Governance, risk & compliance

Accessible Canada Act and Regulations (federally regulated entities) Act and regs current to 30 Sep 2026

The Accessible Canada Act (S.

C. 2019, c.

10; in force 11 July 2019 except s. 205, per the note on the Justice Laws site) aims at a Canada without barriers on or before 1 January 2040 (s.

5). It applies to federal public sector entities (s.

7(1)(a) to (d)) and to any person, partnership or unincorporated organization that operates a work or carries on an undertaking or business within federal legislative authority (s. 7(1)(e) and (f)), such as banks, airlines, railways, interprovincial trucking, telecommunications and broadcasting.

It does not apply to the governments of Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut (s. 8).

Each regulated entity must prepare and publish an accessibility plan, consult persons with disabilities, set up a feedback process, and publish progress reports. Regulators differ by sector: for the duties tied to the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act, plans, feedback processes and reports go to the CRTC (ss.

42 to 44 and 51 to 53, CRTC Accessibility Reporting Regulations, SOR/2021-160); for the duties tied to the Canada Transportation Act, to the Canadian Transportation Agency (ss. 60 to 62, Accessible Transportation Planning and Reporting Regulations, SOR/2021-243); and the Accessibility Commissioner, a member of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, receives the notices for the duties under the Act's own regulations (ss.

47 to 49 for broadcasters, 56 to 58 for telecommunications, 65 to 67 for transportation and, for every other entity, 69 to 71) and enforces the Act under Part 5. The Accessible Canada Regulations (SOR/2021-241) fix the dates: 31 December 2021 for federal public sector entities, 1 June 2022 for entities with 100 or more employees, 1 June 2023 for 10 to 99 employees, a new entity on 1 June of the year after it is established, an update every 36 months, and an exemption for entities with an average of fewer than 10 employees (s.

3). Plans and reports are published at WCAG Level AA, the Commissioner is told within 48 hours, and plans, reports and feedback are kept for seven years.

Violations are classified minor, serious or very serious in Schedule 1 to the Accessible Canada Regulations (s. 24), Schedule 2 sets the penalty ranges, and the Act caps any administrative penalty at $250,000 (s.

91(2)); the Act provisions on plans, feedback and progress reports (ss. 47 to 71, as listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1) are classed minor.

NOT YET IN FORCE: SOR/2025-255 (registered 5 December 2025) adds Part 1. 1 on information and communication technologies (CAN/ASC EN 301 549, web pages, mobile applications, non-web documents, accessibility statements, procurement assessments and training).

By its section 18, most of it comes into force on the second anniversary of registration (5 December 2027) and sections 7 to 14, 16 and 17 on the third (5 December 2028); the ICT tier is for planning only. Not read, so not asserted: the broader federal accessibility standards of Accessibility Standards Canada other than as cited in the Regulations, the Canadian Human Rights Act duty to accommodate, and First Nations band council exemption dates (the consolidated text shows an exemption now, with a lengthening amendment not yet in force).

Ontario's AODA is a separate framework (AODA_IASR). General information, not legal advice.

Assessment tiers & levels Lavawall supports

Lavawall assesses Accessible Canada Act and Regulations (federally regulated entities) at every level below, so you can start where you are and step up as your program matures.

How Lavawall® helps you get to Accessible Canada Act and Regulations (federally regulated entities) compliance

Most of Accessible Canada Act and Regulations (federally regulated entities) comes down to technical controls you have to run and prove: keeping systems patched, hardening configuration, detecting breaches early, backing up what matters, controlling access, and keeping evidence that all of it actually happened. Lavawall® runs those controls across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace from one console, maps them to Accessible Canada Act and Regulations (federally regulated entities), and tracks your posture continuously instead of once a year at audit time.

• Assess your current state against Accessible Canada Act and Regulations (federally regulated entities) in the Lavawall GRC module, with the questionnaire and control set built in.
• Remediate the gaps with the same platform — automated patching, configuration fixes, backups, and access review — not a separate project.
• Evidence everything with timestamped, exportable records auditors, insurers, and clients accept.

Related

Lavawall® supports Accessible Canada Act and Regulations (federally regulated entities) as part of a built-in catalogue of compliance frameworks. Framework requirements are summarized for planning purposes; always confirm the current official text before certifying.