AODA and your website: accessibility in Ontario

Who has to make their website accessible

The specific website rule applies to designated public sector organizations and to businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees in Ontario. Since January 1, 2021, their public websites and web content must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 at Level AA.

• It is the organization that controls the website, directly or through a contract, that is responsible, even when an agency built it.

• The rule covers websites and web content published after January 1, 2012.

• Two success criteria are not required: live captions and audio descriptions for pre-recorded video.

• Internal websites (intranets and extranets) are generally not covered.

• When content truly cannot be made accessible, the organization must explain why and provide a summary on request.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are not bound by this specific website rule. They still have to provide accessible customer service and, on request, information in an accessible format. An accessible website is the simplest way to meet that duty, and the natural choice for a business that intends to grow past 50 people.

What WCAG 2.0 Level AA means on a page

WCAG is the international reference published by the W3C. Level AA brings together the criteria that make a site usable by people who navigate with a keyboard, a screen reader, a magnifier or voice control, or who have low vision, colour blindness or cognitive difficulties. On a business website, the most common issues are:

• images without a text alternative, and icons or buttons without an accessible name;

• text contrast that is too low, and information conveyed by colour alone;

• menus, sliders and pop-ups that cannot be used with a keyboard, or that trap the focus;

• forms without proper labels, and error messages that are not announced;

• headings used for their size rather than their structure;

• videos without captions;

• PDFs published without any accessibility work.

WCAG has since moved to version 2.2, published on October 5, 2023. It keeps the success criteria of 2.0 with one exception: criterion 4.1.1 (Parsing), removed as obsolete. We work to WCAG 2.2 Level AA, and we also check the criteria that the AODA still requires through its reference to WCAG 2.0.

What we do not promise

We do not certify AODA compliance and we do not give legal advice. We deliver an audit against WCAG, technical fixes and a record of what has been tested and corrected, which is what you need to answer your compliance report honestly. Third-party modules (booking tools, payment pages, chat widgets) depend partly on their publishers: we point out their limits and suggest alternatives where they exist.