Website accessibility in Canada: WCAG, AODA and what your business needs to do

About one in four Canadians aged 15 and over has a disability, according to Statistics Canada. Some are blind and use a screen reader. Many more have low vision, colour blindness, a tremor that makes a mouse hard to use, hearing loss, or a cognitive disability that makes dense pages hard to follow. And everyone has days with a cracked phone screen, bright sunlight or one hand full.

An accessible website works for all of them. In parts of Canada it's also the law. This guide covers who the rules apply to, what the standard asks for, and what you can check yourself in an afternoon.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you're a large organization or work in a regulated industry, confirm your obligations with a lawyer or the relevant government office.

Which laws apply to business websites?

Ontario: the AODA

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is the most specific law in the country for websites. Under its Integrated Accessibility Standards, private and non-profit organizations with 50 or more employees in Ontario, plus all designated public sector organizations, must make their public websites and web content meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA. That deadline passed on January 1, 2021. Two parts of the standard are exempt: live captions and audio descriptions for pre-recorded video.

Organizations with 20 or more employees in Ontario also have to file an accessibility compliance report every three years. The next round is due by December 31, 2026. Fines for corporations under the AODA can reach $100,000 for each day an offence continues, in the most serious cases.

Federal: the Accessible Canada Act

The Accessible Canada Act covers the federal government and federally regulated businesses: banks, telecom companies, airlines and interprovincial transport, broadcasters and the like. These organizations must publish accessibility plans and progress reports and consult people with disabilities. The technical standard referenced for digital content, CAN/ASC-EN 301 549, includes WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Other provinces

Manitoba, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan (through The Accessible Saskatchewan Act, in force since December 2023) have their own accessibility laws. Most of their detailed standards apply first to the public sector, with rules for private businesses still being developed. Even where no law names your website today, WCAG 2.0 or 2.1 Level AA is the benchmark any future rule or complaint is likely to use.

Selling into the United States

If you sell to customers in the US, keep in mind that American businesses face thousands of website accessibility lawsuits a year under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Courts there also use WCAG as the yardstick.

What is WCAG?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are published by the W3C, the body that sets web standards. They're organized around four principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Each guideline has success criteria at three levels, A, AA and AAA. Level AA is the one laws refer to.

There are several versions. WCAG 2.0 came out in 2008, 2.1 in 2018 and 2.2 in 2023. Each one adds criteria without removing the old ones, so a site that meets 2.2 AA also meets 2.0 AA. If you're building or redesigning now, aim for 2.2 AA and you're covered whichever version a rule names.

A checklist you can test yourself

You don't need special software to find the most common problems.

1. Put your mouse away and use only the Tab, Shift+Tab and Enter keys. Can you reach every link, button, menu and form field, in a sensible order, and can you always see where you are? A missing focus outline is one of the most common failures.
2. Check that every meaningful image has alternative text describing it, and decorative images are marked so screen readers skip them. A logo's alt text should be the business name, not "logo.png".
3. Check colour contrast. Normal text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 against its background, and large text 3 to 1. Light grey text on white is the usual offender. WebAIM's free contrast checker gives you the number.
4. Make sure colour is never the only signal. A form that shows errors only by turning a box red fails people who can't see red.
5. Every form field needs a visible label, not just placeholder text that disappears when you start typing. Error messages should say what's wrong and how to fix it.
6. Use headings in order (one H1, then H2s, then H3s within them) because screen reader users jump between headings to scan a page.
7. Write link text that makes sense on its own. "Read our pricing guide" works. "Click here" repeated six times doesn't.
8. Zoom the browser to 200 percent and check that nothing overlaps or gets cut off, and that you don't have to scroll sideways to read.
9. Give videos captions, and provide a transcript for audio.
10. Avoid anything that flashes, and let people pause carousels and animations that move on their own.

Then run two free automated checks: WAVE (wave.webaim.org) and the accessibility section of Lighthouse in Chrome's developer tools. Automated tools catch only part of the problems, so treat a perfect score as a starting point.

If you can, ask someone who uses a screen reader to try the main tasks on your site: finding a service, filling in the contact form, paying for an order. NVDA on Windows is free, and VoiceOver is built into every Mac and iPhone if you want to try it yourself.

Why accessibility overlays don't fix it

You may have seen plugins that add a small accessibility icon and promise instant compliance. They can adjust font sizes and contrast, but they can't fix a form with no labels, a menu you can't reach by keyboard or a video without captions. Many screen reader users find they get in the way of the tools they already use. In 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission ordered one overlay vendor to pay US$1 million over claims that its product could make any website compliant. The fixes have to happen in the site's own code, design and content.

It helps your business too

Most accessibility fixes make a site better for everyone. Clear headings and descriptive links help search engines understand your pages. Alt text gives images a chance to appear in image search. Good contrast and readable forms lift conversion rates on phones in daylight. And faster, cleaner code tends to come along with it.

Where to start

If your site is due for a redesign, build accessibility into the brief from day one. It's far cheaper than retrofitting. If the site is fairly new, run the checklist above, fix the problems you find, and add an accessibility statement with a way for people to report issues.

Every site we build is designed and tested against WCAG 2.2 Level AA. If you'd like us to review your current site and list what needs fixing, get in touch.