Accessibility Plan for the Department of Justice of Canada

Author’s note
Message from the Deputy and Associate Deputy Ministers
Executive summary
- Embracing a culture of accessibility
  - Accomplishments and lessons from the first plan
Consultations
- Accessible and inclusive feedback methods
- What we heard
Accessibility commitments for Justice Canada
Accountability
Renewing our Commitment: Writing the Next Chapter Together
General
- Contact Us
Appendix A
- Barriers Identified
Glossary
- Glossary Sources

Alternate formats

Available:

Electronic (an electronic format that is compatible with adaptive technology that is intended to assist persons with disabilities)
- PDF

Coming soon:

Braille (a system of raised dots that people who are blind or who have low vision can read with their fingers)
Audio (a recording of someone reading the text out loud)
Print
Large print (larger and clearer font)
Electronic (an electronic format that is compatible with adaptive technology that is intended to assist persons with disabilities)
- Microsoft Word Document

Author’s note

On Formatting: The Accessibility Plan Team runs the Accessibility Checker and reviews this document against best practices in creating accessible documents to ensure it is fully accessible. Contact us if you experience a barrier to accessibility while reviewing this document.

Message from the Deputy and Associate Deputy Ministers

Dear readers,

We are pleased to share the Department of Justice Canada’s second Accessibility Plan. This plan marks another important step in our ongoing work to make our department more inclusive and accessible.

Over the past three years, we have learned a lot from our first plan. We listened to people with disabilities and used the experiences and feedback they shared to guide our efforts. We remain committed to creating a safe and welcoming environment for all our staff and clients and supporting the efforts toward a barrier-free Canada.

Our new plan builds on our progress, highlights areas where we need to improve, and sets clear goals for the future. We are focused on raising awareness on barriers and how to better support persons with disabilities, improving workplace accommodations, and meeting government-wide priorities.

Disabilities are diverse and can affect anyone, at any time. As of March 31, 2025, 18.5% of Justice Canada staff self-identified as persons with disabilities. In comparison, the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability reported that 27% of Canadians aged 15 and over self-identified as persons with disabilities. These numbers remind us that accessibility is not a niche issue–it is a reality that touches all of us, directly or indirectly. By embedding accessibility into our culture, operations, and processes, we can ensure that everyone, can have the opportunity to thrive.

We know that accessibility is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires ongoing conversation, collaboration and new ideas. Each of us has a role in identifying and removing barriers–whether physical, systemic, or attitudinal. Opportunities for each of us to make a difference in accessibility appear daily: it is in how we think, what we say, and what we do. By making accessibility a core part of our culture and operations, we make our department a better place for persons with disabilities and for all staff, we reinforce our departmental values of equity, inclusion and respect. Through these efforts, we also help enhance how we deliver on our mandate and serve people living in Canada.

We are proud of our progress, and we know there is more work to do. This plan is for all of us–by helping us to better recognize, remove and prevent future barriers–and reminding us accessibility is not a “fix” that is applied once. As we learn together, we will continue to check our foundational tools and processes and share our successes and lessons. Every effort we make helps inspire the next action to throw down another barrier.

Thank you for your support and commitment to this important work. Together, we can make Justice Canada a leader in accessibility.

Shalene Curtis-Micallef, Deputy Minister and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, and Isabelle T. Jacques and Samantha Maislin Dickson, Associate Deputy Ministers of Justice Canada

Executive summary

The Accessible Canada Act (Act) requires that federal departments publish Accessibility Plans. However, this Accessibility Plan’s (Plan) mission goes far beyond meeting a requirement. The Act and this Plan push us toward a better future for our country–one where everyone can take part fully in society. The work we do in support of this Plan benefits everyone, by helping us move towards the Act’s goal of a Canada without barriers by 2040.

The purpose of Justice Canada’s Accessibility Plan continues to be creating a cohesive, unifying force within the accessibility community at Justice that allows us to create meaningful change together. A dedicated network exists to support the Accessibility Plan and ensure we achieve these goals, including:

a Champion,
six Pillar Leads,
an executive lead for accessibility,
an Accessibility Coordinator, and
the Advisory Committee on Persons with Disabilities.

