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Workplace Accessibility and the Upcoming AODA Compliance Deadlines

Blaney McMurtry LLP
Canada June 3 2021

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (the “AODA”) requires Ontario businesses and non-profits with 20 or more employees to submit an accessibility compliance report every three (3) years. Beginning in 2014, accessibility compliance reports were required to be filed in 2017 and again in 2020, but as mentioned in our previous article, the deadline to file the 2020 accessibility compliance report was extended to June 30, 2021 by the Ontario government. With the deadline now fast approaching, organizations must review any accessibility areas they need to address in order to certify compliance with AODA requirements by this new deadline (to the extent they have not already done so).

Workplace Accessibility and the Upcoming AODA Compliance Deadlines. Read full article.

Mask Exemptions Must Be Respected, Disability Advocates Say

Failure to allow exemptions under mandatory mask order constitutes human rights discrimination, city’s accessibility committee says. Ian Kaufman
March 26, 2021

THUNDER BAY Disability advocates are warning local businesses that failure to respect exemptions to mandatory mask policies constitutes discrimination under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

The City of Thunder Bay’s Accessibility Advisory Committee recently raised concerns that at least one business had posted a sign refusing entry to anyone not wearing a mask, “stating that persons unable to wear masks into the business are required to order purchases online.”

Mask Exemptions Must Be Respected, Disability Advocates Say. Read full article.

Bluewater Decides Against Captioning Recorded Council Meetings

Author of the article: Dan Rolph
Publishing date:
Dec 29, 2020

Council meetings will no longer be available in a recorded state after councillors decided against providing captioned versions of council recordings.

During the Dec. 21 regular council meeting, Bluewater clerk Chandra Alexander presented a report to councillors which outlined the municipality’s obligations according to new provincial criteria being included in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) to provide captioning for recorded council meetings.

Bluewater Decides Against Captioning Recorded Council Meetings. Read full article.

Ontario Woman Says She Wasn’t Welcome in Main Area of Hotel With Guide Dog

Incident violates Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act(AODA), lawyer Shannon Down says. Julianne Hazlewood
CBC News
Posted: Sep 17, 2020

Chris Trudell-Conklin plans to file a complaint through the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after she says the Crowne Plaza Kitchener-Waterloo didn’t allow her access to main areas of the hotel with her guide dog Cody. (

After months of waiting, Chris Trudell-Conklin finally got to meet her new guide dog Cody last week.

Ontario Woman Says She Wasn’t Welcome in Main Area of Hotel With Guide Dog. Read full article.

Three Recommendations for Accessible Remote Learning

Posted: July 17, 2020
by Jackie Pichette and Jessica Rizk

Adapting to the realities of remote schooling has been challenging. Since the COVID-19 pandemic sent our province into a state of emergency, many students have had to turn bedrooms into offices, kitchen tables into classrooms and parking lots into hotspots. While all Ontario learners have had to adapt to overcome barriers, those barriers have been amplified for many students with disabilities.

Three Recommendations for Accessible Remote Learning. Read full article.