Executive summary

Like all ministries, the Office of the Premier and Cabinet Office (hereafter referred to collectively as the Ministry) complies with the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR). This regulation established phased-in requirements in the following accessibility standards:

  • customer service
  • information and communications
  • employment
  • transportation
  • design of public spaces

The general requirements are:

  • procurement
  • training

In 2012, the Ontario Public Service (OPS) released its first multi-year accessibility plan (MYAP) entitled Accessibility in the Ontario Public Service: Leading the Way Forward.

The Ministry’s 2016 Accessibility Report demonstrates how the measures taken in 2016 support the key outcomes and deliverables of the 2012-2016 OPS MYAP.

Section one: report on measures taken by the Ministry in 2016

Customer service

MYAP key outcome

People with disabilities who are OPS customers receive quality goods and services in a timely manner.

Measures taken by the ministry in 2016

Commitment: Training on Accessible Customer Service and Integrated Accessibility Standards

  • An overview of mandatory training requirements is communicated to Cabinet Office employees at the commencement of each performance cycle. A reminder email was sent to all staff in December 2016.
  • The training document is sent to all new Ministry employees via email, and consideration is being given to enhancing communication tactics, for example by making it available to all staff at any time on the Ministry’s intranet site.
  • The training document identifies accessibility training information and requirements to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities.

Commitment: Training on OPS Inclusion Lens

  • An overview of Ministry training requirements is communicated to Cabinet Office employees at the commencement of each performance cycle. A reminder email was sent to all staff in December 2016. Other options for enhancing communication tactics are currently being explored.
  • The Ministry will continue to monitor training completion rates and promote the tool.

Commitment: Accessible Procurement Practices

  • The Ministry procurement practices meet the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) procurement requirements under the IASR. Current practice ensures:
    • the completion of the Accessibility Checklist is required for all procurement projects. This is confirmed prior to the approval of all procurement business cases
    • where appropriate, the option to have accessible document formats provided to vendors and speakers
    • procurement staff continues to provide advice to Ministry staff on accessibility impacts relating to purchasing activities

Commitment: Teletypewriter Equipment

  • The Ministry has completed the migration from the Teletypewriter (TTY) service at the central reception to a desktop solution in order to modernize and expand communication services for persons who are deaf, hard of hearing and/or speech-impaired.
  • Responsible managers and staff have received training on the new TTY system. Training is ongoing and will continue to be provided to new staff members as part of their orientation.
  • The Ministry continues to partner with ServiceOntario staff to respond to calls after hours.

Commitment: Inclusion Steering Committee and Ambassador Team

  • The Ministry concluded its 2013-16 Inclusion Plan commitments as of December 31, 2016 and continues to promote awareness and understanding in the area of accessibility.

Information and communications

MYAP key outcome

Information and communications are available in accessible formats or with necessary supports to all OPS staff and customers.

Measures taken by the ministry in 2016

Commitment: Improvements to the Ontario.ca website

  • In collaboration with Treasury Board Secretariat, the Ministry continued to test and implement accessibility improvements to the Ontario.ca website.
  • To support improved accessibility, several web features were developed, including:
    • new tools to help people calculate their tax credits and help students find out how much they could get through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP)
    • interactive data tables with sort and search capabilities
  • An HTML-only format for long, chapter-based publications, with an improved reading experience online.
  • New HTML patterns for fully-accessible infographics.
  • HTML-only format for the Ontario Gazette, Land Registration applications and Orders in Council.

Commitment: Accessibility and the policy gateway

  • The Policy Innovation Hub (formerly known as Policy Innovation & Leadership) developed a new website in 2016 with the launch on InsideOPS in January 2017. All the documents posted to InsideOPS are fully accessible.
  • In support of this initiative, the Hub hired temporary staff to convert over fifty documents into a full accessible format.

Commitment: Orders in Council (OIC) online initiative

  • The OIC online initiative was completed with the public website now live.
  • The initiative enabled posting of electronic versions of all OICs, which are accessible.

Commitment: Use plain language to expand reach and impact

  • Ongoing use of clear writing principles and standards has been integrated into Ministry communications processes, and plain language deliverables are included in OPS Communications Directors’ performance plans.
  • Writing and correspondence staff continue to ensure all materials are written in plain language and use clear writing principles, and that all materials meet accessibility standards.
  • Accessibility standards are considered when posting additional material to Newsroom – i.e., third party links adhere to our accessibility standards in order to be included in releases, etc.
  • Ongoing offerings of the learning.comm Communications Fundamentals course for OPS communicators that teaches best practices in writing plain language communications for media products. The course is offered on a quarterly basis.
  • An in-house Accessibility at the Source training course is offered to Cabinet Office Communications employees to encourage them to create documents with accessibility in mind.

