Accessible Canada Act – Progress Report 2023 - Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada

Table of contents

• Introduction
• General
• Areas covered by section 5 of the ACA
• Consultations
• Feedback
• Conclusion

Introduction

The Government of Canada (GoC) aspires to have a public service that is accessible by default for the Canadian public, government institutions and their workforce. This aspiration is rooted in the belief that an inclusive public service is more innovative, efficient and productive. The goal is to make Canada’s public service barrier-free.

The GoC held consultations with persons with disabilities and the disability community and heard from more than 6,000 Canadians about what an accessible Canada means to them. This consultation informed the creation of the Accessible Canada Act (ACA).

The ACA will guide government departments, agencies and federally regulated organizations in removing barriers to achieve full accessibility and in their reporting obligations to demonstrate progress.

A federal workforce that is reflective of the Canadian population is viewed as essential to the design and implementation of programs and services that are bias- and barrier-free and address the needs of all Canadians.

The OCL context

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada (OCL) ensures transparent and ethical lobbying by administering the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct. Its responsibilities include maintaining a searchable registry of information reported by lobbyists, providing education to stakeholders and verifying that lobbyists comply with requirements.

The OCL is a micro-organization of 33 skilled, talented and dedicated professionals who work to achieve our mandate of ensuring transparent and ethical lobbying. While the OCL has promoted employment equity for many years, management has recognized the need to strengthen recruitment and workplace initiatives in relation to persons with disabilities and work towards building a more diverse workforce, a more accessible work environment and a more equitable approach to working with Canadians.

During the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the OCL implemented its first three-year-plan on accessibility for 2023-2025 and identified the following ten goals:

1. Create a culture of accessibility, where respect and inclusion are embedded in all aspects of the workplace and where all employees are empowered and supported to achieve their full potential.
2. Implement accessible practices to eliminate and prevent barriers to the recruitment, retention, and promotion of persons with disabilities.
3. Ensure that OCL staff is sufficiently equipped to deliver accessible programs and services.
4. Provide Canadians with barrier-free access to the OCL’s programs and services.
5. Create a workplace free of physical barriers to improve the working environment for all OCL staff of various abilities.
6. Ensure that OCL staff have a safe environment to work in.
7. Provide accessible technology to ensure that OCL staff have access to the tools and platforms they need to perform their work.
8. Acquire and implement technologies that ensure that all Canadians can access OCL’s programs and services.
9. Remove barriers for OCL communications products by creating an “accessibility by design” culture, where staff at all levels are informed and aware of accessibility by design requirements.
10. Share knowledge and best practices widely to reduce barriers across the public service.

These ten goals relate to the five areas covered by section 5 of the ACA, which are the following:

• employment
• built environment
• information and communication technologies (ICT)
• communication (other than ICT)
• procurement of goods, services and facilities
• design and delivery of programs and services
• transportation

The purpose of this report is to showcase the progress of the OCL in relation to achieving these accessibility goals for 2023. Since our accessibility plan was implemented during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the progress report will also show the progress made during part of 2022.

General

The person occupying the position of Executive Director, Corporate Services was designated by the OCL to receive feedback on accessibility on behalf of the organization.

Our organization may be contacted to:

• request copies of our accessibility plans, our progress reports and descriptions of the feedback process on certain alternative formats;
• submit feedback on the obstacles encountered in dealing with our organization;
• provide feedback on the implementation of our accessibility plan.

This can be done by contacting the Executive Director, Corporate Services as follows:

• By email: info@lobbycanada.gc.ca
• By telephone: (613) 957-2760
• By mail: Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
  410 Laurier Avenue West, 8th Floor
  Ottawa, ON K1R 1B7

Feedback may also be provided on our website at the following link: https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/en/accessibility

Areas covered by section 5 of the ACA

The following sub-sections will focus on showcasing the progress made with respect to the elimination or prevention of obstacles identified by our organization in our accessibility plan in the areas covered by section 5 of the ACA. These areas are as follows:

• employment
• built environment
• information and communication technologies (ICT)
• communication, other than ICT
• procurement of goods, services and facilities
• design and delivery of programs and services
• transportation

Employment

In its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan, the OCL identified the two following goals related to employment:

1. Create a culture of accessibility, where respect and inclusion are embedded in all aspects of the workplace and where all employees are empowered and supported to achieve their full potential.
2. Implement accessible practices to eliminate and prevent barriers to the recruitment, retention, and promotion of persons with disabilities.