To ensure the Plan reflects high standards for accessibility and inclusion, the development process involves intensive review for plain and inclusive language. Further, the intersectional Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) framework and perspectives of diverse equity groups inform the content.

Changing our department’s culture to one of accessibility by default is the ultimate goal of this Plan. To do this, we align the Accessibility Commitments for Justice Canada under six Pillars:

Employment;
Built Environment;
Information and Communications Technology (ICT);
Communications, other than ICT (Communications);
Procurement of goods, services and facilities; and
Design and Delivery of Programs and Services (Service).

Each Pillar includes an outcome statement that defines the long-term mission, a list of key barriers and solutions, and a list of actions that target the barriers and lead to the outcome. A seventh Pillar, Transportation, exists in the Act but falls outside the scope of Justice Canada’s mandate.

The voices of people with lived experience, including diverse subgroups with intersecting identity factors, such as women with disabilities, black persons with disabilities, racialized persons with disabilities, Indigenous persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQI+ persons with disabilities and others, continue to be essential to our success.

We selected the outcomes and commitments that define the path we lay out in this Plan with a great deal of care for and attention to the voices of those with lived experience. These outcomes and commitments lay out specific changes to continue our journey to making the Department an employer and service provider of choice for Justice Canada staff and clients with disabilities.

The Accessible Canada Act includes a robust accountability framework. The Department will continue to update and publish a new Accessibility Plan every three years. To ensure ongoing engagement, an anonymous feedback mechanism remains available, so that staff and clients can provide input on the Plan’s content and its implementation. The Department will also prepare and publish annual progress reports, summarizing key feedback and outlining the actions taken to address identified concerns.

Embracing a culture of accessibility

The mandate of the Department of Justice (Justice Canada) is to support the dual roles of the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada. Justice Canada is made up of about 6,000 employees and has two strategic outcomes, both of which appear in its Departmental Results Framework: to ensure a fair, relevant, and accessible justice system that reflects Canadian values, and to ensure that the federal government is supported by high-quality legal services. In fulfilling its requirements under the Accessible Canada Act, Justice Canada has the opportunity to implement meaningful change and deliver on its strategic outcomes.

A deep-seated connection exists between the Department and work on accessibility. Justice Canada is a department that enshrines Canadian values in its strategic outcomes and work advancing equity contributes in many ways to the pursuit of justice. Efforts toward improving equity and accessibility are by no means limited to this Plan. The Plan draws on and integrates with the Department’s continued efforts to combat discrimination and address systemic barriers.

Accomplishments and lessons from the first plan

The Accessibility Plan is what it is today thanks to the work leading up to its development in areas such as Duty to Accommodate, Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination (including the Anti-Racism Policy), Employment Equity (EE), the Policy on GBA Plus, Occupational Health and Safety, Workplace Wellness, National Accommodations, Communications, Information Technology, and Procurement.

A posture of learning and humility guides the work on accessibility at the Department of Justice. We expect to continuously learn, grow and refine our approach to accessibility as we hear from our staff and clients, including the general public. We also take an iterative approach that ensures that each Plan builds on the last. The 2022 Plan serves as a foundation for this second plan, as we further strengthen expectations, accountability, and the actions required to achieve our accessibility goals.

The Department achieved many successes throughout the first Plan, including:

Establishing the Centre for Workplace Access-Ability, Health and Wellness, which acts as a central point of contact for all questions and requests related to accommodations.