Commitment: Accessible emergency procedures

  • The Ministry is prepared to provide staff with individualized emergency response procedures when required. This includes the identification of evacuation buddies and a designated waiting area.
  • The Ministry is prepared to provide emergency evacuation procedures and Continuity of Operations Plans to staff in alternative formats upon request.
  • The Ministry considers accessibility when developing emergency procedures, and collaborates with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to provide staff with accessible emergency preparedness materials (e.g. pamphlets, posters) on request.

Commitment: Accessible marketing and social media

  • The Ministry has developed an Accessibility in Design guide as well as a design checklist for creative agencies and OPS graphic designers.
  • Descriptive transcripts and captioning for government videos are available on the government’s YouTube channel.
  • The Ministry has a note on its social media channels directing audiences to accessible versions of video content on the YouTube channel.
  • The Ministry checks social media content for colour contrast and font size to ensure legibility.

Employment

MYAP key outcome

OPS employees with disabilities participate fully and meaningfully in their employment.

Measures taken by the ministry in 2016

Commitment: Inclusion Performance Commitments

  • Inclusion specific performance commitments are communicated to Cabinet Office management employees at the commencement of each performance cycle. This information will also be conveyed as part of the 2017-18 performance cycle launch.

Commitment: Barrier-free Recruitment and Employment

  • Cabinet Office Human Resources (HR) continues to provide direct support and advice to managers in planning and executing recruitment processes, including maintaining barrier-free recruitment and employment practices.
  • Each step of all recruitment processes is considered against the Inclusion Lens to ensure that opportunities for improvement are identified and addressed.
  • All recruitment materials such as job ads, interview questions and tests are reviewed to ensure that they are fair, accessible and inclusive. Job postings notify candidates about the availability of accommodation.
  • Interview locations are considered within the context of the Inclusion Lens to ensure that they do not present any barriers.
  • Accommodation is offered to all job candidates upon notification of interview, as well as at time of job offer to the successful candidate. Where accommodation was required, the needs of the candidate were met.
  • Managers are fully supported and provided with the necessary guidance, tools and/or resources to help ensure that all accommodation needs are met during the recruitment process as well as during the course of the employment relationship.

Design of public spaces

MYAP key outcome

There is greater accessibility into, out of and around OPS facilities and public spaces.

Measures taken by the ministry in 2016

Commitment: Built environment standard

  • Public parking spaces and other accommodations in the Ministry are accessible, as outlined in the Ontario Building Code’s barrier-free design requirements and internal OPS Guidelines for Barrier-free Design of Ontario Government Facilities.
  • Mandatory training to meet the requirement for the Design of Public Spaces standard under the IASR that came into effect on January 1, 2015 has been completed by all Ministry managers and employees responsible for activities related to the built environment.

Commitment: Accessibility of washrooms, boardrooms and heritage space

  • Ongoing consideration is given to improving the accessibility of the Ministry’s built environment while taking into account the heritage designation of the building.
  • In collaboration with the Ministry’s Building Management, work has been completed to improve the accessibility of Whitney Block washrooms.
  • The new washroom design includes allowance for a larger turning radius to accommodate both wheelchairs and scooters, and was implemented during the construction phase.
  • Duress alarm buttons were installed in each washroom to alert the Legislative Security Service (LSS) of the specific location where assistance is required. All LSS officers have been trained to respond to the alarms.
  • The Ministry will continue to replace existing signage, as required, with accessible bilingual signage that has universal graphic symbols, sharp contrast, raised tactile lettering and grade 1 Braille.

General outcomes

MYAP key outcome

OPS staff are able to identify barriers to accessibility, in OPS policies, programs, services and facilities, and actively seek solutions to prevent or remove them on a continuing basis throughout the organization.

Measures taken by the ministry in 2016

The Ministry occupies a unique position as a strategic leader to the entire OPS. The following commitments help ensure that employees across the OPS are able to support the MYAP key outcome of identifying barriers to accessibility and addressing them.