Goal 1

The first goal identified is to create a culture of accessibility, where respect and inclusion are embedded in all aspects of the workplace and where all employers are empowered and supported to achieve their full potential.

For this goal, the following three supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Promote accessibility-related tools, resources and events, including promoting and encouraging participation in activities for the National Accessibility Week.
• Provide accessibility learning opportunities to staff including bolstering the OCL required training curriculum with additional mandatory and recommended training.
• Promote mechanisms for staff with disabilities to share experience and raise concerns. This includes analysing and acting on feedback received through the 2022 Public Service Employment Survey and creating exit questionnaires to better identify workplace retention barriers and gaps.

The following paragraphs will aim to detail the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Promote accessibility-related tools, resources and events, including promoting and encouraging participation in activities for the National Accessibility Week.

In recent years, the OCL has implemented an intranet to facilitate access to a variety of information for staff. The OCL intranet was made available to staff in early December 2023. The intranet makes it possible, among other things, to easily access accessibility-related tools and resources in addition to information on various accessibility-related events.

The OCL also promoted the event organized by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) in celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 1, 2023. The OCL is planning to promote National Accessibility Week in May 2024 as well. The OCL also made available accessibility fact sheets to employees. These sheets have been posted on the premises of the OCL and are also available on the intranet.

The OCL has also been promoting mental health-related activities, events and resources to all staff on an ongoing basis. All CAL staff members are aware of the mental health resources available to them when needed.

• Provide accessibility learning opportunities to staff including bolstering the OCL required training curriculum with additional mandatory and recommended training.

To achieve its goal of creating a culture of accessibility, where respect and inclusion are integrated into all aspects of the workplace, the invited its staff to complete a training course on accessibility. This training, offered by the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS), is entitled Addressing Disability Inclusion and Barriers to Accessibility. All OCL employees have completed this training in the past year. It is also required that all new employees complete this training within the first three months of joining the OCL.

OCL's mandatory training program is reviewed periodically to ensure that essential training is completed by employees. The OCL plans to review this program in the coming months and add more optional or mandatory training on diversity and inclusion, including accessibility and the use of plain language.

• Promote mechanisms for staff with disabilities to share experience and raise concerns.

OCL staff members had the opportunity to voice their accessibility concerns in the 2022 Public Service Employment Survey (PSES). Responses to the PSES showed the following:

✓ No OCL employees reported that accessibility or accommodation issues had hindered their career development in the past twelve months. 

✓ No employee reported that accessibility and accommodation problems had caused work-related stress in the last twelve months. 

Employees and external stakeholders were consulted in relation to accessibility at the OCL prior to the publication of our 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan. Responses to this consultation were analyzed and comments raised were considered with a view to eliminating or reducing potential barriers to accessibility. We will continue to consult employees and external stakeholders periodically to ensure that their views, comments and concerns are taken into account in the removal and reduction of barriers to accessibility at the OCL.

Goal 2

The OCL’s second goal in its 2023-2023 Accessibility Plan is to implement accessible practices to eliminate and prevent barriers to the recruitment, retention, and promotion of persons with disabilities.

For this goal, the following five supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Leverage interdepartmental accessibility groups to acquire tools and develop accessibility expertise in staffing in consultation with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, our human resources provider.
• Review available workforce data to gain insight into gaps for persons with disabilities. This includes analyzing staff utilization rates, staff representation rates and drop-off rates at different stages of the selection process.
• Promote talent management programs that facilitate the participation of persons with disabilities.
• Implement the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport to help facilitate and streamline conversations between staff with disabilities and managers about the tools, supports and measures they require to succeed in the workplace.
• Implement and promote the new self-identification questionnaire designed to collect information on the composition of the Public Service workforce to comply with legislation on employment equity.

