Accessible Canada Act 2019
The Accessible Canada Act (Bill C-81) aims to create a barrier-free Canada by January 1, 2040 in areas under federal jurisdiction. It applies to federally regulated employers and service providers and establishes Accessibility Standards Canada, a new standards development organisation.
What the law requires
The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) received royal assent in June 2019 and is the first federal accessibility legislation in Canadian history. The ACA's goal is an accessible Canada by January 1, 2040, but it works gradually through standard-setting, planning, and reporting rather than imposing immediate requirements.
Seven priority areas:
- Employment
- The built environment
- Information and communication technologies (ICT)
- Communication (other than ICT)
- Procurement of goods, services, and facilities
- Designing and delivering programs and services
- Transportation
Federally regulated entities subject to the ACA include: federal departments and agencies, Crown corporations, Parliament, the CRTC-regulated broadcasting and telecommunications sectors, federally regulated industries (banking, airports, railways, cross-border trucking), and the Canadian Armed Forces (partially).
Key mechanisms:
- Covered organizations must prepare and publish accessibility plans identifying barriers and describing how they will be addressed
- They must publish annual progress reports
- They must establish a feedback process for people to report barriers
- Accessibility Standards Canada (created by the ACA) develops model accessibility standards that can be adopted as regulations
- The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) have roles for their regulated sectors
- The Accessibility Commissioner within the Canadian Human Rights Commission handles complaints
The ACA takes an "identify, remove, and prevent" approach to barriers — organizations are required to identify existing barriers in their operations, take steps to remove them, and prevent new barriers from arising.
Who it protects
Persons with disabilities interacting with federally regulated organizations, including as employees, customers, and members of the public.
Who must comply
Federally regulated entities as described above. Provincially regulated businesses and governments are NOT directly covered — provincial accessibility legislation (like Ontario's AODA) governs those entities.
What it does NOT cover (common misunderstandings)
The ACA does not apply to provincial governments or provincially regulated businesses. Canada's constitutional division of powers means the federal government cannot legislate for provincial employers and service providers. Each province must pass its own accessibility legislation.
The ACA does not create an immediate right to accessibility — it is a framework for progressive improvement toward 2040. Compliance is measured through planning and reporting, not achievement of specific technical standards.
How to enforce your rights
File a complaint with the Accessibility Commissioner (for most federally regulated entities) or the CRTC/CTA for their regulated sectors. The Accessibility Commissioner has investigative and order-making powers.
Recent updates
Accessibility Standards Canada has been developing and publishing model standards in areas including employment, plain language, outdoor spaces, and ICT. The standards inform but do not automatically become law. As of 2025, the ACA framework is established, and the focus has shifted to ensuring organizations are meaningfully implementing their accessibility plans rather than treating them as compliance exercises. Several provinces have passed or are developing provincial accessibility legislation modelled in part on the ACA or Ontario's AODA.