1. Reference Document Document de référence
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat 
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. This information is released under an Open Government Licence - Canada. 
Disclaimer: This resource has been deemed to have business value but is not an official publication of the Government of Canada. It is provided in the original language and format in which it was created.   
Document de référence
Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor du Canada
© Sa Majesté la Reine du chef du Canada. Les présents renseignements sont communiqués selon les termes de la Licence du
gouvernement ouvert — Canada. 
Avis de non-responsabilité: On a jugé que les présents renseignements possèdent une valeur opérationnelle, mais il est possible qu’ils soient inexacts car ils sont périmés. Ils sont fournis dans la langue originale et le format dans lesquels ils ont
été créés.
Open Government Canada
Gouvernement ouvert Canada

2. Information Accessibility
Information Management (IM) Policy

3. What is Accessibility?
“Appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas” (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006, p. 8)
<For interactive systems> usability of a product, service, environment or facility by people within the widest range of capabilities. The concept of accessibility addresses the full range of user capabilities and is not limited to users who are formally recognized as having disability. (International Organization for Standardization, ISO :1998(en)).

4. Why Should You Care About Accessibility?
14% of the population (4.9 million Canadians) identify as a person with a disability
30% of the population have a disability if you include “invisible” disabilities (cognitive, mental health or chronic pain related)
50% of the population have a disability if you take into account age-related impairments (low vision, low hearing, cognitive impairments)
At least once in a person’s lifetime, they also may have a temporary disability brought on through accident, illness, repetitive strain, lifecycle changes (e.g., pregnancy).
When inclusive and accessible design is in place, it is a benefit for all and seamlessly meets the needs of individuals across the board.

5. Accessibility Is a Benefit For Everyone
Added-value benefits for IM include:
understandable content for all users that is also machine-readable
findability; when content is accessible it increases its findability, a cornerstone of good information management
facilitates open government
no need for on demand “accessibility” when accessibility is pre-planned for in development and creation stage
decreased costs in post-procurement, resolution and retro-fixing
ability to recruit the best and brightest

6. Accessibility Today in Canada
Policy Suite Reset to streamline, align and clarify policy requirements
Societal shift towards inclusive accessibility in Canada
1st Minister responsible for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) named
Open Government
open, accountable, transparent
Results and service-focused government
Canada’s 2017 report to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Accessibility Act
Objective: accessible, inclusive Canada
Expected timeline: coming into force in early 2018
Will apply to federal government and federally regulated sectors
Federal Accessibility Strategy

7. The Current GC Situation: External-facing Policy
Standard on Web Accessibility (2011)
Standard on Web Interoperability (2011)
Standard on Web Usability (2011)

8. The Current GC Situation: Internal-facing Policy
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms section 15
Canadian Human Rights Act
Employment Equity Act
Policy on Duty to Accommodate Persons with Disabilities in the Federal Public Service
Captures the workplace challenges of 2002, very physical disability oriented (i.e., office accommodations) but limited on IT programs and web
Burden rests on the employee to make their case within the federal system for their employment-related needs

9. Accessibility is About Fair Access for All to Information
Accessibility should no longer be just about “web pages” but anything published, shared or delivered internally and externally.

10. “One Size Fits All” is Not Fair

11. A Visual Example of Failed Information Accessibility

13. Fair Versus Equal

14. But… Accessibility is Easy!
There are no excuses for inaccessibility
Costly? Only when everything has to be retrofitted after the fact
Niche Audience? 14% of Canadians or nearly 4.9 Million Canadians have a disability
Innovation limiting? Epub3 allows for one single input document to be exported as a variety of different outputs based off a single source
It doesn’t look good? Incomprehensible information doesn’t look good

15. What Can You Do To Make Information Accessible?
Request accessibility from the onset
Set your document language properly
Describe images in documents
Structure your reading order
Ensure you use titles and headings
Scan documents as readable OCR versus images
Or add a transcript of what is being scanned for comprehension
Provide transcripts for videos and audio/podcasts
Adding short descriptions to your documents in GCDOCS
Leverage version control, cross referencing, de-duplication of content in your EDRMS
Save your documents in open, non-proprietary formats

16. Information Management
Accessibility Makes Your Job Easier
Information Management
Accessibility
Findability

17. Thank You Jérôme Foldes-Busque jerome.foldes-busque@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Lead, Information Management Policy
Chief Information Officer Branch
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Government of Canada
GCconnex: Jeromefb