The following paragraphs will aim to detail the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Leverage interdepartmental accessibility groups to acquire tools and develop accessibility expertise in staffing in consultation with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, our human resources provider.

During the summer of 2023, the OCL updated its instrument of delegation of human resources authorities to include our legislative responsibility under the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) to conduct an evaluation in relation to biases and barriers before every staffing process. This requires an evaluation of the process steps to ensure that they are exempt of biases or barriers for persons with disabilities. The OCL will continue to consult its human resources provider, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, to obtain information on accessibility best practices when staffing employees.

• Review available workforce data to gain insight into gaps for persons with disabilities. This includes analyzing staff utilization rates, staff representation rates and drop-off rates at different stages of the selection process.

The amendments to the Public Service Employment Act requiring the evaluation of biases and barriers during the staffing process came into force on July 1, 2023. The OCL did not complete a large staffing process allowing it to conduct an analysis of representation rates.

• Promote talent management programs that facilitate the participation of persons with disabilities.

There is no talent management program currently in place at the OCL. Talent management is assessed on a case-by-case basis between staff members and management. All OCL employees are invited to take training and participate in events that will help them progress along their career paths, whether they are persons with disabilities or not.

• Implement the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport to help facilitate and streamline conversations between staff with disabilities and managers about the tools, supports and measures they require to succeed in the workplace.

The OCL implemented a GC Workplace Accessibility Passport. Staff members are encouraged to use the Passport to initiate discussions with their managers with respect to the obstacles they could face in the workplace as well as the possible solutions to eliminate or decrease them. Given that the use of the Passport is voluntary and confidential, no data is available on the use of the Passport within the organization.

• Implement and promote the new self-identification questionnaire designed to collect information on the composition of the Public Service workforce to comply with legislation on employment equity.

Staff members were informed that the self-identification questionnaire will be made available online shortly and that they will be invited to complete it.

Built environment

The built environment can have a material impact on health and wellbeing and, if optimized, can ensure that all employees and clients have equal and fair access to and use of internal infrastructure.

In its 2023-2025 accessibility report, the OCL identified the following two goals related to the area of built environment:

1. Create a workplace free of physical barriers to improve the working environment for all OCL staff of various abilities.
2. Ensure that OCL staff have a safe environment to work in.

Goal 3

The OCL’s third goal in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to create a workplace free of physical barriers to improve the working environment for all OCL staff of various abilities.

For this goal, the following supporting action must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Continue to identify and implement workstations for persons with an impairment.

The OCL has committed to providing workspaces and equipment that meets the specific needs of its staff. Employees are encouraged to receive an ergonomic assessment to determine which equipment would meet their needs. Upon their arrival at the OCL, employees are encouraged to communicate their special needs and the accommodations required. This vision will continue to be a priority for the OCL.

Goal 4

The OCL’s fourth goal in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to ensure that OCL staff have a safe environment to work in.

For this goal, the following supporting action must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Document and review evacuation plans with staff with disabilities.

Training in emergency procedures, including the presentation of evacuation plans, is offered to all staff on an annual basis. New OCL employees are made aware of the evacuation plan on their first day at work and the emergency procedures training is provided as mandatory training at the earliest opportunity.

The OCL maintains a list of persons requiring evacuation assistance. Evacuation assistants have been identified to assist these individuals in evacuating in the event of an emergency. Evacuation assistants, floor wardens and management annually receive more specialized training on how to assist persons with disabilities in evacuating in the event of an emergency. The information contained in the training for staff, evacuation assistants and floor wardens is reviewed periodically to ensure its relevancy.

Information and communication technologies (ICT)

Central agencies and common service providers set government standards for the acquisition of software and hardware for many products and services. Their leadership is essential in moving toward more accessible infrastructure.

In its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan, the OCL identified two goals related to the area of information and communication technologies (ICT), which are as follows:

1. Provide accessible technology to ensure that OCL staff have access to the tools and platforms they need to perform their work.
2. Acquire and implement technologies that ensure that all Canadians can access OCL’s programs and services.

