New Ontario Website Accessibility Regulations For Large Organizations Come Into Effect

As of January 1^st  of this year, organizations with 50 or more employees in Ontario that create new publicly accessible websites, or that perform a significant refresh of an existing publicly accessible website, are required to ensure that those websites meet the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 ("WCAG 2.0") to Level A.

The new requirements come from the Integrated Accessibility Standards, a provincial regulation made under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. These requirements apply to the content on all new or significantly refreshed public-facing websites, including web-based applications, that an organization with 50 or more employees in Ontario controls directly or controls through a contractual relationship that allows for modification of the website. However, only web content on those new or refreshed websites published after January 1, 2012, is required to comply.