Accessible Canada Act — Federal Accessibility Commissioner's Inspections of Plans, Feedback Channels and Progress Reports

The Accessible Canada Act (S.C. 2019, c. 10) sets the goal of a Canada without barriers on or before 1 January 2040, with information and communication technologies as one of its priority areas. Federally regulated organisations (roughly 5,000 employers) must publish accessibility plans, a feedback process and progress reports, and notify the Accessibility Commissioner.
The Commissioner's office relies mainly on proactive publication-and-notification inspections rather than complaints. In 2024–25 it completed 426 inspections (416 publication/notification, 10 content) and received 3 complaints, all outside its mandate; it reported no enforcement actions or penalties to date. Compliance was reported as higher in government, lower to moderate in large private organisations and very low in small private ones.
In 2025–26 the Commissioner initiated over 250 inspections; of over 160 concluded, over 95 found non-compliance (resolved or under a corrective action plan) and over 30 involved entities that no longer exist or may be out of jurisdiction. One complaint was received and none resolved. The federal public service published 79% of initial plans on time (December 2022) and 88% of updated plans (end of 2025). Common gaps: plans in inaccessible formats, unclear barrier identification, 'not applicable' for transportation, and incomplete progress reports.
Regulations amending the Accessible Canada Regulations (SOR/2025-255, December 2025) will require new or updated web pages, mobile apps and non-web documents to meet CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 and carry an accessibility statement, with entry into force from 2027 for federal public-sector bodies and 2028 for large private ones; entities with 99 or fewer employees are exempt.
Caution: the available evidence is regulatory activity data, not outcome evaluation. The model shows a reporting-and-inspection regime working at scale, but with little complaint uptake and no penalties yet, whether it improves real digital accessibility is unproven until the ICT rules apply.

Read the full analysis: https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/resources/publications/accessibility-commissioner-canadas-2025-2026-annual-report