Goal 5

The fifth goal identified by the OCL in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to provide accessible technology to ensure that OCL staff have access to the tools and platforms they need to perform their work.

For this objective, the three following supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Acquire technology with accessibility in mind.
• Integrate validation for accessibility into the software development life cycle.
• Add accessibility to the compliance assessment for new nonstandard software requests, which already incorporate cybersecurity and privacy assessments, as part of the non-standard software/service request procedure.

The following paragraphs will aim to detail the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Acquire technology with accessibility in mind.

OCL’s current technology acquisition practices take accessibility into account. Indeed, OCL strives to always have technologies on hand that can meet the specific needs of staff (ambidextrous mice, large screens, adjustable work tables, etc.).

Also, upon arrival at the OCL, employees are encouraged to let us know about any special needs they may have in terms of technological equipment so that we can provide them with what they need.

• Integrate validation for accessibility into the software development life cycle.

During the year, the Lobbyists Registration System (LRS) development team implemented a formal process to validate Web accessibility within its software development lifecycle.

Prior to each deployment, web accessibility is evaluated using the WAVE evaluation tool to determine whether any corrections are required. The the results of the self-assessment and any corrective action taken are documented in the LRS project management tool. The WAVE tool was created by WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind), which has been providing complete Web accessibility solutions since 1999. These years of experience have made WebAIM one of the world's leading providers of Web accessibility expertise. WebAIM is a non-profit organization based at Utah State University's Institute for Disability Research, Policy, & Practice.

• Add accessibility to the compliance assessment for new nonstandard software requests, which already incorporate cybersecurity and privacy assessments, as part of the non-standard software/service request procedure.

When acquiring non-standard software at CAL, procurement staff now ask suppliers to provide a third-party accessibility report as part of the procurement process.

Goal 6

The sixth goal identified by the OCL in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to acquire and implement technologies that ensure that all Canadians can access OCL’s programs and services.

For this objective, the following three supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Consult the Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology (AAACT) team on leading-edge Corporate Services 2023-2024 14 technology and seek training opportunities provided by AAACT. Acquisitions will be undertaken if cost benefit analysis warrants.
• Consult and join communities of practice through Government of Canada’s collaboration platforms to identify best practices and share lessons learned on complying with ICT accessibility requirements.
• Assist Canadians who require technological assistance with filling out mandatory forms and using OCL services.

The following paragraphs will describe the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Consult the Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology (AAACT) team on leading-edge Corporate Services 2023-2024 14 technology and seek training opportunities provided by AAACT. Acquisitions will be undertaken if cost benefit analysis warrants.

The OCL is scheduled to consult with the Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology (AAACT) team by March 31, 2024, to determine whether leading-edge technology could benefit us, and whether certain training might be relevant for some of our staff members. We will consider purchasing these technologies and taking the necessary training if the cost-benefit analysis warrants it.

• Consult and join communities of practice through Government of Canada’s collaboration platforms to identify best practices and share lessons learned on complying with ICT accessibility requirements.

The Manager, Communications Services and the Manager, IT Operations and Systems Management are part of accessibility-related communities of practice.

• Assist Canadians who require technological assistance with filling out mandatory forms and using OCL services.

The OCL is currently exploring options to hire an outside firm with a view to carry out an in-depth analysis of the accessibility of the LRS and of the OCL website, which are the main services offered to Canadians. This would make the Registry and the website more accessible for Canadians and would allow persons with disabilities hoping to submit registrations for lobbying activities or other requests to have access to more accessible forms.

Communication, other than ICT

The GOC community of practice indicates that communications is a system for transmitting or exchanging information, and that performance indicators are under development for accessible communications.

Government accessibility guidance suggests web material should be written to a grade 6 to 8 level. Consideration could be given to a plain language review of the current content for individuals requiring assistance in understanding and acting upon their privacy rights.

