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Thread: seeking Canadian information
Number of posts in this thread: 8 (In chronological order)
From: Glenda
Date: Thu, Aug 19 2004 1:20PM
Subject: seeking Canadian information
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I'm attempting to put together a brief snapshot of the state of Web
accessibility in Canada and I welcome input from other Canadians on the
list.
I understand that the Treasury Board of Canada has adopted Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints, and has other
standards that address other accessibility issues not covered by the WAI.
I know [cuz I wrote the recommendation] that BC Government was considering
adopting Priorities 1 and 2. I don't know whether the recommendation has
been implemented yet.
I assuming the ODA covers web accessibility to some degree.
I would love to know what other provinces are doing. Municipal government?
Post-secondary institutions? Big business? Etc. I would love to see any
non-profit receiving government-funding be required to make their site
accessible -- as a stipulation of the funding. Am I dreaming??
Looking forward to hearing what else is happening in Canada.
Cheers,
Glenda
Soaring Eagle Communications
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From: julian.rickards
Date: Thu, Aug 19 2004 1:35PM
Subject: Re: seeking Canadian information
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ODA (Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001) recommends that GOV.ON.CA web
sites meet Priority 2 of the WCAG.
Unfortunately, after the major thrust of fall 2002 when all ministries went
ballistic trying to comply by Dec 31, 2002, it seems that accessibility has
fallen by the way side. The ODA committee is trying to resurrect interest in
accessibility again to maintain the work. I constantly run across pages, web
sites, web applications that do not meet even Priority 1 standards.
-----------------------------------------------
Julian Rickards
A/Digitial Publications Distribution Coordinator
Publication Services Section,
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines,
Vox: 705-670-5608 / Fax: 705-670-5960
From: Glenda
Date: Thu, Aug 19 2004 2:50PM
Subject: Re: seeking Canadian information
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Thanks Julian,
Curious, does the ODA have much in the way of teeth? Could an Ontarian file
a complaint under the ODA?
Any idea where other provincial governments are on this issue? When I wrote
the report for the BC Government, I tried researching what other provinces
were doing, but had no luck. I would love to find funding to study this and
then put together a Canadian web accessibility portal.
Cheers,
Glenda
Soaring Eagle Communications
From: julian.rickards
Date: Fri, Aug 20 2004 7:05AM
Subject: Re: seeking Canadian information
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I must admit that I don't know the law or Act very well. I deal with the
accessibility of the pages that I create or help create. Within our
government is a ministry called the Management Board Secretariat and they
are the ones who take the Acts and shape them into criteria. For example,
the Act may say "Web sites should be accessible to everyone" and MBS will
then tell the ministries "Adhere to Priority 2 of the WCAG". ODA is broader
that just web sites: it includes physical attributes of buildings and work
places, etc.
Could a person file a complaint? We all know about the Sydney example. I
don't know for certain but I suspect that if the Act says make government
web sites accessible and MBS tells us how, I can imagine that that gives an
Ontarian opportunity to file a complaint should they feel that they are
wronged or don't have equal access.
I visited the Manitoba Geological Survey once and noticed both an
accessibility statement and an inaccessible page (I used the
JavaScript-accessible only contact form to inform the web master and
received a mouse pad, I am satisfied :-). If some provinces have
accessibility initiatives, I suspect that all will at some point but I don't
know the details.
Jules
-----------------------------------------------
Julian Rickards
A/Digitial Publications Distribution Coordinator
Publication Services Section,
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines,
Vox: 705-670-5608 / Fax: 705-670-5960
From: Derek Featherstone
Date: Fri, Aug 20 2004 7:31AM
Subject: Re: seeking Canadian information
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glenda wrote:
> Any idea where other provincial governments are on this
> issue? When I wrote the report for the BC Government, I
> tried researching what other provinces were doing, but had no
> luck.
Hi Glenda -- we've been looking for similar
legislation/guidelines/recommendations for the provinces outside Ontario as
well. I think about 6 months ago John and I noted (between ourselves,
anyway) that BC was making progress on that front. We should have suspected
you were behind it in some way, shape or form! ;)
We had some discussions with some people from the Alberta government after
one of our conference presentations last year and it sounded like there was
little going on in Alberta (not to say there wasn't, but if there was
anything going on, it wasn't as high profile as the ODA or accessibility at
the national level). Lisa Snider may have some insight into what is going on
in the Atlantic provinces -- I think Lisa is on this list, but I can't
recall for certain...
I would guess that this means that there is either little happening in other
provinces, or it just isn't well publicized.
Cheers,
Derek.
--
Derek Featherstone = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
phone: 613.599.9784; toll-free: 1.866.932.4878 (North America)
Web Accessibility: http://www.wats.ca
Personal: http://www.boxofchocolates.ca
From: Glenda
Date: Fri, Aug 20 2004 4:34PM
Subject: Re: seeking Canadian information
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Hi Derek,
Having conversed with an insider with the BC Gov't [perhaps he will join
this conversation ], it appears that the government isn't implementing its
own Internet Standards as rigorously as it could. So I guess my report and
recommendation wasn't as effective as I had anticipated, unfortunately.
I sincerely would like to find funding to research what IS happening on this
front in Canada. Surely some great things are happening, but no one knows
about it. I envision collecting such info and placing it on a website to
showcase what is happening and to encourage/prompt others to follow suit.
My revived interest in such project is because I'm currently developing a
web accessibility training course for non-profits and I would like to be
able to highlight what others are doing -- in order to create a sense of
need that they should jump in too.
Does anyone know whether there has been a Human Rights complaint filed yet?
Except for the ODA, I'm assuming the Human Rights Code is the only legal
recourse, no matter how feeble, that Canadians might have. I'd be happily
corrected, if that is not the case.
Cheers,
Glenda
Soaring Eagle Communications
From: The Snider's Web
Date: Mon, Aug 23 2004 2:00PM
Subject: Re: seeking Canadian information
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Hi Derek,
Just catching up :) Well the short answer is not much at present here in
the Maritimes. However, I am seeing more talk about it in the
newspaper-both Provincial and Municipal wise. I will be meeting with some
Provincial political types in the next couple of months, so I will let you
know if I find anything else out. I am hoping to try and make some progress
here :)
Cheers
Lisa
At 02:53 PM 8/20/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi Glenda -- we've been looking for similar
>legislation/guidelines/recommendations for the provinces outside Ontario as
>well. I think about 6 months ago John and I noted (between ourselves,
>anyway) that BC was making progress on that front. We should have suspected
>you were behind it in some way, shape or form! ;)
>
>We had some discussions with some people from the Alberta government after
>one of our conference presentations last year and it sounded like there was
>little going on in Alberta (not to say there wasn't, but if there was
>anything going on, it wasn't as high profile as the ODA or accessibility at
>the national level). Lisa Snider may have some insight into what is going on
>in the Atlantic provinces -- I think Lisa is on this list, but I can't
>recall for certain...
>
>I would guess that this means that there is either little happening in other
>provinces, or it just isn't well publicized.
>
>Cheers,
>Derek.
>--
>Derek Featherstone = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>phone: 613.599.9784; toll-free: 1.866.932.4878 (North America)
>Web Accessibility: http://www.wats.ca
>Personal: http://www.boxofchocolates.ca
From: Todd DeVries
Date: Mon, Aug 23 2004 2:17PM
Subject: Re: seeking Canadian information
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Thanks!
Todd