Note: The term accommodation(s) in the context of this plan refers to accommodations on the ground of disability under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Launching the Justice Canada JUS in Time Accommodations Solutions and Ergo Coach Program (providing expedited accommodations using a centralized accommodation fund for duty to accommodate situations, and ergonomic support from trained ergo coaches).
Developing a Sponsorship Program, with specific emphasis on supporting members of employment equity groups (including persons with disabilities) who aspire to leadership positions.
Introducing various language training course offerings, prioritizing staff who identify as members of employment equity groups (including persons with disabilities).
Publishing and promoting all 18 Building Accessibility Guides.
Creating products in support of IT accessibility, including a standard process to assess applications, IT accessibility training presentation and an operational testing guide for developers.
Developing a guide on best practices for accessible events.
Developing online training: Public Service Employment Act Requirements: How to Conduct an Evaluation of Biases and Barriers in Assessment.
HR representatives actively engaging in the Public Service Commission’s Ambassadors of Inclusivity Network.
Creating an accessible, external visual identity for the Department.

As with any journey, there were also some challenges encountered during the first Plan, including:

Limited resources and budget constraints.
Business line owners missing knowledge to fully identify accessibility considerations or needs in contracts. However, there were more accessibility considerations in procurement overall.
Challenges in coordinating and combining efforts to improve accessibility because many different teams across the Department are responsible for individual parts in the process.
Low awareness–both internally and among vendors–regarding the impact of non-accessible software.
Only moderate awareness amongst staff of the actions, resources, and tools made available through the actions in the first Plan.

Throughout the implementation of the first Accessibility Plan these challenges were actively addressed through targeted actions and engagement. They will continue to be mitigated in the new Plan by strengthening coordination, capacity-building, and an integrated approach to accessibility.

Through purposeful action and genuine commitment from leadership, we believe a more just and equitable future is within reach for persons with disabilities. A great deal of work has gone into publishing this second Plan, but significant work still lies ahead. Through this Plan, we continue to bring the voices of those most impacted to the forefront and hold ourselves accountable for ensuring the future they need becomes real.

Consultations

Like with the first Plan, a co-development model was used to draft the Plan. The Advisory Committee on Persons with Disabilities (ACPD) at Justice acted as the key, trusted partner throughout development.

While drafting the Accessibility Plan, the Accessibility Plan Team facilitated conversations with ACPD members and offered them the first opportunity to comment at each stage of development. Additional engagement from members of four Employment Equity Advisory Committees (Indigenous Peoples, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression, Racialized Persons, and Women at Justice) and the Black Employee Network on the Accessibility Plan commitments contributed to integrating an inclusive and intersectional lens to our work.

We also consulted different management groups and committees to get their advice, feedback and support on what we commit to in the Plan. These groups include: the Employment Equity (EE) Managers’ Network, the Directors of Business Management Network, People and Culture Committee and Executive Committee.

Accessible and inclusive feedback methods

The consultation process was guided by the principle of “Nothing Without Us” and was designed to be inclusive and accessible, proactively seeking to incorporate diverse perspectives and lived experiences throughout its engagement activities. The process provided participants with targeted questions, sufficient information, time, and different means of participation. In addition to working with the ACPD, the key methods of consultation were:

Voluntary interviews with staff,
Group consultations with staff, with separate sessions available to staff and managers,
A staff survey, to allow participants to share their experience anonymously,
Email or verbal feedback from various stakeholders across the Department (including all EE committees and internal governance committees) on the draft Accessibility Plan commitments and on the entire draft Plan.

What we heard

We received a large amount of feedback from the consultations that helped shape the content of this Plan. Much of the feedback was based on accounts of personal experience from Justice Canada’s staff. Some common themes in these accounts included calls to:

Improve the accommodations process.
Make staffing procedures more accessible and inclusive.
Create a more inclusive and accessible culture and eliminate ableism.
Inform and equip managers, supervisors, accommodations and information technology specialists on how to support staff with disabilities.
Increase staff awareness on how to create and maintain accessible documents and content (including using plain language).
Adopt an intersectional lens in drafting and implementing the Accessibility Plan and incorporating Sex and Gender-based Analysis (SGBA) Plus to ensure sex is included as an identity factor in analysis.
Collect and analyze disaggregated data to better understand compounding barriers for people with intersectional identities.
Increase awareness on disabilities and barriers, especially invisible disabilities.
Improve awareness and communications on the work being done to improve accessibility and the resulting tools, processes, and services available.
Consider the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on accessibility and how AI can be leveraged to support accessibility.
Consider adding a Transportation Pillar, particularly relating to barriers in commuting.

