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MP32024 Accessibility Progress Report
Table of contents
Progress report summary
In December 2022, the Canadian Transportation Agency (Agency) published its first three‑year Accessibility Plan (plan) in accordance with the Accessible Canada Act and its regulations.
At the time of the release of the Accessibility Plan, the Agency committed to promoting accessibility and making it a service delivery priority. This progress report provides an update of the progress made in 2024, as well as outlines the Agency’s ongoing dialogue with persons with disabilities so that it can continue to take into consideration their experiences and needs when they interact with the Agency.
This report sets out the vision and measures that the Agency plans to take in improving accessibility in its programs, policies, services and workplaces.
This report lays out how the Agency will apply the Plan’s 35 activities, which cover 7 priority areas set out in the Accessible Canada Act:
- Organization-wide initiatives
- Employment
- The built environment
- Information and communication technologies
- Communications, other than information and communication technologies
- The design and delivery of programs and services
- The procurement of goods, services and facilities
The Agency continues to make significant progress in achieving its commitments and anticipates completing the 35 activities in the Plan by the end of 2025. It is also committed to adjusting its plan as it is made aware of changes in the experience and feed back from persons with disabilities.
As the Agency was told over the course of the year by employees and clients with disabilities, it continues to make progress but there is more to be done, and quickly.
The Agency strives to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of persons with disabilities in Canada and to create an inclusive workplace. To that end, the Agency is aware that accessibility barriers continue to exist in the workplace.
The Agency aims to improve its understanding of issues related to accessibility, all the types of disabilities and the challenges that employees with disabilities experience in the workplace.
The Consultation and Feedback sections present information that was collected to help assess the Agency’s progress and to improve its work.
All Canadians must have equal access to the Agency’s services. Agency staff should equally be able to accomplish their tasks without barriers. The Accessibility Plan and the feedback process represent the Agency’s commitment to identify barriers and take concrete measures to remove them.
About this progress report
The Accessible Canada Act
The Accessible Canada Act (Act) was implemented in 2019 and aims to make Canada barrier-free by 2040. Pursuant to the Act, regulated organizations must identify, remove and prevent new barriers to accessibility in 7 priority areas:
- Employment
- The Built Environment
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Communications, other than Information and Communication Technologies
- The Procurement of Goods, Services and Facilities
- The Design and Delivery of Programs and Services
- Transportation
To this end, organizations must review their policies, programs, practices and services. The Act also requires organizations to publish an accessibility plan every 3 years and prepare progress reports. These reports outline the efforts of regulated entities to remove barriers, taking into consideration the comments from the interested parties.
Implementation of the Agency’s three-year accessibility plan
This report covers the 2024 calendar year and demonstrates the Agency’s accomplishments in the 7 areas covered by the accessibility plan.
Vision
The Agency’s objective is to become a leader in accessibility in the public service. The Agency will remove barriers and bring the changes required to prevent new ones from arising. Agency employees and its clients with disabilities will be able to participate fully and equally in an inclusive and barrier-free environment. Everyone can reach their full potential and experience a sense of belonging.
Expected results
- Organization-wide initiatives
- For the Agency to be fully accessible, accessibility needs to be a part of everything it does. The entire organization must make it a mission
- Employment
- The Agency recruits and retains employees with disabilities, supports their professional development and offers rapid access to workplace accommodation
- Built environment
- Persons with disabilities enjoy barrier-free access to the Agency buildings, offices and facilities
- Information and communications technology
- Existing and new information and communications technology products, services and content are accessible to all users
- Communications, other than information and communications technology
- The Agency’s communications are accessible and written in plain language
- Design and delivery of programs and services
- In-person, telephone and online services are accessible to persons with disabilities
- Procurement of goods, services and facilities
- Accessibility criteria are taken into account when purchasing goods, services and facilities, and products include accessibility features where appropriate
General information
About the Agency
The Agency is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator that has, with respect to all matters necessary for the exercise of its jurisdiction, all the powers of a superior court. It is part of Canada’s vast and complex transportation system.
The Agency is comprised of three permanent Members, and up to three temporary Members can be nominated. Based in the National Capital Region, Members are supported in the decision-making process by workforce made up of approximately 434 staff.
