CanadianAccessibilityLaw:WhatAODA,ACA,andBCWebStandardsMeanforYourSite

# Canadian Accessibility Law: What AODA, ACA, and BC Web Standards Mean for Your Site

Web accessibility in Canada is not a single law. It is a patchwork of federal, provincial, and sector-specific rules — and most BC businesses are surprised to learn how much of it applies to them.

Here is the plain-English breakdown, written for the marketing or ops lead who has to own this, not the lawyer.

The three laws you actually need to know

/1. Accessible Canada Act (ACA) — federal

Applies to federally regulated entities: banks, telecoms, airlines, interprovincial transport, Crown corporations, and any organization with federal contracts. The standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content, with compliance reporting required.

/2. AODA — Ontario

If your Vancouver business serves Ontario customers, employees, or partners, AODA's web accessibility rules can reach you. Private-sector organizations with 50+ employees must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA on public-facing websites.

/3. BC's Accessible British Columbia Act

Currently focused on the public sector and prescribed organizations, but the direction of travel is clear: BC will follow Ontario and the federal government in extending standards to private businesses. Building to WCAG 2.2 AA now is the cheapest insurance you can buy.

The WCAG 2.2 AA checklist (the version that matters)

The four principles — Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust — translate into roughly 50 success criteria at Level AA. The ones that catch Canadian sites most often:

• Colour contrast of 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text
• Keyboard navigation for every interactive element
• Visible focus indicators that are not just a faint browser default
• Alt text on every meaningful image (decorative gets alt="")
• Form labels programmatically associated with inputs
• Skip-to-content link as the first focusable element
• Captions and transcripts for video and audio
• Reflow at 320px width without horizontal scrolling
• Target size of at least 24×24 CSS pixels (new in 2.2)
• Accessible authentication that does not depend on cognitive tests

What compliance does NOT mean

It does not mean an "accessibility overlay" widget on your site. Overlays from vendors like AccessiBe and UserWay have been the subject of multiple lawsuits and do not bring sites into AODA, ACA, or WCAG compliance. The Canadian Human Rights Commission has been explicit on this.

Where to start

1. Run an automated scan — axe, WAVE, or Lighthouse. Fix the easy wins.
2. Manual keyboard test — unplug your mouse and try to complete your top three user flows.
3. Screen reader sanity check — VoiceOver on Mac or NVDA on Windows, ten minutes.
4. Document an accessibility statement — what you support, known gaps, contact for issues.

Why this is a competitive advantage in Canada

Federal RFPs, BC public-sector procurement, and a growing share of enterprise vendor questionnaires require an accessibility statement and conformance level. Being able to credibly answer "yes, WCAG 2.2 AA" is increasingly the difference between making the shortlist and not.

DoodleWeb builds every Canadian site to WCAG 2.2 AA by default — and we publish the audit results in our case studies. If you need an accessibility audit on your existing site, [we offer a free first pass](/free-website-audit-report).