- From: John Foliot - WATS.ca <foliot@wats.ca>
- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:38:30 -0400
- To: "'Harry Loots'" <harry@ikhaya.com>, <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Harry Loots wrote: > >> As a matter of interest, i would be surprised if Australia (and >> Canada) did not use the same law as the UK; seeing as both are >> members of the Commonwealth - it's called the Disability >> Discrimination Act of 1995 (DDA). While Canada follows British parliamentary and legal traditions, my country repatriated the constitution in 1982. The CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982 - PART I - CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS states: "15. (1) Every individual is equal before the and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability." It is generally conceded that this is the relevant law in this area; the Canadian Government is the only institution I know who have formally mandated their web content to be accessible to all Canadians (citing the above), through their Common Look and Feel Standards (http://www.cio-dpi.gc.ca/clf-nsi/index_e.asp). The scope of affected web sites is limited to Federal departments, agencies and related organizations (Schedules 1, 1.1 and 2 at http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/F-11/index.html). The province of Ontario also has the "Ontarians with Disabilities Act" (O.D.A.), which indirectly touches on the area of web accessibility: * The ODA requires that government publications be made available, upon request, in alternate format, unless it is not technically feasible to do so. * The ODA defines "publications" as documents in print or electronic form provided to the public, but excludes scientific/technical material or items not intended for public distribution. To my knowledge, there has yet to be a Canadian challenge on "web accessibility" in the courts. JF -- John Foliot foliot@wats.ca Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca Web Accessibility Testing and Services http://www.wats.ca 1.866.932.4878 (North America)
Received on Friday, 27 August 2004 12:38:41 UTC