Commitment: Accessibility-related courses on learning.comm

  • The Ministry continues to adhere to its commitment on accessibility-related courses on learning.comm.
  • The rooms in which courses are facilitated are all accessible. Facilitators, as part of their contracts, are prepared to accommodate any accessibility needs requested by the participants.
  • The Ministry offers a workshop in which participants learn about and practice creating accessible documents and presentations. This hands-on session focuses on common issues around the accessibility of information (from colour contrast to font choices), and what can be done to best address those issues in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
  • The Ministry has added a course in which participants learn best practices in creating accessible marketing campaigns, including content and design components. This course will initially target OPS graphic designers as well as marketers but will eventually be opened up to the wider learning.comm user base.
  • The Ministry is in the process of moving the learning.comm Intranet page to the InsideOPS platform, which has been designed and standardized to meet accessibility standards. The Treasury Board Secretariat also provides guidelines to ensure that content remain accessible and the learning.comm team adheres to those guidelines.

Commitment: Guidance and ministry support

  • The Ministry rolled out an HTML-first plan for Ontario.ca that prioritizes fully accessible HTML content over PDFs and other proprietary formats.
  • The Ministry worked closely with all ministries to determine how to best make this transition, and how to inventory and prioritize content for conversion to HTML.
  • For Ministries on Ontario.ca, a dedicated project team in the Ministry inventoried and reviewed documents, managing their migration from PDF to HTML.
  • The Ministry is working with partner ministries to refine how our HTML-first approach is applied. In special cases, this enables specialized content, such as technical and scientific reports, to be published and meet user needs in a way that is accessible.
  • The Ministry also developed guidance to support accessible graphics and HTML content, and made changes to Ontario.ca’s interface to ensure accessibility.
  • Cabinet Office has been an active voice within the OPS Accessibility and Web Coordinators communities to help promote the core principles of accessibility and make web content and features available to all Ontarians.
  • The Ministry worked with its partners to update its tools, standards and resources to help ministries ensure Ontario.ca content is easier for people of all abilities to find, understand and use.

Commitment: Enhancing election accessibility in Ontario

  • Elections Ontario has developed and released its 2017-2021 Multi-Year Accessibility Plan (MYAP), to fulfill its requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. This plan outlines the organization’s achievements between 2011 and 2016, under its previous MYAP, and outlines new commitments for 2017 to 2021.
  • The Ministry continues to support the Chief Electoral Officer and Elections Ontario in the implementation of accessibility measures, as appropriate.

Commitment: People of all Abilities Represented in Government Communications

  • The Ontario Photo Library is continually updated to reflect the diverse people of Ontario. The Library is a database of photos and images used in the online and printed publications produced by the Ontario government and its agencies.
  • The Ontario Photo Library continues to support diversity, accessibility and inclusion by offering a collection of photos that represents people of all abilities, cultural and generational backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities. The Ministry made efforts to ensure the Photo Library is inclusive in every aspect and continues to update photos on a regular basis to reflect this. The Ministry recently concluded multiple photo shoots depicting seniors of varying cultures and abilities, women in the community, and Ontario families as multifaceted, diverse entities.
  • Images are available for use by the OPS to ensure people of all abilities are represented in government publications.

Section two: addressing the identification of barriers in legislation and implementation frameworks

Introduction

The ODA establishes that a ministry’s accessibility plan shall include the measures in place to address the identification, removal and prevention of barriers to persons with disabilities in the acts, regulations, policies, programs and services administered by the ministry.

In 2005, the government introduced the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, with the goal of making Ontario accessible by 2025. In support of this goal, the government subsequently committed to review Ontario legislation to identify and address accessibility barriers, and undertook a coordinated review of 51 statutes considered to have a high impact on persons with disabilities.

As a result of this review, the government made changes to 11 statutes spread across seven ministries to ensure that Ontario laws better reflect accessibility considerations. The changes to the 11 statutes were included in the government’s 2016 Budget bill, which received Royal Assent on April 19, 2016.

Each ministry continues to be responsible for identifying and addressing barriers in their legislation and the policies and programs through which that legislation is implemented, and for reporting on results through its accessibility report.

Our Ministry remains committed to the goal of ensuring that Ontario legislation and implementation frameworks do not create barriers to persons with disabilities.

Measures currently in place

The Ministry is committed to continuing to review legislation to find and remove barriers to accessibility. As well, the Ministry will ensure that any of its activities related to drafting, reviewing or amending legislation take accessibility into consideration.

The Ministry will continue to review all legislation that is introduced, drafted or relevant to the Ministry for accessibility and inclusion. It will use the OPS Inclusion Lens and will ensure these reviews are updated to include lessons learned from the review of the high impact statutes.