Some feedback repeated themes from the first Accessibility Plan. We recognize there is still much work to do, especially in those areas and have reflected this by making some initiatives ongoing or evergreen and including them in this Plan. Other feedback included barriers for which Justice Canada cannot change or action, for example, barriers in tools not owned by Justice Canada or which would be part of collective agreements. These were nevertheless included in the spirit of transparency.

A list of specific barriers and suggested solutions are listed by Pillar in Appendix A. They are also linked in each Pillar section.

Accessibility commitments for Justice Canada

The commitments in this plan, as reflected in the actions below, are the focus of our efforts between now and December 2028. Evergreen implementation strategies connect the commitments to departmental operations under each Pillar area. Continuous engagement and collaboration with persons with disabilities ensures that the implementation strategies and the actions they support lead to the best and most timely results possible.

Actions for all pillars

The consultations process brought up three actions which apply to all Pillars and support all desired outcomes:

Raise the awareness of those supporting the pillar commitments and actions on the variety of barriers to full participation.
Apply an intersectional accessibility lens, grounded in the integrated and systematic GBA Plus approach. This includes considerations of disability and other intersecting identity factors when creating, designing, or revising programs, processes, policies, plans, and tools. Identity factors can include age, disability, economic status, education, gender, sex and sexual orientation, geography, language, racialization and ethnicity and religion and spirituality.
Engage and collaborate with other Government of Canada departments on accessibility best practices.

Employment

Outcome

Job seekers and staff, including those with disabilities, see Justice Canada as an employer of choice and can contribute at their full potential through access to employment opportunities and promotions.

Barriers

See Appendix A for list of identified Employment Pillar barriers.

Commitments

1. Justice Canada fosters a welcoming, inclusive, accessible, healthy and supportive work environment that values diversity and promotes the full participation of all staff, especially staff with disabilities (as defined in the Accessible Canada Act).

Supporting actions

Culture and staff support

Increase awareness for all staff of barriers faced by persons with a disability, considering how these barriers are often compounded by intersecting identity factors.
Equip supervisors and managers with information, resources and training on how to support staff with disabilities, using management practices and an intersectional lens.

Learning and Development and Employee Equity

Ensure that training developed and delivered by the Department is accessible by default according to established standards, including videos, captions and other materials.
Explore opportunities to collaborate with the Canada School of Public Service to improve the accessibility of training provided to public servants and for training courses on accessibility for Justice Canada staff.

2. Justice Canada ensures the Centre for Workplace Access-Ability, Health, and Wellness (CWAHW) supports all managers in carrying out their delegated authority by providing information and processes related to workplace duty to accommodate situations.

Supporting actions

Increase awareness of the variety of barriers and obstacles to full participation experienced by Justice Canada staff.
In alignment with the Better Accommodation Project (BAP), ensure that the process information for workplace accommodations is timely, clear, inclusive, and easy to find, and considers intersectionality to minimize the burden on staff requesting or updating a need for workplace accommodation.
Promote the digital Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport to increase its use.
Maintain the centralized and neutral services of case managers under the CWAHW, for questions and requests related to workplace accommodation (duty to accommodate), and tracking and regularly reviewing progress to adjust as applicable.
Increase awareness of the processes, resources and information for managers and staff on workplace accommodation (duty to accommodate), including available workplace supports and how to receive assistance.

Complementing actions beyond the Accessibility Plan

Some actions taken by Justice Canada support the goals in this Plan but are monitored and reported under different legislative instruments, strategies and plans, such as actions taken to comply with the amendments of the Public Service Employment Act.