In its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan, the OCL identified the following two goals related to the area of communication (other than ICT):

1. Remove barriers for OCL communications products by creating an “accessibility by design” culture, where staff at all levels are aware of requirements.
2. Share knowledge and best practices widely to reduce barriers across the public service.

Goal 7

The seventh goal identified by the OCL in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to remove barriers for OCL communications products by creating an “accessibility by design” culture, where staff at all levels are aware of requirements.

For this goal, the following four supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Encourage staff to include plain language training in their learning plans and to follow the plain language process.
• Ensure current employees and future hires are knowledgeable about GoC guidelines for usability and accessibility of content.
• Continue to ensure that the OCL website is accessible through ongoing compliance with WCAG and the Standard of Web Accessibility.
• Explore methods of offering additional help to Canadians when filling out forms required to access OCL services.

The following paragraphs will detail the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Encourage staff to include plain language training in their learning plans and to follow the plain language process.

While the Office’s front-line employees are striving to use plain language during their interactions with Canadians, no training has been recommended. The OCL will make available to all personnel tools and information related to plain language by March 31, 2024. Also, plain language training will be recommended to staff and managers will be encouraged to include this training in the employees’ learning plans for 2024-2025.

• Ensure current employees and future hires are knowledgeable about GoC guidelines for usability and accessibility of content.

Current OCL employees and future hires are expected to be informed of GoC guidelines for usability and accessibility of content. At the moment, only employees who are responsible for posting public information are aware of these guidelines. It is expected that the information pertaining to the usability and accessibility of content will be posted on the intranet for all staff to access.

• Continue to ensure that the OCL website is accessible through ongoing compliance with WCAG and the Standard of Web Accessibility.

Our team continually ensures that the OCL website is accessible and compliant with WCAG and the Standard of Web Accessibility.

• Explore methods of offering additional help to Canadians when filling out forms required to access OCL services.

The OCL is currently exploring options to hire an outside firm with a view to carry out an in-depth analysis of the accessibility of the LRS and of the OCL website, which are the main services offered to Canadians. This would make the Registry and the website more accessible for Canadians and would allow persons with disabilities hoping to submit registrations for lobbying activities or other requests to have access to more accessible forms.

Goal 8

The eighth goal identified by the OCL in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to share knowledge and best practices widely to reduce barriers across the public service.

For this goal, the following two supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Develop an OCL plain language reference guide and checklist.
• Share accessible communications knowledge with other GoC departments and agencies.

The following paragraphs will detail the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Develop an OCL plain language reference guide and checklist.

The OCL is currently working on developing an OCL plain language reference guide and checklist. This project is expected to be completed by the end of the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The delay associated with this initiative results from a shortage of staff resources. The OCL recently received additional funding to hire personnel that will allow this initiative to move forward.

• Share accessible communications knowledge with other GoC departments and agencies.

The Manager, Communications Services and the Manager, IT Operations and Systems Management are part of accessibility-related communities of practice. Their participation in the discussions allows for the dissemination of good practices related to accessibility within the OCL. The Manager, Communications Services, also communicates regularly with members of other Agents of Parliament to discuss best practices in terms of accessibility.

The procurement of goods, services and facilities

The OCL has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and also retains the services of a part-time employee for its procurement-related activities.

As the contracting authority for the OCL, the Executive Director, Corporate Services has continually ensured that procurement-related activities conducted on behalf of the OCL comply with all legal and policy requirements, including the ACA. Accessibility requirements have been part of the procurement process from the outset.

The design and delivery of programs and services

The OCL provides services that ensure transparency and accountability in the lobbying of public office holders to increase the public’s confidence in the integrity of government decision-making as follows:

• ­ Maintain a registry of lobbyists
• Offer client services
• Verify and investigate allegations of non-compliance
• Review requests for exemption to the five-year prohibition on lobbying
• Verify the compliance of monthly communications reports
• Provide outreach
• Maintain media relations

In its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan, the OCL identified two goals related to the area of design and delivery of programs and services, which are as follows:

1. Ensure that OCL staff is sufficiently equipped to deliver accessible programs and services.
2. Provide Canadians with barrier-free access to the OCL’s programs and services.

