Accessibility Plan of the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

Consultation has concluded

Are you a person living with a disability, or someone who has insights into how the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (Agency) can be more accessible for those living with disabilities?

If so, please take this 5-to-15-minute anonymous survey to help the Agency better understand:

  • the accessibility of our services,
  • any accessibility barriers that you have experienced or witnessed regarding the Agency, and
  • how we can address these barriers.

The information gathered will inform the development of the Agency’s Accessibility Plan.

The survey is open from August 24 to October 31, 2022.

If you wish to provide comments in another format, please contact us by email at eedi@iaac-aeic.gc.ca or by phone at (343)543-9013.

Why we need an Accessibility Plan

Everyone has different physical, cognitive and emotional abilities. The Government of Canada programs, policies, practices and services have not always been accessible to people with a diverse range of abilities in an equitable way. Certain types of barriers can make it more challenging for some to complete their work or access the Government of Canada services or offerings.

In line with the Accessible Canada Act, the Government of Canada is working on an accessibility strategy that seeks to create a Canada without barriers by January 1, 2040. The strategy sets the conditions for the public service of Canada to identify, prevent, and remove barriers to participation for persons living with disabilities. It also aims to prepare the public service to lead by example and become a model of accessibility for others, in Canada and abroad.

To support this strategy, departments and agencies are required to develop accessibility plans by December 31, 2022. These plans aims to identify, prevent, and remove barriers in each departments and agencies’ policies, programs, practices, and services.

Definition of disability as per the Accessible Canada Act: 

Disability means any impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment — or a functional limitation — whether permanent, temporary or episodic in nature, or evident or not, that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society. Here are some example of disabilities:

  • Seeing (affects vision, including total blindness, partial sight, and visual distortion)
  • Hearing (affects ability to hear, including being hard of hearing, deafness, or acoustic distortion)
  • Speech (affects ability to talk, including total speech loss, partial speech, and speech distortion)
  • Mobility (affects ability to move your body, including the use of a wheelchair or a cane, or other issues affecting your mobility)
  • Flexibility or dexterity (affects ability to move joints or perform motor tasks, especially with your hands)
  • Mental health (affects psychology or behaviour, such as anxiety, depression, social/compulsive disorder, phobia or psychiatric illness)
  • Sensory or environmental (affects sensitivity to light, sounds or other distractions, as well as allergens and other environmental sensitivities)
  • Chronic health condition or pain (affects ability to function on a regular or episodic basis due to migraines, Crohn's disease, colitis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and other disabilities or health conditions)
  • Cognitive (affects ability to carry out tasks involving executive functioning, such as planning and organization, learning information, communication, and memory, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and learning disabilities)
  • Intellectual (affects ability to learn and to adapt behaviour to different situations)

Definition of a barrier as per the Accessible Canada Act:

A barrier can mean anything — including anything physical, architectural, technological or attitudinal, anything that is based on information or communications or anything that is the result of a policy or a practice — that hinders the full and equal participation in society of persons with an impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment or a functional limitation.

Are you a person living with a disability, or someone who has insights into how the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (Agency) can be more accessible for those living with disabilities?

If so, please take this 5-to-15-minute anonymous survey to help the Agency better understand:

  • the accessibility of our services,
  • any accessibility barriers that you have experienced or witnessed regarding the Agency, and
  • how we can address these barriers.

The information gathered will inform the development of the Agency’s Accessibility Plan.

The survey is open from August 24 to October 31, 2022.

If you wish to provide comments in another format, please contact us by email at eedi@iaac-aeic.gc.ca or by phone at (343)543-9013.

Why we need an Accessibility Plan

Everyone has different physical, cognitive and emotional abilities. The Government of Canada programs, policies, practices and services have not always been accessible to people with a diverse range of abilities in an equitable way. Certain types of barriers can make it more challenging for some to complete their work or access the Government of Canada services or offerings.

In line with the Accessible Canada Act, the Government of Canada is working on an accessibility strategy that seeks to create a Canada without barriers by January 1, 2040. The strategy sets the conditions for the public service of Canada to identify, prevent, and remove barriers to participation for persons living with disabilities. It also aims to prepare the public service to lead by example and become a model of accessibility for others, in Canada and abroad.

To support this strategy, departments and agencies are required to develop accessibility plans by December 31, 2022. These plans aims to identify, prevent, and remove barriers in each departments and agencies’ policies, programs, practices, and services.

Definition of disability as per the Accessible Canada Act: 

Disability means any impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment — or a functional limitation — whether permanent, temporary or episodic in nature, or evident or not, that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society. Here are some example of disabilities:

  • Seeing (affects vision, including total blindness, partial sight, and visual distortion)
  • Hearing (affects ability to hear, including being hard of hearing, deafness, or acoustic distortion)
  • Speech (affects ability to talk, including total speech loss, partial speech, and speech distortion)
  • Mobility (affects ability to move your body, including the use of a wheelchair or a cane, or other issues affecting your mobility)
  • Flexibility or dexterity (affects ability to move joints or perform motor tasks, especially with your hands)
  • Mental health (affects psychology or behaviour, such as anxiety, depression, social/compulsive disorder, phobia or psychiatric illness)
  • Sensory or environmental (affects sensitivity to light, sounds or other distractions, as well as allergens and other environmental sensitivities)
  • Chronic health condition or pain (affects ability to function on a regular or episodic basis due to migraines, Crohn's disease, colitis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and other disabilities or health conditions)
  • Cognitive (affects ability to carry out tasks involving executive functioning, such as planning and organization, learning information, communication, and memory, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and learning disabilities)
  • Intellectual (affects ability to learn and to adapt behaviour to different situations)

Definition of a barrier as per the Accessible Canada Act:

A barrier can mean anything — including anything physical, architectural, technological or attitudinal, anything that is based on information or communications or anything that is the result of a policy or a practice — that hinders the full and equal participation in society of persons with an impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment or a functional limitation.