If your business website can't be used by someone with a visual impairment, a motor disability, or who relies on a screen reader — you're not just losing customers. In Canada, you may also be breaking the law. Accessibility requirements have been tightening steadily, and 2026 is the year most businesses can no longer afford to ignore them.
Which Laws Apply to Your Website?
Canada has accessibility legislation at both the federal and provincial level. The two most relevant for website owners are:
The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) — Federal legislation that applies to federally regulated organizations (banks, telecoms, transportation, federal government). The ACA requires organizations to identify and remove barriers in their digital services, including websites and apps. Regulations under the ACA continue to expand, with new reporting requirements rolling out in 2026.
Ontario's AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) — The most mature provincial framework. As of January 1, 2025, all organizations with 50+ employees in Ontario must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA for their public-facing web content. This includes websites, web applications, and digital documents. Organizations with fewer than 50 employees have a compliance requirement for new websites and significant refreshes.
Other provinces are following Ontario's lead. British Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia all have accessibility legislation in various stages of implementation. Quebec's Act to secure handicapped persons in the exercise of their rights also applies to digital content for government and public bodies, with private-sector expectations growing.
What WCAG 2.1 AA Actually Means in Plain Language
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the international standard. Level AA is the baseline most Canadian laws reference. Here's what it requires, without the jargon:
1. Perceivable
All images need descriptive alt text. Videos need captions. Text must have sufficient colour contrast against its background (at least 4.5:1 for body text). No information should be conveyed through colour alone.
2. Operable
Every interactive element — links, buttons, forms, menus — must be usable with a keyboard alone. No keyboard traps. Dropdown menus must be navigable without a mouse. All pages must have visible focus indicators.
3. Understandable
Form inputs need clear labels. Error messages must explain what went wrong and how to fix it. The page language must be declared in the HTML. Content should be written in plain language where possible.
4. Robust
Your site must work with assistive technologies — screen readers, magnifiers, switch devices. This means valid HTML, proper ARIA attributes where needed, and semantic markup (using <nav>, <main>, <button> instead of generic <div> elements).
The 7 Most Common Violations on Canadian Business Websites
We audit dozens of Canadian business websites every month. These are the issues we see most often:
1. Missing alt text on images
The single most common failure. Every meaningful image needs a description. Decorative images need alt="" (empty alt) to be skipped by screen readers.
2. Poor colour contrast
Light grey text on white backgrounds is a frequent offender. Use a contrast checker — the minimum ratio is 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
3. No keyboard navigation
Custom JavaScript menus and modal dialogs that only respond to mouse clicks. If you can't Tab through your entire site and interact with every element, it fails.
4. Missing form labels
Placeholder text is not a label. Every input field needs a proper <label> element linked to it. Without this, screen readers can't tell users what a field is for.
5. No skip-to-content link
Screen reader users shouldn't have to Tab through your entire navigation on every page. A "Skip to main content" link at the top of the page is a simple fix and a WCAG requirement.
6. Auto-playing media
Videos or audio that play automatically without user control are a barrier for people with cognitive disabilities and screen reader users. Always default to paused.
7. Missing page language declaration
Without lang="en" (or lang="fr") on the HTML element, screen readers can't determine the correct pronunciation rules. This is a one-line fix that most sites miss.
How to Run a Quick Accessibility Audit
You don't need an expert to catch the basics. Here's a 10-minute self-audit:
Step 1: Try navigating your site using only the Tab key. Can you reach every link, button, and form? Can you see where you are (focus indicator)?
Step 2: Run your homepage through WAVE (free web accessibility evaluation tool). It will flag missing alt text, contrast issues, and structural problems.
Step 3: Check your colour contrast using the browser DevTools — Chrome's Lighthouse audit includes an accessibility score.
Step 4: Right-click any image on your site and inspect the element. Does it have meaningful alt text?
Step 5: View your page source. Does the <html> tag have a lang attribute?
The Business Case Beyond Compliance
Accessibility isn't just about avoiding fines. Accessible websites are better websites — they load faster, work on more devices, rank higher in search, and convert more visitors.
Search engines are essentially screen readers. They can't see your images, watch your videos, or click your JavaScript buttons. The same practices that make a site accessible to humans make it readable to search engines. Alt text, semantic headings, descriptive links, fast load times — these are all direct SEO ranking factors.
In Canada, over 6.2 million people (22% of the population aged 15+) have a disability. That's not a niche audience — it's roughly one in five of your potential customers.
Accessibility also builds trust. When a site works well for everyone — including people using assistive technology, older adults with low vision, or someone temporarily navigating with one hand — it signals that your business cares about quality and inclusion.
What to Do Now
If you're a Canadian business owner, here's the actionable checklist:
Immediate (this week): Run the WAVE tool on your homepage and top 3 pages. Fix missing alt text and contrast failures. Add a skip-to-content link if you don't have one. Add lang="en-CA" to your HTML tag.
Short-term (this month): Audit all forms for proper labels. Test keyboard navigation on every page. Add focus indicators if missing. Review your colour palette against WCAG contrast requirements.
Ongoing: Build accessibility into your design and development process. Every new page, every update should be checked against WCAG 2.1 AA before going live. Consider an annual professional audit.
If you're unsure where your site stands, we offer a free audit that covers accessibility alongside SEO and performance. It takes 30 minutes and there's no pitch at the end.