital Accessibility Passport on the job posters and letters of offer, and during the onboarding process.
3. Promote a clear approach to the delivery of accommodation services.
4. Ensure all employees have all the necessary accommodations throughout the onboarding process and duration of their employment.

Built environment

Our office is a model for accessibility in the workplace. Our office offers many accessibility features, such as wider corridors, automatic door openings, and sound and lighting controls that accommodate individual preferences.

Objective 2

Employees and guests can access our premises autonomously.

Barrier 1

Certain emergency areas in the office aren’t yet fully accessible.

Actions

1. Modernize the areas of refuge in case of emergency so they are accessible for people with disabilities and follow with existing codes and standards.
2. Continue to investigate and implement solutions when information indicates that office features create barriers to employees or guests.

Barrier 2

Lack of non-visual washroom indicators.

Actions 

Continue working with our providers to identify solutions that can be implemented in our office.

Information and communication technologies

Information and communication technologies (ICT) covers all the hardware and software we use.

Objective 3 A

Employees, Board members and technical committee members can approach ICT to improve engagement with their work.

Barrier 1

IT team may not have all the knowledge of the latest accessibility technology.

Action

1. Continue to provide information and resources to IT employees to stay abreast of the latest ICT technology.

Objective 3 B

Canadians can access our multimedia content in appropriate alternate formats.

Barrier 1

Inaccessible PDF documents on the public website (including issues with screen readers and browsers).

Actions

1. Default to providing information and content in HTML, with accessible Word documents for high-value content.
2. Integrate accessibility approaches into the web editorial policy for publishing.
3. Continue to monitor feedback from interested parties on which formats would meet their needs and consider it when applicable.

Barrier 2

Certain videos on our website aren’t accessible.

Actions

1. Ensure all videos are also accessible with ASL/LSQ interpretation.
2. Ensure all video content includes captions and transcripts, whether produced in-house or by external providers.
3. Update the internal policy on accessible multimedia to clearly indicate the requirement to have captions, transcripts and ASL/LSQ.

Communication, other than ICT

We use many communication supports and accessible formats to provide our employees and interested parties with information.

Objective 4 A

Employees and interested parties have the knowledge they need to do their work.

Barrier 1

Employees and interested parties sometimes encounter inaccessible information and can’t complete their work.

Actions

1. Continue to keep the communications team informed about new communications tools that could help us provide accessible information to employees and the public.
2. Continue to provide employee training on plain language.
3. Continue to provide training on accessible documents, provide accessible communications resources and guidance to employees, and keep corporate templates up to date with best practices.
4. Continue to provide accessible public events and/or consultations.

Objective 4 B

Internal and external written communications are clear, understandable, accessible and inclusive.

Barrier 1

Complex language in web content.

Action

1. Regularly reinforce plain language guidelines and best practices for web content among employees.

Barrier 2

Inconsistent accessibility and readability levels in internal and organization-wide emails.

Action

1. Develop and distribute an internal accessible communication checklist, including plain language best practices.

Barrier 3

Use of outdated or inappropriate language when speaking about people with disabilities.

Action

1. Continue to raise awareness of various terms related to people with disabilities and to harmonize their use in all communications and in both official languages by updating and sharing the ASC lexicon and terminology guide with employees.

Procurement of goods, services and facilities

Our procurement activities relate to the purchase of services and products.

Objective 5

To embed accessibility into our procurement philosophy.

Barrier 1

Procurement of software that is sometimes incompatible with accessible technologies.

Actions

1. Include consultation with employees with disabilities in the software procurement process.
2. Through the onboarding process, ensure all employees have all necessary ICT accommodations.

Design and delivery of programs and services

This includes the design and delivery of our standards development and grants and contributions programs. We developed policies to make sure accessibility is at the core of the delivery and design of our programs.

Objective 6

Canadians can access and experience our programs.

Barrier 1

Information isn’t always provided in formats that meet the needs of all users.

Actions

1. Continue to meet accessibility requirements in the Standards Development Operating Procedures (SDOP) used by employees to support the technical committees.
2. Continue to meet accessibility requirements in the Grants and Contributions Program.
3. Continue to provide guidance materials in plain language.
4. Continue to publish standards in accessible formats.

Transport

Our organization doesn’t have any barriers to address for transport. Items such as parking and access to our offices fall under “Built environment.”

ASC remains committed to continuous improvement as it advances its second Accessibility Plan. Lessons learned from consultations and valuable feedback continue to shape our approach. The organization thanks employees, Board members, technical committee members, and grants and contributions participants whose input supports progress toward a barrier-free Canada.