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Eligibility
Check your eligibility
Applying for funding takes time and effort. To help determine if your organization may be eligible for the Enabling Accessibility Fund (EAF) 2026 Call for Proposals (CFP), please answer a few short questions.
Before answering the questions, we recommend reviewing the program eligibility criteria to better understand the eligibility requirements.
Important: This questionnaire is not a funding application. Being potentially eligible does not guarantee approval. All applications are subject to a screening and review process.
For clarity, we suggest opening this glossary, which defines key terms used throughout the questionnaire.
You are now ready to start the self-assessment eligibility questionnaire for the 2026 EAF CFP.
Eligible Applicants
In order to be eligible for funding, your organization must be one of the following:
- not-for-profit organization (including social enterprises)
- for-profit organization with up to 99 full-time equivalent employees
- municipal government where the population of the municipality is less than 100,000, as per the 2021 census
- Indigenous organization
- Territorial government
Additional information
There are three categories of eligible applicants under this CFP. Your organization must fall under one of these categories in order to be eligible for funding.
- Non-Indigenous organization - Workplace Accessibility Project
- Indigenous organization - Workplace Accessibility Project
- Indigenous organization - Community Accessibility Project
Non-Indigenous organization - Workplace Accessibility Project
- Under this category, non-Indigenous applicants can apply for workplace accessibility projects only. Applicants must meet and describe the following three items in the application:
- You must provide a detailed description of the barriers being addressed in the workplace and explain how the project will remove them
- You must demonstrate how, at the time of your application, you currently employ one or more persons with disabilities, and
- You must describe your hiring plans to support persons with disabilities
For guidance on accessibility in workplaces, ESDC has developed a Guidance for Projects document to help employers identify and address barriers experienced by employees with disabilities. Consult this guide during the planning stages of your project to determine the accessibility solutions that would best serve your organization's employees with disabilities.
Indigenous organization - Workplace Accessibility Project
- Indigenous organizations are eligible to apply for workplace accessibility projects
- You must provide a detailed description of the barriers being addressed in the workplace and explain how the project will remove them
- You must describe your future plans to hire persons with disabilities
Indigenous organization - Community Accessibility Project
- Indigenous organizations are eligible to apply for community accessibility projects
- You must provide a detailed description of the barriers being addressed in the community and explain how the project will remove them
- You are required to provide the estimated number of persons with disabilities who are expected to benefit from the accessibility project
Note to organizations located and operating in Alberta and Quebec
If your project proposal is selected for funding, you may be required to obtain approval from the Alberta or Quebec government before you can accept funding from ESDC.
- Alberta: Please consult the Provincial Priorities Act (Bill 18)
- Quebec: Please consult the Act respecting the Ministère du Conseil exécutif
Ineligible applicants
Your organization is ineligible if it is one of the following:
- federal and provincial governments
- municipal governments where the population of the municipality is of 100,000 or more according to the 2021 census
- public schools, publicly funded health care institutions and hospitals as these are areas of exclusive provincial/territorial jurisdiction
- crown corporations and entities that are controlled by a federal or provincial government or on land owned by a federal or provincial government
- residential housing organizations such as condo boards, co-op boards and other not-for-profit organizations that manage residential housing
- organizations funded through the 2023 Mid-sized EAF funding process
- applicants that do not employ one or more persons with disabilities at the time of their application (except for Indigenous organizations)
Project activities
- Successful organizations under this CFP will receive funding to facilitate and support accessibility projects that lead to the maintenance and creation of employment or increase accessibility to programs and services for persons with disabilities (for Indigenous community accessibility projects) through:
- construction and renovation and/or retrofit of accessibility-specific activities
- provision of information and communication technologies, specifically designed to eliminate barriers (for example: audio frequency induction loop system in a boardroom)
- provision of equipment specifically designed for persons with disabilities (for example: adaptive recreation equipment, safety equipment such as evacuation chairs)
- Workplace accessibility project activities must focus on responding to "systemic accessibility" issues in workplaces, as opposed to individual accommodation needs. More specifically, workplace accessibility projects address barriers that:
- prevent persons with disabilities from accessing work opportunities,
- prevent persons with disabilities from maintaining or improving their current employment status
Your project must be ready to start spending funds on activities by December 1, 2026, at the latest and be completed within 24 months of the project start date.
Eligible and Ineligible activities:
Refer to the Budget section under Prepare to Apply for a list of eligible and ineligible activities.
Eligible and Ineligible costs
Refer to the Budget section under Prepare to Apply for a list of eligible and ineligible costs.
How ESDC determines the amount of funding provided
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) will use the EAF 2026 calculator to determine the amount of funding to be provided to cover eligible costs.
Determining cost based on project activities category
Costs for all project activities must be entered into the EAF 2026 calculator. Every applicant must fill out the calculator and upload the PDF summary page "Total estimate eligible costs for your project" as a supporting document to your application in the Grants and Contributions Online System (GCOS) portal. You must also enter the total amount of requested funding from the EAF 2026 calculator when prompted in the application (Part 3 - Funding) in the GCOS portal.
