There has been no centralized depository on information pertaining to what is happening in Canada in terms of Web accessibility -- until now. Soaring Eagle Communications would like to gather policies and best practices used in Canada to share with fellow Canadians interested in Web accessibility. We wish to include all sectors: all levels of government, public and private business, education, non-profit organizations and so on.
If your organization has taken or is taking steps toward implementing a Web accessibility policy or if you have conducted Canadian research in this field, we would love to hear from you.
As a starting point, here is a sketchy snapshot of the current status of Web accessibility in Canada:
- The Treasury Board of Canada, under its "Common Look and Feel Standards and Guidelines for the Internet", has adopted the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 Priorities 1 and 2 checkpoints. The standards also address additional accessibility issues not covered by the Web Accessibility Initiative.
Federal institutions listed in Schedule 1, 1.1 and 2 of the Federal Administration Act were to comply with the Treasury Board's standards by December 31, 2002.
- The newly enacted Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001, is "to improve the identification, removal and prevention of barriers faced by persons with disabilities and to make related amendments to other Acts."
Section Six of the ODA states:
The Government of Ontario shall provide its Internet sites in a format that is accessible to persons with disabilities, unless it is not technically feasible to do so.
Again, Priorities 1 and 2 have been used as guidelines "to ensure that we are compatible with external, international standards adopted by other jurisdictions," according to the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario.
- Following a Web accessibility audit conducted on sample British Columbia Government web pages and a report prepared by Glenda Watson Hyatt for the BC Government Policy and Communications Office, the Corporate Internet Steering Committee adopted, in April 2001, her recommendation that the Government revise the Government Internet Standards so that they are aligned with the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
Unfortunately, implementation of the Government's own Internet Standards has been slow and accessibility remains to be questionable.
The report Improving Access to Government Web Sites for People With Disabilities is available online, but only as a pdf, requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader to view, which contradicts Web accessibility principles. (Hey, I tried!)
- Some Canadian colleges and universities are adopting Web accessibility policies and guidelines. For example, the University of Victoria's Web policy states, "All official UVic Web sites should be accessible to users with disabilities." Uvic Web Accessibility Guidelines addresses how to implement its policy.
However, in a study conducted by Dr. Craig Montgomerie at the University of Alberta, he surveyed 350 postsecondary institutions in Canada to evaluate their level of Web accessibility in November 2001, and again in November 2002. Using the well-known accessibility evaluation tool Bobby™ he found that 14.9% of postsecondary institutions surveyed were free of Priority 1 errors in 2001 and 19.9% in 2002, and only 1.7% in 2001 and 5.5% in 2002 were free of both Priority 1 and Priority 2 errors.
(From: Zaparyniuk, N., & Montgomerie, T. C. (in press). The Status of Web Accessibility of Canadian Universities and Colleges: A Charter of Rights and Freedoms Issue. International Journal on E-Learning.)
- Similarly, a recent accessibility survey of French-langauge Web sites showed that many performed poorly when evaluated for compliance with Priorities 1 and 2. The survey, conducted jointly by the Quebec Foundation for the Blind, W3Qébec and the Nazareth & Louis-Braille Institute, revealed that 84% of the 200 sites surveyed were non-compliant. About 95% of the inaccessible sites had HTML or CSS programming errors, 77% provided no alt text for graphics, buttons and maps and 77% either lacked headers or used them in illogical order. The survey tested Web sites from federal and provincial governments, corporations and the disability services sector. The best performers were disability services, rehabilitation centres and disability organizations. The federal government sites were fourth overall and the Québec government sites came in 10th out of 17. The worst performers were in the subcategories of sports and leisure, arts and culture and careers and employment.
(From: Assistive Devices Industry Office News #19 - Summer 2004)
- Catherine Roy sent this information via email:
In December 2004, the Québec government modified its disability legislation (available in French only) and adopted two new articles. Although they do not mention Web accessibility specifically, they are written broadly enough to allow interpretation in our favour.
Article 26.5 stipulates that all ministries and public agencies must adopt measures, in the spirit of reasonable accommodation, related to the accessibility of all public (as in governmental) information and services, whatever their form.
Article 61.3 stipulates that ministries, public agencies and municipalities must take the needs of persons with disabilities into account in their procurement process of goods and services.
For us in Québec, despite Web accessibility and technologies not being specifically mentioned in the new legislation, this is a very positive development and we are working to promote the broadest interpretation possible. For example, the provincial government, when it updated its main portal in early 2005, took accessibility into account and hired external consultants to evaluate the work that had been done. There is still a lot to do of course, but it is a step in the right direction.
Thanks Catherine for the update. Sounds encouraging!
Evidently, some progress is being made in adopting and implementing Web accessibility policies in various sectors in Canada. However, there is obviously much room for improvement on this issue.
©2005 Soaring Eagle Communications