Accessible Canada Act (ACA)
The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) is a federal statute enacted in Canada in 2019 that requires federally regulated organizations to identify, remove, and prevent barriers to accessibility across seven priority areas, with a legislated goal of making Canada barrier-free by January 1, 2040. Regulations registered in December 2025 (SOR/2025-255) add binding ICT technical requirements referencing CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with digital compliance deadlines staggered between December 5, 2027 (federal public sector, web pages) and December 5, 2028 (private sector and all mobile/document obligations).
What is ACA?
The Accessible Canada Act (S.C. 2019, c. 10) is Canada's first proactive federal accessibility law, applying to all organizations under federal jurisdiction. It mandates the systematic identification, removal, and prevention of barriers in seven priority areas: the built environment; employment; information and communication technologies (ICT); communication other than ICT; the procurement of goods, services, facilities, and premises; the design and delivery of programs and services; and transportation. The Act established Accessibility Standards Canada (ASC) to develop technical standards and the office of the Accessibility Commissioner within the Canadian Human Rights Commission to investigate complaints and enforce compliance for ESDC-regulated entities. The overarching statutory objective is a barrier-free Canada by January 1, 2040.
Who must comply?
The ACA applies to federally regulated entities, including the Government of Canada, Parliament, Crown corporations, and federally regulated private-sector organizations in banking, telecommunications, broadcasting, and interprovincial transportation. For digital technology obligations under the December 2025 regulations: federal public-sector entities must meet web-page requirements by December 5, 2027 and mobile/document requirements by December 5, 2028; large private-sector entities (500 or more employees) must meet web, mobile, and digital-document requirements by December 5, 2028; medium private-sector entities (100-499 employees) must meet employee-facing web-page requirements by December 5, 2028, but are not yet subject to requirements for public-facing pages, mobile apps, or digital documents in this phase. For accessibility planning, organizations with 10 or more employees must publish accessibility plans; those with fewer than 10 employees are exempt from planning and reporting requirements. The Act does not directly regulate provincially regulated businesses, though provinces such as Ontario have parallel legislation (e.g., AODA).
Key requirements
- Publish an accessibility plan describing how the organization will identify, remove, and prevent barriers, updated on a three-year cycle.
- Establish and maintain a feedback process allowing persons with disabilities to comment on accessibility barriers, and report on feedback received.
- Submit progress reports to the relevant regulator (Accessibility Commissioner, CRTC, or CTA) between accessibility plan updates.
- Notify the Accessibility Commissioner (or sector regulator) within 48 hours of publishing any accessibility plan, feedback-process description, or progress report, via the My Accessibility Portal.
- Conform to CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 for web pages, mobile applications, and digital documents by the applicable sector-specific deadlines in 2027-2028 (scope of obligations varies by entity type and size - see deadlines).
- Provide digital accessibility training on accessibility fundamentals to all staff involved in developing, maintaining, or procuring digital technologies by December 5, 2027 (public sector and all private entities with 100+ employees), with refreshers at least once every three years.
- For large entities (500+ employees): conduct conformity assessments when procuring ICT products and services, and retain accessibility documentation for at least four years.
- Publish annual accessibility statements describing the entity's digital accessibility posture once digital obligations take effect.
Key dates & deadlines
- December 31, 2022Federal government, Crown corporations, Parliament, RCMP, and Canadian Forces must publish first accessibility plans.
- June 1, 2023Large private-sector organizations (100 or more employees) must publish first accessibility plans.
- June 1, 2024Small private-sector organizations (10-99 employees) must publish first accessibility plans.
- December 5, 2027Federal public-sector entities must achieve conformity with CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 for employee-facing and public-facing web pages; all entities with 100+ employees must complete mandatory digital accessibility training for relevant staff.
- December 5, 2028Federal public-sector entities must achieve conformity for mobile applications and non-web documents. Large private-sector entities (500+ employees) must achieve conformity for public-facing web pages, mobile applications, and digital documents available for download, and must conduct accessibility conformity assessments for procured ICT. Medium private-sector entities (100-499 employees) must achieve conformity for employee-facing web pages (public-facing pages, mobile apps, and documents are not required in this phase).
Penalties & enforcement
Administrative monetary penalties under the ACA range from CAD $250 to $250,000 per violation, with the actual amount within that range determined by the severity classification (minor, serious, or very serious), the size of the organization, and the number of prior violations. For large regulated entities (100 or more employees), minor violations can attract penalties from $1,000 up to $75,000; serious violations from $10,000 up to $150,000; and very serious violations - such as obstructing an investigation or providing false information - from $25,000 up to $250,000. Smaller entities and individuals face lower maxima within the same tiers. The Accessibility Commissioner may issue warnings, compliance orders, compliance agreements, or notices of violation before escalating to financial penalties, and considers factors such as prior history of non-compliance, harm caused, and remediation efforts when setting amounts. Importantly, the December 2025 digital-technology regulations classify non-conformance with the ICT standard as a "minor" violation, meaning the relevant financial exposure sits at the lower end of the penalty range for an initial violation.
How ACA relates to WCAG
The ACA's technical digital accessibility requirements are set by the Digital Technologies Accessibility Regulations (SOR/2025-255, registered December 5, 2025), which reference CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 - Canada's national adoption of the European standard EN 301 549 v3.2.1 - on an ambulatory basis, meaning the regulations automatically incorporate future updates to the standard as they are published. CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA as its core web and non-web software accessibility requirement (via clauses 9 and 10 of the standard), and also applies additional requirements for mobile applications, hardware, and ICT services beyond WCAG's web scope. An update to EN 301 549 v4.1.1, expected to incorporate WCAG 2.2, is anticipated in 2026; because Canada adopted the standard on an ambulatory basis, organizations are well advised to target WCAG 2.2 Level AA now to reduce remediation rework when the updated version takes effect.
How EqualWeb helps you meet ACA
EqualWeb's AI Accessibility Widget can be deployed on any federally regulated organization's website with a single line of code, automatically remediating approximately 80% of common WCAG 2.1 Level AA issues in real time - helping organizations work toward the CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 web conformance obligations that take effect under the ACA in 2027-2028. The widget alone does not constitute full conformance; organizations seeking to meet the Act's complete digital conformance requirements and to obtain the documented evidence the regulations demand should consider EqualWeb's Managed Compliance service, which pairs IAAP/CPWA-certified experts with client-side remediation, continuous monitoring, and a signed Accessibility Compliance Certificate along with a VPAT/Accessibility Conformance Report - the kind of auditable evidence pack that supports accountability to the Accessibility Commissioner. EqualWeb's Continuous Monitoring provides a live 0-100 compliance score and regression alerts, helping organizations maintain their accessibility posture between the mandatory three-year accessibility plan cycles and annual progress reporting the ACA requires. For large entities (500 or more employees) subject to document obligations, EqualWeb's PDF Tools address PDF/UA conformance, a requirement under CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 clause 10 for digital documents available for download. Taken together, the EqualWeb platform is designed to help federally regulated organizations work toward the documented, verifiable, and maintained conformance the ACA and its 2027-2028 digital deadlines demand.
ACA - frequently asked questions
Who must comply with the Accessible Canada Act?
What are the digital accessibility deadlines under the ACA?
What WCAG version does the Accessible Canada Act require?
What are the penalties for non-compliance with the ACA?
Does the ACA require an accessibility plan?
Related standards & laws
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