Goal 9

The ninth goal identified by the OCL in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to ensure that OCL staff is sufficiently equipped to deliver accessible programs and services.

For this goal, the following three supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Ensure that training on soft skills such as unconscious bias and how to handle difficult situations is offered to public-facing staff to build awareness and understanding of persons with disabilities and accessibility issues.
• Dedicate more internal resources with lived accessibility experience to coach staff on issues related to accessibility.
• Review the services inventory with an Accessibility Lens and ensure this inventory is posted in the Government of Canada interactive data tool, GC Infobase, in keeping with the Policy on Service and Digital.

Government of Canada interactive data tool, GC Infobase, in keeping with the Policy on Service and Digital.
The following paragraphs will aim to detail the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Ensure that training on soft skills such as unconscious bias and how to handle difficult situations is offered to public-facing staff to build awareness and understanding of persons with disabilities and accessibility issues.

As part of OCL’s mandatory training program, all employees had to complete two training courses on prejudice and unconscious bias. Staff who interacts directly with the public, such as client service advisors, completed mandatory training to help handle difficult situations in recent years.

• Dedicate more internal resources with lived accessibility experience to coach staff on issues related to accessibility.

Since no OCL staff member openly identified themselves as having experienced obstacles related to accessibility, it is difficult to determine which internal resources could raise employee awareness about accessibility. However, all OCL employees are invited to share their experiences at all times and are also invited to share their ideas to improve accessibility at the OCL.

• Review the services inventory with an Accessibility Lens and ensure this inventory is posted in the Government of Canada interactive data tool, GC Infobase, in keeping with the Policy on Service and Digital.

The OCL is planning a review of its services inventory with an Accessibility Lens and will ensure this inventory is posted in the Government of Canada interactive data tool, GC Infobase, in keeping with the Policy on Service and Digital. This supporting action will be undertaken by March 31, 2024, as indicated in the OCL’s Accessibility Plan.

Goal 10

The tenth and last goal identified by the OCL in its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan is to provide Canadians with barrier-free access to the OCL’s programs and services.

For this goal, the following four supporting actions must be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• Encourage the use of plain language for investigation reports and other OCL publications, such as guidance documents and interpretation bulletins.
• Conduct a study/survey to seek Canadians views on the accessibility of the OCL’s programs and services.
• Retain an external resource to review and assess OCL’s website, the Lobbyists Registration System, products and client touch points from an Accessibility Lens.
• Further enhance the accessibility of our website by letting users know they can request content in alternative formats and provide contact information for making these requests.

The following paragraphs will detail the actions taken for each of these supporting action items.

• Encourage the use of plain language for investigation reports and other OCL publications, such as guidance documents and interpretation bulletins.

OCL employees are striving to use plain language during their interactions with the public and the OCL’s public reports. For example, plain language will be used when updating the OCL’s interpretation bulletins.

As indicated earlier in this report, no training has been recommended to the staff. However, the OCL will make available to all personnel tools and information related to plain language by March 31, 2024. Also, plain language training will be recommended to staff and managers will be encouraged to include this training in the employees’ learning plans for 2024-2025.

• Conduct a study/survey to seek Canadians views on the accessibility of the OCL’s programs and services.

The OCL consulted employees, and a number of other external stakeholders, in relation to accessibility prior to the publication of its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan. Responses to this consultation were analyzed and comments raised were considered with a view to eliminating or reducing potential barriers to accessibility.

An internal consultation was also held in preparation for this report to seek the opinions and comments of OCL staff on the actions taken in the last year to reduce and eliminate barriers to accessibility.

• Retain an external resource to review and assess OCL’s website, the Lobbyists Registration System, products and client touch points from an Accessibility Lens.

The OCL is currently exploring options to hire an outside firm with a view to carry out an in-depth analysis of the accessibility of the LRS and of the OCL website, which are the main services offered to Canadians. This would make the Registry and the website more accessible for Canadians and would allow persons with disabilities hoping to submit registrations for lobbying activities or other requests to have access to more accessible forms.