The Department systematically reviews all aspects of staffing processes to identify and address potential biases and systemic barriers before implementation, including advertisements, assessment tools, and selection decisions. Other actions to comply with these requirements include:

Mandatory training on unconscious bias, accommodations, and inclusive hiring practices for all human resources advisors, assessment board members, and sub-delegated managers.
Reviewing all assessment tools for bias and barriers before they are used, ensuring fair and accessible processes for all candidates, including those with disabilities.
Internal frameworks, guides, and online tools to support inclusive staffing, and participation in government-wide communities of practice to share best practices.
Improved processes to encourage self-identification and self-declaration of disabilities during recruitment.
Ongoing support for managers and assessment boards to apply inclusive practices, and employment equity data is used to inform recruitment strategies and monitor progress.

Built Environment

Outcome

Justice Canada staff and clients, including those with disabilities, can make best use of all Justice occupied facilities through barrier-free access.

Barriers

See Appendix A for identified Built Environment Pillar barriers.

Commitments

1. Justice Canada develops tools to enhance use of the built environment.

Supporting actions

Review and update the Accessibility Considerations Checklist in consultation with the Employment Equity advisory committees, networks and other expert groups (such as the GBA Plus Unit), applying an intersectional lens.
Create Building Accessibility Guides for newly renovated or changed office spaces.
Review existing Building Accessibility Guides annually ensuring they are accurate and include any changes to building features and amenities.

2. Justice Canada supports and contributes to improving the accessibility of the built environment.

Supporting actions

Discuss accessibility components during the design phase of any fit-up or retrofit project.
Incorporate accessibility features, as per the Accessibility Considerations Checklist to space retrofits, new fit-ups and/or upon request.
Consult with Public Service and Procurement Canada to ensure new directives impacting office space will increase accessibility by preventing and removing barriers in the workplace.
Provide adaptable and adjustable furniture that serves the needs of all staff.

Information and Communications Technology

Outcome

Information and communications technology (ICT) provides all users, including those with disabilities, with leading edge tools that enhance capacity and improve efficiency.

Barriers

See Appendix A for identified ICT Pillar barriers.

Commitments

1. Justice Canada incorporates accessibility considerations when planning and acquiring new digital systems and technology, accounting for new improvements in accessibility technology.

Supporting actions

Increase awareness of staff responsible for planning and acquiring new digital systems and technology of the barriers and obstacles to full participation experienced by Justice Canada staff.
Review projects, best practices and guidelines by applying an intersectional accessibility lens.
Assess new software and hardware projects by incorporating accessibility and intersectional perspectives into project governance to improve accessibility.
Engage and collaborate with other Government of Canada departments on Information Technology (IT) accessibility best practices.
Refresh and update the IT accessibility guidelines annually to incorporate lessons learned and changes in standards and best practices.

2. Justice Canada supports enabling accessibility features in existing programs and technology to the extent possible and assesses current programs and technology for accessibility features to identify gaps.

Supporting actions

Increase IT staff’s awareness of the barriers and obstacles to full participation experienced by Justice staff when using technology.
Review software and projects through an intersectional accessibility lens.
Review and analyze all new Justice Canada IT software projects for accessibility compliance.
Develop an accessibility roadmap for all software analyzed including milestones and action items to make software accessible.
Introduce a self-reporting mechanism for IT accessibility issues within the Department.

Communications

Outcome

Staff, clients, and partners, of Justice Canada, as well as the public, can engage and communicate with the Department through means that work for them, in language and formats they can easily use and understand.

Barriers

See Appendix A for identified Communications Pillar barriers.

Commitments

1. Staff, clients, and partners, of Justice Canada, as well as Canada’s population, can engage and communicate with the Department through means that work for them using language and formats they can easily understand.

Supporting actions

Promote awareness and visibility of resources that support accessible work at Justice, such as guidance on plain language, accessible documents and hosting accessible events.
Review departmental communications products and web content through an intersectional accessibility lens, advancing plain language use on departmental communication products.
Update and improve the visibility of alternative format information on Justice Canada’s website (justice.gc.ca) to ensure staff and clients can access documents in appropriate formats.

2. Foster an environment where staff and Canada’s population with disabilities feel represented, included, and considered in departmental products and communications (internal and external).