The Canada Transportation Act includes the National Transportation Policy, which states that competition and market forces are the prime agents in providing viable and effective transportation services. It also states that regulation may be required to meet public policy objectives that cannot be achieved by competition and market forces alone.
The Agency has specific powers assigned to it under this legislation:
- The Agency is a regulator of modes of transportation under federal jurisdiction. The Agency develops and applies ground rules that establish the rights and responsibilities of transportation service providers and users and that level the playing field among competitors. These rules can take the form of binding regulations or less formal guidelines or codes of practice.
- The Agency is a tribunal and hears and resolves disputes, much like a court. The Agency resolves disputes between transportation service providers and their clients or neighbours, using various tools from facilitation and mediation to arbitration and adjudication.
The Agency’s mandates are:
- To help ensure that the national transportation system runs efficiently and smoothly in the interests of all Canadians: those who work and invest in it; the producers, shippers, travellers, and businesses who rely on it; and the communities where it operates.
- To provide consumer protection for air passengers.
- To protect the human right of persons with disabilities to an accessible transportation network.
Contact information and feedback process
How to contact the Agency
Canadian Transportation Agency
60 Laval Street, Unit 01
Gatineau, QC
J8X 3G9
Phone, fax and email
Phone: 1-888-222-2592
Fax: 819-997-6727
TTY: 1-800-669-5575
Email: info@otc-cta.gc.ca
Public communications
Feedback processes
The Agency welcomes feedback from the public, stakeholders and its employees. Several methods of communication are available and the feedback process will help the Agency identify and break down accessibility barriers:
- On the Agency’s website, the Accessibility feedback page
- Accessibility feedback form
Manager, Centre of Expertise Workplace and Workforce Services Directorate
Canadian Transportation Agency
60 Laval Street, Unit 01
Gatineau, QC
J8X 3G9
Email: accessibilite-accessibility@otc-cta.gc.ca
Phone: 1-844-943-0273
Fax: 819-997-6727
TTY: 1-800-669-5575
Progress report summary
At the time of the release of the Accessibility Plan, the Agency committed to promoting accessibility and making it a service delivery priority. This progress report provides an update of the progress made in 2024, as well as outlines the Agency’s ongoing dialogue with persons with disabilities so that it can continue to take into consideration their experiences and needs.
This progress report assesses each of the 2024 accessibility plan objectives and provides an update for each.
A consultation was held with employees with disabilities and/or employees who are close to persons with disabilities in order to validate progress and, if necessary, make improvements to the plan.
Consultation
The Agency is committed to including the perspectives of people with disabilities in its accessibility planning. It is committed to consulting persons with disabilities on all future accessibility plans, future progress reports and all major projects.
In the preparation of this report, the Agency consulted employees with disabilities. In order to gather feedback on their experience at the Agency, a survey was posted on the Agency’s intranet. While employees with disabilities were the primary focus, we also realize that the input of individuals who may not have a disability but are close to a person with a disability may provide valuable insight. All comments were taken into consideration and contributed to the preparation of this report.
Survey results
Of the surveys received, 73% of respondents identified themselves as a person with a disability. More than half of these respondents indicated that their disability was neurodiversity, which includes autism, ADHD and other learning disabilities.
People who answered the survey noted the following:
- There are still barriers to the physical environment of the Agency
- Technological tools and internal documentation are, for the most part, a barrier for some employees with disabilities;
- Directives and guidelines on workplace accommodations in the Agency intranet are unknown, missing or outdated;
- Reading certain parts of the Agency’s website is a barrier for some employees with disabilities.
Here are some key suggestions from the respondents:
- Regularly consult employees with disabilities, among others, prior to making organizational decisions;
- Identify a contact person at the Agency who is knowledgeable about accessibility and who could provide informal and confidential support to employees;
- Revise the internal directives and guidelines on workplace accommodations;
- Comply with government standards for accessible information technology;
- Provide more accessibility training;
- Closely review the barriers that persons with sensory disabilities encounter;
- Highlight the contributions of persons with disabilities.
The survey respondents also pointed out some progress achieved by the Agency:
- An inclusive and non-judgmental workplace;
- An improvement of the building’s accessible aspects.