• Further enhance the accessibility of our website by letting users know they can request content in alternative formats and provide contact information for making these requests.

The accessibility of our website was enhanced by a statement letting users know they can request content in alternative formats and provide contact information for making these requests.

Transportation

This section is not applicable to the OCL.

Consultations

Accessibility plan

When the OCL Accessibility Plan was being created, the staff and the public were consulted to ensure the approach in the preparation of this plan respected the “nothing about us without us” principle. This was done through an open survey on our website. Comments and next step recommendations received were integrated in our 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan.

Progress Report 2023

As described in the previous sections, the OCL implemented a number of supporting actions to reduce and eliminate barriers to accessibility. Since they were mainly related to our internal processes, we conducted a consultation with our staff in October 2023. The purpose of the consultation was to establish whether the supporting actions undertaken enhanced the OCL’s accessibility and identify enhancements to be made to remove and/or reduce obstacles and barriers to accessibility.

Survey format

In October 2023, OCL employees had the opportunity to anonymously complete a voluntary survey where they had to answer two questions.

The survey consisted of two questions written in plain language:

1. In 2022 and 2023, changes were made to enhance accessibility to the OCL. Here is a list of the enhancements made:
   • Provide accessibility learning opportunities to staff by adding the CSPS course "Addressing Disability Inclusion and Barriers to Accessibility" to the OCL’s list of mandatory courses.
   • Implement the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport.
   • Continue to identify and implement workstations for persons with an impairment.
   • Document and review evacuation plans with staff with disabilities.
   • Implement the assessment against bias and barriers during staffing processes.
     Do you think these actions have enhanced accessibility within the OCL? Please answer yes or no and explain why.
2. Do you have any comments, feedback or ideas for enhancing accessibility within the OCL?

Participants

Twenty-three staff members took part in the consultation, representing just over 80% of our workforce. As this consultation was carried out anonymously, it is impossible to establish the range of disabilities represented by the respondents. Furthermore, in an organization with only 28 employees on average at any one time, it is impossible to identify the range of disabilities among our staff without breaching their privacy.

Results

All participants indicated that the actions listed in Question 1 had improved accessibility within the OCL. More specifically, several staff members indicated that these actions had made everyone aware of the importance of accessibility issues, and that this had led to several discussions on the subject. Many participants also mentioned the relevance of the School of Public Service's course on eliminating barriers to accessibility.

With regard to Question 2, the two main comments raised were, first, that it is important to continue circulating information relating to accessibility and, second, that it would be beneficial to enhance web accessibility in order to reduce certain accessibility barriers for users.

These two suggestions are consistent with the actions we wish to focus on in the coming months and during the next fiscal year.

Feedback

Since the implementation of its 2023-205 Accessibility Plan, the OCL has not received any feedback related to the plan or to barriers encountered by people who have used our services.

Conclusion

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada recognizes the importance of reducing and eliminating barriers and obstacles to accessibility in order to achieve a more diverse workforce, a more accessible work environment and a more equitable approach to working with Canadians.

The main accessibility objective over the next few months will be to evaluate options for hiring a third party to conduct an evaluation of our website and the LRS. Following this evaluation, we will attempt to reduce and/or eliminate any barriers to accessibility that are identified. Following this, we will be conducting a more global consultation, targeting users to obtain their feedback. We will also continue to implement the actions identified in our accessibility plan by the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year and beyond.

Despite the fact that diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of the OCL's priorities, we recognize that we have not been able to achieve certain goals and actions that were identified in our accessibility plan. We were unable to conduct an in-depth and broader consultation on progress on removing barriers as part of the drafting of this progress report.

With a small staff of 33 and multiple unforeseen obligations, the Office of the Commissioner's workforce limits the implementation of the actions listed in its accessibility plan within the identified timeframes. This is owing to the fact that many employees have multiple responsibilities, and that the workload associated with the Office's mandate has made it impossible to implement the actions listed within the timeframes identified.

Ongoing efforts will continue, however, to achieve our goals of eliminating obstacles and barriers to accessibility within the OCL.