It is important to note that unexpected costs are frequent in construction projects. It is recommended that you have a contingency budget of approximately 20% of the total project cost to offset any additional costs that may arise. Contingency is not an eligible project cost for EAF funding. For more information, refer to the section on Project planning and contingency in the flat rate information sheet.
In the EAF 2026 calculator, project activities can fall under 1 of the 2 categories (or a combination of the 2):
1. Projects with flat rate activities
The flat rate costing estimates the amount of funding you could receive by entering your project information and specifications into the EAF 2026 calculator. This replaces the need for you to provide external quotes or detailed project plans for these 14 activities:
- ramps
- accessible doors
- accessible washrooms
- elevators
- accessible lifts
- pool lifts
- multi-sensory rooms and stations
- accessible playgrounds
- accessible parking
- accessible drop-off areas
- accessible electric vehicle charging stations
- accessible kitchens
- accessible water fountains / hand-wash stations
- accessible multi-purpose rooms
Please consult the flat rate information sheet for more information on how flat rate costing works.
You must submit a calculator for all activities including flat rate. Quotes for flat rate activities will only be accepted under exceptional circumstances with an appropriate rationale. This is because flat rate costs take into account national accessibility standards and costs may be higher as a result. You are responsible for ensuring your project meets all applicable building codes and accessibility standards such as those provided by ESDC.
2. Projects with non-flat rate activities
Non-flat rate activities include all accessibility activities other than the 14 flat rate activities listed above. Refer to the Budget section under Prepare to Apply for a list of eligible non-flat rate activities.
One quote from a certified or professional contractor is required for all non-flat rate accessibility-specific project activities. This quote must specifically highlight or isolate the accessibility-related projects costs, separated from general construction or administrative, professional costs.
3. Projects with flat rate activities and non-flat rate activities
You can request funding for flat rate activities and non-flat rate activities in the same application by using the EAF 2026 calculator.
Meets the most recent national and/or local building codes
You are responsible for ensuring your project meets the most recent national and/or local building codes. It is strongly encouraged that you consult the Canadian Standard Association's Accessible design for the built environment in the planning stages of your project and where necessary. It is recommended that you share this document with your contractor so they have the information to meet the standards of accessible design.
How ESDC assesses your application
ESDC may refuse applications that are incomplete or contain errors
ESDC may contact you to request any mandatory information if it is missing from your application. ESDC will do this before determining if your application is eligible. If you receive such a request, you must respond within 5 business days of the date ESDC sent the request. If you do not respond before the deadline, your application will be considered incomplete and will result in your application being screened out.
ESDC will review your application in 3 steps:
Step 1: Screening for eligibility
Screening for eligibility is based on whether the:
- application is received by the deadline
- application is complete
- organization is eligible
- project activities are accessibility-related only
- organization is ready to begin spending funding by December 1, 2026
ESDC will assess your project only if all the eligibility requirements are met.
Things that may impact your eligibility
- Your past performance or issues of default in projects with ESDC may impact the eligibility of your application
- ESDC may review information in the public domain including, but not limited to, materials on your website and media articles
Step 2A: Assessing on project relevance, activities and results
If your application is eligible, ESDC will first assess your application using the following criteria.
Project relevance
- Non-Indigenous organizations - Workplace accessibility projects
You will be required to:
- provide a detailed description of the barriers being addressed in the workplace and explain how the project will remove them
- demonstrate at the time of your application that you employ one or more persons with disabilities, and
- describe future hiring plans in regard to persons with disabilities
- Indigenous organizations - Workplace accessibility projects
You will be required to:
- provide a detailed description of the barriers being addressed in the workplace and explain how your project will remove them
- describe future hiring plans in regard to persons with disabilities
- Indigenous organizations - Community accessibility projects
You will be required to:
- provide a detailed description of the barriers being addressed in the community and explain how the project will remove them
- provide the estimated number of persons with disabilities who are expected to benefit from your accessibility project
Project activities and results
Your project activities should be relevant to the project objective and demonstrate how your outputs and outcomes will be achieved. Activities should be broken down into clear, measurable and realistic steps with established timelines.
The application should:
- describe how the project activities will eliminate infrastructure and technology-related accessibility barriers (they must be specific, concrete and measurable - outcomes and outputs) in:
- workplaces where persons with disabilities are currently and could be employed, and
- communities where they contribute to increased access to programs, services and/or support for persons with disabilities (for indigenous community projects)
- describe the timelines and steps of the project (as outlined in question 57)
- describe the plan to gather, measure and report on results achieved by the project
Step 2B: Organization's capacity
Based on the first level of assessment and funding priorities, an external contractor with expertise in construction and accessible design will conduct a second assessment on a "short list" of applications.
Organization's capacity
Your application must demonstrate that your organization has the capacity to successfully manage the project.
The external contractor will review the specific construction, adherence to building codes and budget-related sections of each application as well as any quotes to assess feasibility and cost accuracy, evaluate proposed timelines, and identify areas of a project that may require adjustments or improvements.
Step 3: Assessing other criteria to select a diverse range of projects to fund
ESDC may consider the following to select a diverse range of projects to fund:
- geographic distribution