New accessibility rules take effect in B.C.

As of Sept. 1, hundreds of organizations in British Columbia will be required to meet new rules when it comes to accessibility.

This follows the passage of the Accessible British Columbia Act in June 2021, intended to make the province more inclusive for people with disabilities by identifying, removing and preventing barriers to accessibility.

All organizations will have at least one year from when they are listed in the regulation to when they must comply. For organizations in the first phase, they must comply by Sept. 1, 2023. For organizations in the second phase, this date is Sept. 1, 2024.

British Columbia is the fifth province to introduce such legislation.

Organizations are required to establish an accessibility committee, develop an accessibility plan and establish a process to receive public feedback.

Fortunately, many employers already have committees around workplace safety and diversity and inclusion, and are mature in their HR practices, says Ryan Berger, a partner at Lawson Lundell in Vancouver.

“What this does is at least start to put a certain formalized framework around it,” he says.

In 2019, the federal government passed legislation around accessibility. And in 2021, Ottawa asked for feedback on changes to the Accessible Canada Act.

Establishing a committee

As part of the new legislation in B.C., employers must establish a committee to identify barriers to individuals who are in or interacting with the organization, and then advise the organization on how to remove and prevent these barriers.

“Some organizations, depending on the nature of the organization, may need or desire outside representation,” says Berger.

“Some public bodies are, by their nature, primarily public service-oriented, whereas others may be more administrative or financial-related and not necessarily have as much interaction with the public… the nature of their operation and accessibility to the services they provide and for their employees are going to be different for every one of them.”

A key part of the committee is its makeup, says Abigail Ywaya, an associate at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt in Vancouver.

“They must have... someone who has a disability or a group that represents people with disabilities, and then must also include Indigenous components of that. And that is similar to what we see with workplace violence and harassment committees but now they need to incorporate principles of inclusion.”

The point of the committee is to identify barriers to accessibility in that organization, she says, “and the way the government has drafted the legislation is that the committee itself has to be accessible to include a variety of people.”

When it comes to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies in the workplace, four in five (78 per cent) Canadians say disability should be included, according to a 2021 report from Angus Reid. But 40 per cent say that employers are either bad or terrible when it comes to hiring from this group.

Developing a plan

The accessibility plans in B.C. should outline how organizations will identify, remove and prevent barriers to individuals in the organization or interacting with it. Employers must then review and update these plans at least once every three years.

In developing or updating their plan, an employer must consult with its accessibility committee and consider these principles: inclusion, adaptability, diversity, collaboration, self-determination and universal design.

But employers can use an existing accessibility committee, plan or public feedback tool or adapt an existing plan, and two or more organizations could work together to develop an accessibility plan, committee, or public feedback tool jointly.

“Organizations, in developing their plans, will need to think about some of these things on a long-term basis because resources will be required to implement various aspects of the plans… over a multi-year timeline,” says Berger.

Employers are not required to submit the plans to government but they should be available to the public, such as publishing it on their website.

While there's going to be a lot of flexibility in developing the plan, employers will want it “reviewed and approved, likely on the board level or at least a high governance level of the organization, depending on how they're organized,” he says.

“One of the best means of accountability is to make your plans or intentions public, and so I think that's going be one of the primary drivers is that publicity and the transparency requirements around this.”

Process for feedback

Organizations are required to establish a process for receiving public comments on their accessibility plan, as well as barriers to people in or interacting with the organizations.

This doesn't seem too onerous because many of these organizations already comply with human rights legislation in making this available to employees, says Ywaya.

“They might just want to open this up to make it available to all people.”

While the government has announced that non-compliant organizations will be subject to fines of up to $250,000, that’s not likely early on, she says.

“It seems like the key of this legislation is not necessarily enforcement, but rather to give a phased approach to implementation, and then to bring enforcement mechanisms later on. But what they're really trying to do is phase it in so that organizations can actually develop it and try and include the public participation in it, instead of having it be like an enforcement mechanism.

“Their goal is not necessarily to punish organizations, but rather to make organizations work collaboratively with the public.”

Provincial committee

The government is also establishing a Provincial Accessibility Committee to assist with developing accessibility standards. These will outline the rules government and organizations must follow to remove barriers in different areas, such as employment.

Once the provincial committees are finalized, “more specific work may be required in particular areas,” says Berger.

“It'll be interesting to see because we don't know, for instance, whether they may prioritize things like physical accessibility, online accessibility, inclusivity and diversity in employment or engagement. There are lots of different areas, I think, that they could decide to focus on and may set certain standards or requirements.”