The Agency reviewed the comments received and acted in the following ways:
- The feedback has been sent to the relevant departments for appropriate action;
- The barriers have been recorded in a tracking tool, and comments will be taken into account when drawing up future accessibility plans;
- This information is included in reports, and recurring or serious problems are brought to the attention of senior management and the Agency’s Executive Committee.
Feedback
On December 31, 2022, the Agency launched on its website the Accessibility feedback process in order to receive feedback from the public, stakeholders and its employees to help the Agency to identify, eliminate and break down barriers to accessibility.
As of the report publication date, the Agency received 7 forms through its online feedback process. All the comments received did not relate to its accessibility plan and each one was forwarded to the appropriate external service. The Agency plans to further encourage its employees, as well as the public and stakeholders, to submit feedback.
Since 2020, the Agency has had a page on its intranet dedicated to various accessibility resources. In the past year, the Agency has promoted accessibility-related events and training. Since September 2023, employees have the option to complete the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Workplace Accessibility Passport through a link on the intranet site. In the fall of 2024, the Agency was one of the first organizations to participate in the digital Workplace Accessibility Passport pilot project. As well, in order to meets it accessibility requirements, the Agency added new mandatory training on accessibility to its learning curriculum.
In the next progress report, the Agency will present its progress towards the 2025 objectives.
Progress in areas covered by section 5 of the Accessible Canada Act
In this section, the Agency explains how it is working towards its goal of becoming a barrier-free organization by 2040. The Agency provides details on how it is removing barriers in the priority areas outlined in section 5 of the Accessible Canada Act.
The Agency also provides an update on each of the 35 activities in the three-year Accessibility Plan. Some of these activities will be completed by the end of 2024, while others will continue into 2025. Some initiatives are also ongoing and are now a part of its day‑to‑day work. All activities are being carried out jointly to achieve the vision and the 7 desired outcomes of the Accessibility Plan. Just as persons with disabilities can experience changes to their situation, elimination of barriers is an ongoing process that will continue over the years.
1. Organization-Wide initiatives
A) By 2025, the Agency will have a staff member with lived experience with disability acting as a Disability Advisor on the Agency’s operations, similar to the role of a Health and Safety officer. Their role will be similar to a health and safety officer. This will not be a new role, but a new duty within an existing role.
The Agency has no progress to report for this objective in 2024. It will be reviewed, analyzed and completed by the end of 2025.
2. Employment
A) In 2023, the Agency will update its Staffing Framework and Diversity and Inclusion Statement, and any other relevant messaging to include specific language around people with disabilities.
This objective was ongoing in 2023 and has been achieved. The staffing framework and the diversity and inclusion statement were updated to include specific language around persons with disabilities. It was added to the Careers at the Agency page.
B) By the end of 2024, the Agency will ensure that meeting organizers are trained and are knowledgeable about ways to make meeting platforms more accessible. For example, making sure that they know how to enable captions, to read comments in the chat aloud, and allow participants the option to join with camera off.
When onboarding new employees, they are encouraged to acquaint themselves with the accessibility resources found on the intranet site’s accessibility resources page. Employees can find a guide on how to organize inclusive meetings, which includes ways to make meeting platforms more accessible by activating some accessible features, such as captions or the option to join meetings with cameras turned off. Because the onboarding and training of new employees is continuous, this objective is also a continuous process and is reviewed as improvements are made to the meeting platform tools.
C) Starting in 2024, the Agency will continually review its employment system to identify and begin to remove barriers to employment for people with disabilities.
This objective is an ongoing process, because the Agency uses a guide and a tool to mitigate biases and barriers in assessment during staffing processes. The Guide and Tool for mitigating biases and barriers in assessment explain how to evaluate the chosen assessment to identify, remove or mitigate any potential biases and barriers that can occur at any stage of an assessment. They explain how to evaluate the chosen assessment to identify, remove or mitigate any potential barriers for people belonging to any equity-seeking group.
Also, the Agency is currently setting up an inventory poster with the aim of creating a pool of partially evaluated candidates from a targeted area of selection, with requirements that will include persons with disabilities.
