Towards Accessible Procurement in Canada 
Arlington, VA
September 28, 2006 [Slide 1]

Unique Challenges… [Slide 2]

•	2nd Largest Country in the World (9,976,140 sq km)
•	6 time zones 
•	Extreme temperature ranges
•	33 million people - low density 
•	Nearly 90% of the population is concentrated within 160 km of the Canada/US border
•	strong North-South pull vs East-West
•	Canadians very knowledgeable about other countries and their actions

Canada firsts [Slide 3]

•	First country to mandate 100% captioning of the broadcast day
•	First country to adopt the WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as policy

Federal Framework [Slide 4]

•	Canada has 14 governments:
o	Federal
o	10 provinces
o	3 territories
•	Each treats disability in a different way.

Legislative Situation [Slide 5]

•	Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
o	prohibits discrimination of grounds of disability
•	Canadian Human Rights Act
•	Employment Equity Act
•	Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act

Federal Government Policies [Slide 6]

•	Duty to Accommodate
•	Communications
•	Common Look and Feel

Program/Policy Approach: Advantages & Disadvantages [Slide 7]

•	Advantages:
o	Generally provides direct funding to support implementation
o	Tends to incorporate a range of programs and participants
o	May be enhanced by complementary initiatives
o	Supports individuals, agencies, and small business
•	Disadvantages:
o	No legally binding requirements on government and/or business
o	Not universal (limited to certain groups, regions, and/or criteria)
o	Mostly short term (limited to specific fiscal years or government)
o	Sometimes overlapping and/or competing programs
o	Limited affect on the visibility of accommodation and related benefits

Standards [Slide 8]

•	Canadian Standards Association
o	Develops voluntary industry driven standards
•	Accessible Design for the Built Environment
•	Design for Aging
•	Accessible Banking Machines
•	Accessible Design for Self Service Interactive Devices
o	Adopted ISO Guides 50 and 71
•	Participating in
o	JTC1  SWG-A
o	W3C WAI

[Slide 9]

The picture is a screen-capture of the Government of Canada’s “Persons with Disabilities Online” portal Web site.  This portal is: “… a site where persons with disabilities, their family members, caregivers and service providers can access a full range of information on disability-related programs and services in Canada.”

The Web site is fully accessible – as required by the Government of Canada’s “Common Look and Feel Policy”

Activities in Canada [Slide 10]

•	Information Highway Advisory Council  1995
•	Development of Accessible Procurement Toolkit 2000
•	DIS-IT 2003 
•	Presentation to EU Public Procurement
•	Workshop  Brussels 2004
•	Canadian Procurement Reform ongoing 

Activities in Canada [Slide 11]

•	The Challenge of the Information Highway 
Report to the Minister of Industry 
September 1995 
o	Recommendation 13.17 
The federal government, through the use of its procurement power, should encourage private sector-driven services to be made accessible to persons with disabilities.

[Slide 12]

The picture is a screen-capture of the main page of the Government of Canada’s “Accessible Procurement Toolkit” Web application.  The main page lists the major categories of products and services for which the database provides accessibility standards, guidelines, best practices or advice.  This information is to be added to purchasing documents by purchasers or procurement professionals to ensure that the vendors and manufacturers of products or services are aware of the purchasers’ requirement that what they purchase will be as accessible as possible.

Activities in Canada: Dis-IT [Slide 13]

•	The Disability and Information Technologies (Dis-IT) Research Alliance - over thirty researchers and partner organizations asking three fundamental questions: 
o	How can emerging information technologies be more inclusive of the needs of people with disabilities in Canada?
o	How can more inclusive information technologies enable greater participation of people with disabilities in Canadian society and economy?

Activities in Canada: Dis-IT [Slide 14]

•	How can information technologies developed or adapted to address the accessibility requirements of people with disabilities also address the needs of citizens, workers, learners, and consumers in broader domestic and international markets?
•	Specific work on Retail and Public Services: how wireless connectivity and personal interface devices customized to individual abilities and preferences could provide people with and without disabilities with greater access to ATMs and other automated self-service public information and communications technologies.

Assistive Devices Industry Office [Slide 15] 

•	Advocacy, sector promotion, awareness raising, identification of market gaps
o	Accessible News
o	Websites
•	Development of standards to ensure new technologies accommodate disabilities
o	Accessible Design for the Built Environment
o	Automated Banking Machine
o	Telephone keypads
o	underway: kiosks
•	Participate in Government-wide activities
o	Access Working Group
o	Accessibility Domain Architecture Team
o	National Librarian’s Access Council

Slides 16 to 18

These bar charts illustrate some interesting preliminary findings from a recent survey of the Canadian assistive technology industry being performed by the University of New Brunswick.  These figures are based on a survey return rate of 10%  as of September 28, 2006. For more information about the survey please contact Mary Frances Laughton of Industry Canada (contact information on the last slide)

UNB AT Industry Study [Slide 16]

University of New Brunswick Assistive Technology Industry Study
Chart Title: Survey Company Interests

A bar chart showing the areas of interest reported by Canada’s Assistive Technology manufacturers or service providers (number of companies):
•	Accessible Web consultants – 13
•	Accommodation consultants – 15
•	Activities of daily living – 15
•	Augmentative communications – 13
•	Blind – 22
•	Deaf – 12
•	Ergonomics – 11
•	Hard of hearing – 11
•	Low vision – 22
•	Mobility – 21
•	Multiple format companies – 11
•	Prosthetics and orthotics – 6
•	Research centres – 14
•	Training and evaluation – 19
Note: numbers are approximate, data is preliminary.

UNB AT Industry Study [Slide 17]

University of New Brunswick Assistive Technology Industry Study
Chart Title: Where Products Are Used

A chart showing the sectors in which Canada’s assistive technology companies estimate their products and services are being used:
•	Education – 64%
•	Recreation – 41%
•	Sport – 20%
•	Home – 73%
•	Work – 70%
•	Activities of daily living – 48%
Note: numbers are approximate, data is preliminary.

UNB AT Industry Study [Slide 18]

University of New Brunswick Assistive Technology Industry Study
Chart Title: Obstacles % of overall respondents

This chart reports the obstacles to doing business encountered by Canadian assistive technology companies, by percentage of overall respondents:
•	Lack of highly qualified people – 17%
•	Government policies or regulations – 36%
•	Competition – 17%
•	None – 21%
Note: numbers are approximate, data is preliminary.

Contact me: [Slide 19]

	Mary Frances Laughton

	Assistive Devices Industry Office
	Industry Canada
	3701 Carling Avenue
	Ottawa Ontario CANADA K2H 8S2

	Tel: 613-990-4316
	Fax: 613-998-5923
	Email: laughton@crc.ca