Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) accessibility plan – Annual progress report – December 2024

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Table of contents

• General
• Departmental feedback process
• Consultations
• PrairiesCan’s action plan
  • Priority area: Employment
  • Priority area: Built environment
  • Priority area: Information and communications technologies (ICT)
  • Priority area: Communication, other than ICT
  • Priority area: Procurement of goods, services and facilities
  • Priority area: Design and delivery of programs and services
  • Priority area: Transportation
• Looking forward

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General

Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) is proud to provide its second annual progress report of the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025 based on the Accessible Canada Act (ACA).

This second annual progress report identifies progress made since the first annual progress report in December 2023.

The ACA requires organizations to publish progress reports on the implementation of their accessibility plans. The progress reflects the organization’s policies, programs, practices and services in relation to identifying, removing and preventing barriers.

Departmental feedback process

In line with the ACA, we have established a departmental process for receiving and dealing with feedback regarding the implementation of the accessibility plan and barriers experienced by our employees and people who deal with our organization.

Send your accessibility questions, feedback and suggestions; or to request an alternate version, by phone, email or by letter to:

Director General, Human Resources and Corporate Services
Prairies Economic Development Canada
Suite 1500-9700 Jasper Ave.
Edmonton, AB T5J 4H7

Telephone: 1-888-338-WEST (9378)
Fax: 780-495-4557
Teletypewriter (TTY): 1-877-303-3388

Email: ottwebinfo@prairiescan.gc.ca

Feedback form

The department has not yet received any questions, feedback and suggestions on the PrairiesCan accessibility plan, nor have we received any feedback on barriers that may have been experienced by our employees and people who deal with our organization through the process listed above.  We will continue to monitor for feedback and will respond should inquiries be received.

Consultations

The PrairiesCan Employee Resource Group (ERG), which includes members from all equity deserving groups and allies, including those that self-identify as a person with a disability, was consulted during the creation of this second annual progress report. This included open discussions to share possible barriers, as well as best practices and opportunities in accessibility, specifically on the seven areas identified in the Accessible Canada Act.

Feedback received during these consultations include:

• Ensuring all PrairiesCan locations have accessible doors.
• Expanding more options to collect feedback such as, management raising awareness of the feedback options and developing an anonymous method for employees to provide feedback.
• Providing more education and tools to all employees regarding visible and invisible types of barriers.

PrairiesCan appreciates the feedback received and will collaborate with our partners to find solutions, including continuing to work with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to make office space more accessible.

Internal subject matter experts were consulted to identify current activities, and how PrairiesCan will continue to increase accessibility.

PrairiesCan’s action plan

As mentioned in the Clerk of the Privy Council’s Call to Action,

“As persons with visible and invisible disabilities continue to face physical and technological barriers, the approaches we develop must be truly inclusive by also being truly accessible.

“Building a diverse, equitable and inclusive Public Service is both an obligation and an opportunity we all share. We must advance this objective together, acting both individually and collectively, and recognizing that our progress will rely on amplifying the voices of those within our organizations to help lead the way.”

The progress PrairiesCan has made to support a more inclusive and accessible workplace and public service covers seven priority areas.

Priority area: Employment

As stated in the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025, PrairiesCan committed to:

• Implement government-wide initiatives, including review of assessment methods in connection to the amendment of Section 36 of the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), to remove and prevent barriers to recruitment, retention and promotion of persons with disabilities.
• Review and analyze updated Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) disaggregated results.
• Update PrairiesCan’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Plan.
• Increase education on accommodation throughout all stages of employment (for example appointment, onboarding, promotion etc.).
• Continue to support accommodation requests from employees and managers, including ergonomic assessments for new and current staff and support flexible work arrangements, where possible.
• Continue to promote training events to raise awareness and create an inclusive culture and work environment.

Progress made:

• The representation of persons with disabilities in the department increased by approximately 2% from 2023 and now aligns with workforce availability.
• Human resources consultants (HRCs) and hiring managers are evaluating conscious and unconscious biases and obstacles in the assessment process, prior to management conducting evaluations in both advertised and non-advertised staffing procedures.
• HRCs are continuing to enhance their knowledge through learning and development with a focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and promoting these initiatives.
• Onboarding checklists for employees and managers have been updated to include discussions about accommodation and accessibility, including support for the Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport.
• PrairiesCan’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) champion has actively celebrated and raised department wide awareness of over 20 important and commemorative days. This is further supported by weekly learning messages to all staff promoting various diversity and inclusion training/events.
• Continued departmental contract with Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI), as well as the recent Employer Partnership with Indigenous Works to help support our ongoing learning on EDI.

Priority area: Built environment

As stated in the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025, PrairiesCan committed to:

• Continue to have accessibility as a mandatory consideration when securing new office space as well as the retrofitting of current leased space.
• Proactively work with building management companies to enhance accessibility in the built environment.