D) Starting in 2024, the Agency will add mandatory disability awareness and confidence training for all managers that have staffing responsibilities, using course offerings available through the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS).
Two mandatory courses for managers are included in the training of managers who have staffing responsibilities. These are COR112 and COR132, which are offered by the CSPS. These courses include identifying prejudices and barriers, and determining ways of eliminating or mitigating them. At this time, 91 employees have completed these courses. To help employees complete their training, the Agency has initiated “Focus Thursdays” which allows employees to block off Thursday afternoons for this purpose. The completion rate for mandatory training is continuing to increase and will contribute to reaching this objective.
E) By the end of 2024, the Agency will include disability and accessibility training as part of the Human Resources or staffing Delegation Training.
As part of the human resources or staffing delegation training, delegated managers must pass several courses given by the CSPS (COR111, COR112, COR120, COR132 and COR152). These courses include topics focused on accessibility for persons with disabilities, accommodation processes and the elimination or mitigation of potential biases and barriers. Also, the Agency’s internal training, which complements the above-mentioned courses, includes additional training on disabilities and accessibility.
F) In 2024, the Agency will review its current policies, practices and trainings around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and identify opportunities for expansion and improvement on disability-specific content.
The policies, practices and training constitute an ongoing process at the Agency because they are steadily moving towards accessibility for all employees with disabilities. The practices and policies are identical to those of the public service of Canada. The Agency’s People Management Strategy for 2022–2025 includes a section on diversity, inclusion and accessibility. This aims to have a safe, inclusive and accessible work environment that allows each employee to participate in the organization’s success and to achieve full potential in a barrier-free workplace. Mandatory training has been reviewed for 2024 and includes accessibility training.
G) In 2024, the Agency will review disability and accessibility-focused training options available through CSPS and update the Agency’s training offerings for employees accordingly.
This objective has been achieved, because a new course has been introduced to the mandatory training for all Agency staff in 2024. The course entitled “Addressing Disability Inclusion and Barriers to Accessibility” (INC115) has been taken by 199 employees so far. Mandatory training for employees is revised annually and other courses may be included in coming years.
H) In 2024, the Agency will review and revise its workplace accommodations directives and guidelines to improve ease of access and use for employees with disabilities. This will include more clearly and narrowly defining the term “functional limitation” and eliminating or simplifying the need for professional health documentation.
The workplace accommodation directives and guidelines are currently being reviewed in order to update them and make them accessible. As well the intranet’s Accommodation and Disability Management tab is being updated to include more accessible information to employees. These two elements will be finalized by August 2025.
I) In 2024, the Agency will revise its employee onboarding process to include a directive that employees identify their known access needs prior to their start date to ensure that the Agency can fulfill its duty to accommodate.
This objective has been achieved. The onboarding of employees includes onboarding sessions containing a section about accessibility and the accommodation process for employees and new managers. Additionally, letters of offer include a section on accessibility so that new employees are aware of the tools available to them upon hiring. The Agency is also part of the Treasury Board of Canada’s digital Workplace Accessibility Passport pilot project.
J) By the end of 2025, the Agency will update its disability and accessibility training for managers, using course offerings available through CSPS. This curriculum will be used for all retraining and onboarding moving forward.
Mandatory training is updated annually. The Centre of Expertise is currently reviewing it in order to add training on disabilities and accessibility for managers in 2025.
3. The built environment
A) In 2024, the Agency will buy technology or assistive devices to make sure that meeting rooms are accessible to employees with hearing disabilities.
This objective has been achieved. Bluetooth hearing loop devices were purchased by the Agency and may be borrowed from the help desk. Furthermore, all meeting rooms are compatible with MS Teams and equipped with Wi-Fi, allowing employees and guests to use their own hearing devices.
B) Starting in 2024, the Agency will continually consult with employees with disabilities on ways to improve accessibility of the built environment.
Annually since 2022, the Agency has posted a survey on the intranet to collect comments from employees with disabilities or employees who are close to persons with disabilities on the subject of progress made since the Agency introduced its accessibility plan.
As of 2023, the Agency has had a feedback form posted on its website, which allows the public, stakeholders and employees to comment. Answers can be sent anonymously by mail, email, phone, fax or teleprinter (TTY).