Supporting actions

Review internal and external communications products through an intersectional accessibility lens and ensure the use of inclusive language and imagery that is representative of Canada’s population with disabilities.
Develop and use an accessible and inclusive visual identity.

3. Ensure that Justice Canada regularly communicates on progress made to accessibility commitments and delivers accessible activities and initiatives.

Supporting actions

Review communication plans through an intersectional accessibility lens.
Draft and implement an accessibility communications plan to increase awareness of the Accessibility Plan and its six pillar activities across the Department.
Support the release of new Accessibility Plans and Progress Reports with internal and external promotion.

Procurement of goods, services and facilities

Outcome

Justice Canada’s project and technical authorities consider accessibility requirements, when relevant, in their specifications for procuring goods, services, and facilities, so that the deliverables provide the necessary accessibility features.

Barriers

See Appendix A for identified Procurement Pillar barriers.

Commitments

1. Justice Canada considers accessibility in all procurement actions and provides consistent guidance on accessibility during the procurement process.

Supporting Actions

Increase awareness of the barriers and obstacles Justice Canada staff may face to ensure those making procurement requests consider accessibility by default.
Continue developing internal guidance to support and strengthen inclusive accessibility considerations and accessibility by default for all staff in the procurement of goods and services.
(Evergreen) Continue monitoring and reviewing the use of accessibility considerations in procurement.
(Evergreen) Provide training for procurement officers in the procurement process on accessibility requirements.
Inform internal procurement governance bodies (such as the Procurement Review Board) and keep them updated on current guidance and best practices for accessible procurement considerations.

Design and Delivery of Programs and Services (Service)

Outcome

Persons with disabilities have a better user experience when engaging with Justice Canada because the Department considers their needs throughout service design, implementation, and review.

Barriers

See Appendix A for identified Service Pillar barriers.

Commitments

1. Ensure internal services seek feedback from, and participation of equity groups, including persons with disabilities when developing or improving products and services.

Supporting actions

Increase service providers’ and developers’ awareness of the potential and existing barriers experienced by persons with disabilities seeking or using services.
Develop a campaign to raise service providers’ awareness of the importance of seeking accessibility feedback from equity groups, including persons with disabilities, and to increase the number of engagements with these groups in developing and changing services based on the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us”.
Review service feedback systems through an intersectional accessibility lens, using the applicable tools (for example, an intersectional, integrated, and systematic GBA Plus approach, the anti-racism policy analysis, etc.).
Review the feedback mechanisms on accessibility efforts to ensure users have safe and accessible avenues to provide feedback and are aware of how and where to do so.
Develop a mechanism to show the response, progress, and actions to the feedback received (without risking anonymity).
Ensure managers know the importance in supporting staff spending time to provide accessibility feedback, including for new and existing services, including ensuring timekeepers can attribute their time.
Work with internal service owners and equity groups, including persons with disabilities, to make it easier to provide feedback on accessibility-related issues.
Explore options to leverage artificial intelligence and automation to help collect feedback on accessibility.

2. Make information and resources on accessibility easier to find and reference.

Supporting actions

Increase managers’ and service providers’ awareness of the potential and existing accessibility barriers experienced by Justice Canada staff, clients, partners, and the public.
Review how information and resources on accessibility are managed and stored to ensure they are accessible and easy to find and reference.
Develop an inventory of reported barriers and challenges for persons with disabilities in finding information and using internal services. Identify and implement measures to mitigate or address the listed barriers.
Address the barriers in the inventory, considering the overall user experience, through cross-collaboration among pillar leads, business leads, equity groups and management, as applicable.

Transportation

Transportation is the seventh pillar of accessibility under the Accessible Canada Act. We list it in this plan as required by the Act but it is not in the scope of Justice Canada’s mandate.

Accountability

The accountability structures in place in the Accessible Canada Act, the Accessible Canada Regulations, and within the Department of Justice ensure we maintain momentum toward our goals. Performance measures and tracking will be finalized in the first year and updated in this plan accordingly to align with our efforts in advancing commitments under Justice Canada’s Employment Equity Plan and make reporting more effective.