Progress made:

• Retrofitting the Winnipeg office for more workspaces and alignment with accessibility standards.

Priority area: Information and communications technologies (ICT)

As stated in the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025, PrairiesCan committed to:

• continue to support the accommodation requests from employees to ensure they have the systems and equipment to do their job (Accessible by default);
• adopt new software that has accessibility capabilities built within it, whenever possible.

Progress made:

• Departmental default font has switched to more accessible fonts such as Calibri and Aptos.
• Pilot of Windows 11 is underway with select staff to test bugs and prepare before department-wide rollout. This software has additional accessibility improvements and is planned for implementation by March 31, 2025.
• New software requests now include an accessibility review prior to purchase.
• Continued focus on vendors who supply software with built-in accessibility capabilities.
• Accessibility is a key consideration in the development of a modernized departmental financial management program.  This web-based program is being reviewed to ensure Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance, including consultation with the Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology (AAACT) team at Shared Services Canada (SSC). Although this work has just begun, this analysis and consultation will ensure a product that will support use by employees with diverse abilities.

Priority area: Communication, other than ICT

As stated in the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025, PrairiesCan committed to:

• Use plain language in communications to benefit all users, including those with low reading skills or cognitive disabilities.
• Continue to ensure that all external communication is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 compliant, or greater.
• Redesign our internal website to ensure content and layout meets accessibility standards.
• Continue to promote accessibility within our organization, including International Day of Persons with Disabilities and National AccessAbility Week, as well as training events to raise awareness and create an inclusive culture and work environment.

Progress made:

• The internal website has been redesigned to adhere to best practices for usability and accessibility.
• PrairiesCan’s external webpages continue to follow Government of Canada plain language standards and guidelines to ensure content is clear, accessible, and easy to read online
• Program pages on PrairiesCan’s external website continue to be updated using Government of Canada templates to enhance usability and accessibility for all users.
• Published over 720 social media posts so far in 2024 using alt text images, plain language, and adhering to visual accessibility standards for contrast and readability.
• Continued departmental messaging to all employees on important commemorations such as Mental Health Awareness Week, National Accessibility Week and Neurodiversity Week. Content includes supporting employees with learning opportunities such as understanding neurodivergence in the workplace, courses from Canadian Innovation Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, and various courses through our partnership with the CCDI.

Priority area: Procurement of goods, services and facilities

As stated in the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025, PrairiesCan is committed to:

• Continue to consider accessibility when establishing all contracts.
• Leverage our purchasing power with a focus on social procurement and realize socio-economic objectives by including socio-economic measures within procurement processes.

Progress made:

• Work underway to update the Departmental Procurement Management Framework, which will highlight accessibility factors in various sections.
• Implemented new contractual documents from PSPC, which uses plain language and includes clause tool (no longer includes hyperlinks to clauses, but rather clauses are in full text of the contract).

Priority area: Design and delivery of programs and services

As stated in the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025, PrairiesCan committed to:

• Continue the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Program (EDP).
• Review and analyze inclusivity data provided on applications, which provides information on the diversity of the population applying for and receiving departmental funds, and contributes to PrairiesCan’s Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) processes.
• Continue to inform applicants of the collection and use of inclusivity data from applications.

Progress made:

• During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the EDP has produced the following results:
  • 175 businesses created, maintained, or expanded;
  • 1,717 clients served; and
  • more than 1,750 business advisory services provided to clients.
• During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the Community Futures (CF) offices delivered the following results:
  • 26 loans valued at $1,629,592 for EDP lending activity; and
  • 525 clients with disabilities served
• PrairiesCan has provided funding to several tourism operators to improve the accessibility of their facilities by building hardened pathways, widening doors and creating rest areas for guide dogs.
• PrairiesCan continued to leverage its funding application forms, which include a voluntary self-declaration section for underrepresented groups (including persons with disabilities), to better understand the reach of the department’s programs.
• The applicant guide developed for each PrairiesCan program includes information on the collection and use of any voluntarily provided inclusivity data included in applications.

Priority area: Transportation

While the PrairiesCan Accessibility Plan 2023–2025 states this is not applicable, if needed, PrairiesCan will explore best practices, legislation, and policies to identify, remove, and prevent barriers.

Looking forward

The Act seeks to benefit all persons, especially persons with disabilities, to create a Canada without barriers, on or before January 1, 2040. As a Regional Development Agency, PrairiesCan has a key role to play in helping to achieve this goal.

PrairiesCan is committed to creating a diverse, safe, respectful, healthy, and inclusive workplace. This means a commitment to identifying, removing, and preventing barriers to full participation for persons with disabilities. The department will continue to evolve and adapt, in consultation with key stakeholders, to meet the needs of employees and clients with disabilities.