4. Information and communication technologies (ICT)
A) Starting in 2024, The Agency’s IT department will develop guidelines for employees on when and how to work with Shared Services Canada’s Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology (AAACT) division. The Agency has a memorandum of understanding with Shared Services Canada for this process.
The guidelines are found in the Agency’s intranet site under Technology and Cyber Security – Policies and Directives – Service Desk Standard Operating Procedures. The Agency’s IT department serves as an interface between Shared Service’s AAACT division and employees. When an employee makes an accessibility request, the employee or the supervisor can submit a request to the help desk. IT support will coordinate with AAACT to provide the employee the required support. This request can begin with the Accessibility Passport or after a discussion between the employee and their supervisor.
B) In 2024, the Agency will review and revise its workplace accommodations directives and guidelines to include a commitment that work tools within its control are or will be made accessible by an employee’s start date. This will be done in consultation with the employee.
In the directives and guideline for workplace accommodation, the Agency commits to creating an accessible workplace for all employees. These documents are currently under review and will be finalized by August 2025. The Agency is equally committed to ensuring that every device or document is set up with accessibility in mind. To do this, training will be offered to all employees and an independent review was also done to ensure that the Agency’s main tools are accessible. While important progress has been made, it is still not possible to ensure that the Agency’s tools are all accessible when an employee is hired. This objective is ongoing and requires constant effort.
In letters of offer, the Agency prefers using the Accessibility Passport when hiring an employee. The letter of offer encourages the employee and the manager to discuss the setting up of required accommodation measures. Also, in the new employee checklist, the Agency asks that employees who need accommodation fill out the Accessibility Passport as a starting point.
5. Communication other than information and communications technology
A) Starting in 2023, the Agency will review pre-existing documents, and will update those that are determined to be high priority to ensure they are in accessible and/or in alternate formats.
Human Resources and the Communications team continue to ensure that Agency employees produce accessible internal documents. During the year, the Communications team posted an advice series on the intranet about document accessibility. Employees have consulted these publications more than 600 times. All other pages devoted to accessibility generate an average of 92 visits per page on the intranet.
As of 2023, Agency employees can access the resource and accessibility training page on the intranet, which includes the Digital Accessibility Toolkit and GC Accessibility Training and Events, as well as accessible document templates for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Employees and members of the public have access, on the website, to accessible HTML and PDF documents. The Agency has a procedure to request other types of accessible formats on the website, in accordance with the terms and conditions and web accessibility statement.
As stated in the progress report of 2023, the Agency is committed to reviewing its learning curriculum in order to reflect its accessibility mandate. As a result, in June 2024, the Agency added the CSPS course INC115 to its mandatory learning curriculum for all employees.
The Communications team, in partnership with other Agency teams, has been working since last year on making the Agency’s intranet site more accessible.
6. The design and delivery of programs and services
A) By the end of 2025, the Agency will create guides on how to use its services in plain language and screen reader-friendly formats (Word and HTML).
No progress to report for this objective in 2024. It will be reviewed, analyzed and completed in 2025.
B) By the end of 2025, the Agency will include ASL (American Sign Language) and LSQ (Quebec Sign Language) videos on its website explaining how to use the Agency’s services.
No progress to report for this objective in 2024. It will be reviewed, analyzed and completed in 2025.
7. The procurement of goods, services and facilities
No specific objective for the procurement of goods, services and facilities is planned for 2024.
Conclusion
The Agency is committed to having an inclusive and accessible organization for all, and concrete progress was made over the first 10 months of 2024 covered by the report. Significant work was completed and more is underway to improve its policies, programs, services and workplace.
The Agency will continue to learn and find ways to improve. Its employees and users of its services would like that measures not only be taken within the Agency, but across the government of Canada. This is why the Agency collaborates with the exchange of ideas and best practices as it leads to more rapid progress.
The Agency is committed to a conversation with employees, clients, stakeholders and the public in order to acknowledge and eliminate accessibility barriers and to prevent new ones from arising. The Agency will continue to listen and take action and will maintain its commitment to ensure that it is barrier-free for everyone.
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