The Accessibility Plan Team tracks and monitors implementation status against the actions on a semi-annual basis and maintains open communication within the Accessibility Network (Champion, Pillar Leads, ACPD) regarding the feedback form.

In preparation of annual reporting on the Accessibility Plan, the Accessibility Plan Team retains records of feedback, continuously updates and engages with ACPD, monitors change and consults to identify any new goals and actions. The same processes support the development and publication of a new Accessibility Plan every three years.

We continue to hear how much accountability matters to persons with disabilities at Justice Canada. The Department’s accessibility community recognizes and values the importance of the Accessibility Plan in fulfilling the needs and expectations of persons with disabilities.

Renewing our Commitment: Writing the Next Chapter Together

There are few experiences more empowering than seeing ourselves live up to our full potential. Persons with disabilities, like all individuals, hold tremendous potential. The difference is in the barriers we face. With each barrier we take down, we help create more equitable spaces and opportunities for both persons with disabilities and society as a whole.

By continuing to identify and eliminate barriers, we are not just improving accessibility–we are reshaping the narrative of what is possible and the daily realities of our colleagues, of ourselves, of our collective potential. As we look ahead to Justice Canada’s second Accessibility Plan, we aim to build towards that potential, working from the foundations we have laid in our first Plan.

Through the process of drafting this second Plan, we have heard many new voices and hope to hear more. Many conversations have come up–stories of collaboration, allyship through action, and meaningful change–and shared experiences of incredible resilience and what still needs to change. These conversations will guide us as we continue to create a workplace and a society where everyone can thrive.

Let us write this next chapter together. The journey may not always be easy, and challenges will arise, but each step forward brings us closer to a more inclusive future. Progress, with all its imperfections, is a reflection of our shared humanity–and it is through progress that we create something truly transformative.

General

We have a web form which captures feedback on:

Implementation of the Accessibility Plan; and
Barriers to accessibility and inclusion related to disability.

At Justice Canada, the person who receives your feedback on barriers and the Accessibility Plan is the Accessibility Coordinator. You can also contact the Accessibility Coordinator to request a copy of the Plan in an alternate format.

Alternate formats include:

Print;
Large print (larger and clearer font);
Braille (a system of raised dots that people who are blind or who have low vision can read with their fingers);
Audio (a recording of someone reading the text out loud); and
Electronic (an electronic format that is compatible with adaptive technology that is intended to assist persons with disabilities).

Contact Us

Telephone

613-957-4222*

TDD/TTY

613-992-4556

*For individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired, access can be achieved via their own interpreter or via Canada VRS, which provides an interpreter.

Fax

613-954-0811

Mailing Address

Department of Justice Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0H8

E-mail

Accessibility Plan team (AccessibilityPlan-Plandaccessibilite@justice.gc.ca)

Appendix A

Barriers Identified

Employment Pillar

The barriers and solutions related to Employment reported through consultations and our feedback mechanisms fell within four categories: duty to accommodate, staffing, onboarding, and career development and talent management.

Duty to accommodate

The barriers and suggestions we heard about included:

Uncomfortable or invasive process to seeking accommodations, delays in receiving accommodations, and perceived inconsistent application of accommodations.
Managers often lacked awareness, training, and follow-up regarding disability issues and accessibility needs.
Barriers in obtaining certain accommodations, especially accommodations relating to telework arrangements.
The GC Workplace Accessibility Passport in its current format is not fully accessible, limiting its effectiveness.
The need for policy guidance, collection and analysis of disaggregated data, and an intersectional equity lens to address disparities for equity groups.
Ongoing training on unconscious bias and disability awareness and support, culturally safe support systems, and sustained funding are essential for improving accessibility.
The need to recognize mental health as a key component of accessibility.
The need for the central fund to maintain the Centre for Workplace Access-Ability, Health and Wellness (CWAHW).
The need for ongoing professional development for Duty to Accommodate (DTA) case managers.