About the Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport
You can use this tool to record an agreement with your manager on the supports you need to perform at your best and succeed in the workplace.
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Benefits
The GC Workplace Accessibility Passport (the Passport):
- supports conversations between employees and managers about optimal workplace conditions and any necessary adjustments, including adaptive equipment or measures
- serves as a record of conversations, and of the agreed solutions
- documents consultations with and assessments by professionals from within or outside the organization
- speeds up the procurement of equipment or adaptive tools
- keeps employees from having to renegotiate tools or support measures when they change organizations, teams or managers
- gives managers the information they need to address potential workplace barriers, put in place solutions, and create the optimal conditions for employees to succeed
The benefits of the Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport - Transcript
Three circles appear, one pink, one blue and one green in a line, a black circle takes up half of the screen. The black circle has icons representing people with disabilities along the perimeter: someone in a wheelchair, using a cane, speaking in Sign language and thinking. Inside the circle a yellow Passport with black text reads: GC Workplace Accessibility Passport.
An animated male figure is sitting at a desk and typing on a computer.
Camera zooms out. An animated male figure in a wheelchair is behind Tony’s back and moving towards him. The words “Hey Tony!” appear in black to indicate that Tony’s colleague has spoken. The text disappears, and Tony’s colleague turns around and leaves. Tony looks behind him, but his colleague is gone. The camera zooms in on Tony.
Tony types on his laptop the following words which appear in black: Can’t hear colleagues when they approach my workstation.” An animation shows those words appearing in a yellow GC Workplace Accessibility Passport.
An animation shows the yellow GC Workplace Accessibility Passport with Tony’s barrier recorded in it. The Passport is being provided to his manager. Tony and his manager face each other and start a conversation.
Above Tony and his manager’s head a shared thought bubble shows the scene from before with Tony sitting at his desk and his colleague approaching from behind. This time, however, Tony has a motion sensor (a small gray box with three red buttons that sends out waves to detect motion). When Tony’s colleague approaches from behind and calls out “Hey Tony!” Tony is able to turn around and greet his colleague by saying “Hey Joe!!” Tony and Joel wave to each other. The camera zooms in on Tony and his manager as they have a conversation, the thought bubble disappears.
The camera zooms in on Tony’s yellow Passport. It is open to a grey page with text – Barrier: Can’t hear colleagues when they approach my workstation. Solution: Motion Sensor. Tony and Joe are greeting each other from the thought bubble. Tony has already signed this page. An animation shows Tony’s manager signing the page.
Tony carries a brief case and walks away from Joe and his manager. Joe and the manager wave goodbye to Tony and black text appears “Good luck Tony!”
Tony is sitting at a desk and typing on a laptop. His new manager walks toward him, carrying Tony’s yellow GC Workplace Accessibility Passport. Tony’s motion sensor appears and starts sending out waves. The camera pans to a new scene using a color transition.
An animated female figure is sitting at a desk and typing at a computer. She is smiling.
A bright light appears directly over Mani’s desk. She frowns and raises her arm over her head.
The camera pulls out and Mani with her arm over her head becomes a photo on a page in her yellow GC Workplace Accessibility Passport. The page reads Barrier – Bright artificial light. The camera pulls out more and the Passport is held by Mani’s manager who smiles while closing it. The camera zooms out more and shows Mani approaching her manager. They greet each other.
Above Mani and her manager’s head a shared thought bubble shows the scene from before with a bright light above Mani’s workstation. The next scene shows Mani’s new workstation next to a window. Mani is now smiling.
Mani is sitting next to a window within the thought bubble. The camera pans to a new scene using a color transition.
Tony and Mani are walking. Behind them is a white background with a black circle outline with icons representing persons with disabilities along the perimeter: someone in a wheelchair, using a cane, speaking in Sign language and thinking. This is the same circle from the introduction of this video.
The camera pans up and black text “Canada.ca/accessiblegc” appears. The scene fades to black the logo of the Government of Canada appears in white.
How it works
Legislation and policies, such as the Duty to Accommodate, require that organizations provide employees with the tools and supports they need to succeed in the workplace.
By creating a Passport, employees can document the barriers they may face at work and propose potential solutions. The employee and their manager collaborate to determine effective and appropriate solutions so that the employee can succeed.
Once the employee and manager have signed the Passport, repeated requests for additional documentation or justification are avoided, unless the employee’s circumstances or responsibilities have changed, or more effective solutions can be identified.
Organizations are responsible for adopting the Passport and promoting its use. Organizations can improve and streamline the workplace accommodation process by integrating the Passport into the accommodation process.
For more information, the Canada School of Public Service offers an overview of the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport
Background
The Passport is one of the flagship initiatives under the Public Service Accessibility Strategy and a key project under the Centralized Enabling Workplace Fund.
The Passport directly applies the social model of disability, which focuses on removing barriers in society that exclude people with disabilities. The social model recognizes that people with disabilities may face barriers in the workplace such as inaccessible buildings, systems or digital content. These barriers vary according to personal circumstances and job responsibilities. Workplace accommodation tools and support measures can help overcome these barriers and create a level playing field for all employees.
Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport - Transcript
Screen Description: A woman with glasses and sitting in a wheelchair types on a computer, and the screen zooms into a screen with the National AccessAbility Week 2021 theme: three pink, blue and green circles in a line, with a black circle taking up half of the screen, with disability icons along the perimeter: someone in a wheelchair, using a cane, using sign language and thinking. Black text on a white background inside the circle fades in and fades out in step with the voiceover:
Workplace accessibility passport
Timely access
Adaptive equipment and supports
To be successful at their job.
Narrator: The Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport ensures employees with disabilities have timely access to the adaptive equipment and supports they need to be successful at their job.
Screen Description: Camera zooms out to someone typing on a computer. Black text on a white computer screen appears, words fading in and out, in step with the voiceover:
Barriers
Solutions
Agreement
Narrator: Employees document in the Passport the barriers they face at work, the solutions found, and the agreement reached with their manager.
Screen Description: Computer screen fades into two employees shaking hands, and a piece of paper with an employee image and unidentifiable writing, forming into a paper airplane and zooming away, past other paper airplanes.
Narrator: The passport follows employees throughout their entire public service career and avoids the need to renegotiate each time their circumstances change.
Screen Description: The airplane stops in front of a group of employees talking together. One is in a wheelchair. The plane zooms off screen and into an image of someone with a headset typing a message on a computer, a chat bubble appears. The same 4 National AccessAbility Week 2021 circles appear: pink, blue, green in a line and a black circle taking up half the screen. Disability icons line the black circle's perimeter.
Narrator: Let’s adopt the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport and create the right conditions for people to be at their best each and every day.
Screen Description: Inside the black circle, black text on a white background appears: for more information, contact: accessibility.accessibilite@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
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