- From: <dboudreau@accessibiliteweb.com>
- Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:31:44 -0700
- To: "Roger Hudson" <rhudson@usability.com.au>
- Cc: "'WAI Interest Group'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Hi roger, Good evening from Canada. In our country, we deal with two levels of governments: federal and provicial. On the federal level, we have some sort of an accessibility standard called CLF (Common Look and Feel Guidelines) that has been going on since early 2000. In 2007, version 2.0 came out, still widely based on WCAG 1.0 : the standard encourages priority levels A and AA for all government websites (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf2-nsi2/index-eng.asp). Even though it is strongly advised to follow this standard on federal government websites (there were plans to have all websites compliant by the end of december 2008), it is still in no way mandatory as of yet. We have rumours of a 3.0 version in the works, but there hasn't been much info publicly made availabe as of yet. I'm guessing it will be based on WCAG 2.0, but it's still at best, a wild guess. On the provincial level, most canadian provinces have projects going on for an accessiblity standard. I can't really say for the other provinces, but here in Quebec my organization (http://www.accessibiliteweb.com) has been asked to help our government come up with one. I've been actively working for them on this with partners for the past year and a half and we're coming up with a standard called SGQRI 008 (http://www.msg.gouv.qc.ca/gel/standards.html#norm_access) by the end of the year that is widely based on conformance levels 1 and 2 of WCAG 2.0. It will be enforced on all governemental organizations and any suppliers working for them (pretty much like how section 508 works in the US) in the next 2 to 3 years. I also know Ontario (the province west of ours) is also working on something, but in the past months they've taken everything offline so it's pretty hard to know what they're up to these days. But from what I've managed to find a while back, it was also pretty much based on WCAG 2.0. I'm guessing other canadians on this list can add to my message. Hope that helps shedding some light on how accessibility is being handled in Canada so far. Best regards, -- Denis Boudreau, Directeur général Coopérative AccessibilitéWeb 1751, rue Richardson bureau 6.111 Montreal (Québec) Canada H3K 1G6 Téléphone : +1 514 312 3378 http://www.accessibiliteweb.com/ > Hi > > I am interested in finding out which countries or other regulatory > authorities have adopted or endorsed WCAG 2 as the bench mark for web > accessibility. Failing this has anyone any idea of how many entities have > adopted WCAG 2. > > Thanks > > Roger > > > > Roger Hudson > > Web Usability > > Ph: 02 9568 1535 > > Mb: 0405 320 014 > > Email: <mailto:rhudson@usability.com.au> rhudson@usability.com.au > > Web: <http://www.usability.com.au/> www.usability.com.au > > Blog: www.dingoaccess.com > > > > > >
Received on Sunday, 14 June 2009 01:32:19 UTC