RCMP External Review Committee Accessibility Plan 2026-2028

ISSN 2817-0598

Cat. Number PS20-9E-PDF

Aussi disponible en français sous le titre : Plan sur l’accessibilité 2026-2028 du Comité externe d’examen de la GRC

Backgorund

In July 2016, the Government of Canada (GC) began consultations with more than 6,000 Canadians in order to determine what an accessible Canada means to them. As a result of these consultations, Bill C-81: An Act to Ensure a Barrier-Free Canada, was tabled in June 2018. The Accessible Canada Act, which aims to make Canada a barrier-free country by January 1, 2040, came into force in July 2019.

The Government of Canada's Accessibility Strategy (the strategy) lays out a vision for becoming the most accessible and inclusive public service in the world.

The Strategy’s guiding principles

"Nothing without us" – persons with disabilities are involved in the design and implementation of the strategy
Collaboration – GC organizations work in collaboration with each other, with bargaining agents and with other public, private and not-for-profit organizations
Sustainability – the strategy prioritizes actions that will have an enduring impact
Transparency – the strategy is developed and implemented transparently; and GC organizations will report openly and transparently on their efforts to remove barriers

The Strategy’s goals

Employment – Improve recruitment, retention and promotion of persons with disabilities
Built environment – Enhance accessibility
Technology – Make information and communications technology usable by all
Services – Equip public servants to design and deliver accessible programs and services
Culture – Build an accessibility-confident public service

To achieve these goals, all GC organizations were required to publish an initial Accessibility Plan by end of 2022. In support of these goals, organizations were required to proactively identify, remove and prevent barriers in the following seven (7) priority areas:

employment
the built environment (buildings and public spaces)
information and communication technologies
communication, other than information and communication technologies
the procurement of goods, services and facilities
the design and delivery of programs and services
transportation (airlines, as well as rail, road and marine transportation providers that cross provincial or international borders)

The strategy committed to hire 5,000 net new persons with disabilities into the public service by 2025. Since then, the government has surpassed this goal, hiring nearly 7,000 net new persons with disabilities.

To sustain this progress, continued action is needed to:

remove workplace barriers and strengthen accessibility and accommodation
support, empower and retain employees with disabilities
ensure equitable opportunities for career advancement
foster inclusive leadership that embeds accessibility into everyday practice

General

The RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) is an independent administrative tribunal that contributes to fair and equitable labour relations and helps to reinforce accountability at all levels within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Other than the courts, the ERC is the only independent review mechanism available to RCMP members and management for serious labour relations matters. The ERC conducts impartial reviews of appeals of certain conduct decisions and measures imposed on RCMP members and of written decisions regarding harassment complaints filed prior to January 1, 2021. It also reviews appeals of revocations of appointments, discharges, demotions and ordered stoppages of pay and allowances. Case files dealing with these matters are referred to the ERC for review by the RCMP pursuant to sections 33 and 45.15 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and section 17 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Regulations.

The ERC is a micro-organization under the core public administration with less than 30 full-time employees.

Executive Summary

The ERC's updated Accessibility Plan for 2026-2028 builds on the progress achieved and on employees’ feedback received through surveys and discussions.

The priority areas identified in the Accessible Canada Act were used as guidelines in the ERC’s 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan, and the ERC’s Annual Progress Reports for 2023 and 2024. Based on these reports and feedback received from employees, the ERC continues to improve and work on opportunities to remove and prevent accessibility barriers in the workplace. These actions will continue to strengthen a culture of inclusion at the ERC and positively influence the hiring and retention of persons with disabilities further enriching the work environment.

Accessibiltiy Statement

The ERC is committed to creating a workplace that is accessible for all employees. The ERC will continue towards making accessibility the default in all plans and policies while updating all current approaches to meet this standard. This approach will enable the ERC to meet its overall goals and mandate while enriching the working environment for all ERC employees.

Feedback Mechanism

The Accessible Canada Act requires organizations to establish a departmental process for receiving and dealing with feedback regarding the implementation of the accessibility plan. The ERC will be regularly monitoring and evaluating feedback and ensuring that it is incorporated into its future plans when possible.

If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, you can communicate with the ERC by:

sending an email to the attention of the Director General of Corporate Services at corporateandhrservices-servicesgenerauxetrh@erc-cee.gc.ca
telephone: 613-998-2134
sending your feedback by mail to:

RCMP External Review Committee

P.O. Box 1159, Station B

Ottawa ON, K1P 5R2

Alternate formats of this accessibility plan are available upon request. Please contact the ERC for information and support.

Prioritiy Areas Identified by the Accessible Canada Act

1. Employment

Employment remains the priority area identified as most important by ERC employees based on employee surveys. As a small organization, the ERC has very few staffing processes annually. The ERC continues to implement government-wide initiatives and works towards increasing representation of persons with disabilities across all occupational groups and levels. The ERC is committed to removing and preventing barriers in all phases of the employment cycle.

During the implementation of the ERC’s Accessibility Plan 2023-2025, the ERC reviewed staffing policies and practices, leading to an update in the recruitment practices and the creation of a Performance Management Guide. The organization will continue to review its policies and practices associated with staffing and update as needed.

The next action items in this area are:

review of onboarding process;
review and promote ERC Duty to Accommodate Guide;
review ERC’s accommodation request form and accompanying procedures;
promote and educate on the importance and benefits of self-identification and the completion of the self-identification form.

The results from employee surveys indicate that ERC employees feel that the organization has a welcoming supportive culture that supports employees with disabilities. We continue to include training on bias, inclusion, disability inclusion and barriers in employee mandatory training.

Since the publishing of the ERC’s Accessibility Plan 2023-2025, the ERC has worked towards increasing staff awareness of the organization’s accessibility plan and progress reports by sharing these documents with all staff and having them as discussion points at staff meetings.

Given the small size of the ERC, the organization is unable to support the formation of internal employee networks. The organization actively promotes government wide employee networks including those that are disability focused with staff as well as the office of the Ombuds and Employee Assistance Program supports.

With the planned launch of the government-wide self-identification application, the ERC will increase sharing and promoting information with employees regarding the importance of self-identifying. This will correspond directly to the launch of this new application.

2. Built Environment

In 2019, the ERC redesigned its physical work site to be accessible by default and ensured that workstations are fully accessible using the inclusive by design method. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year the ERC launched a project to replace the ergonomic desks in the ERC’s office. This allowed the organization to replace several desks that were difficult to use and experiencing technical issues. The results of this project are now all workstations at the ERC office now have ergonomic sit/stand desks that are accessible by all employees, including those with mobility assistive devices, and are user friendly, thus their usage is barrier free. This project, which was in response to an issue identified in May of 2024, was completed in December of 2024, resulting in a less than 12 month turn around time in removing the barrier.

Ongoing commitment:

review procedures for requesting accommodation;
periodically review the physical work site to continue to meet the inclusive by design standard and the needs of employees;
continue to ensure that employees are aware of the emergency and evacuation procedures;
continued open discussion at staff meetings on diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

3. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

ERC continues to work in a hybrid environment with the flexibility to work from the physical office and remotely. The ERC has ensured that all on-site offices are equipped with the necessary IT equipment, employees only need to transport their laptops to and from the office. As employees will still be required to work remotely part-time, the ERC provides employees with all equipment needed to successfully perform their duties at their remote work locations.

In order to be as accessible as possible the ERC will:

continue to promote accessible technologies and software for its employees;
consider accessibility and adaptability in all new software/hardware acquisitions;
support operations in being able to provide Findings and Recommendations (F&R) reports in alternate formats, upon request;
provide access to assistive ICT as requested either through internal procurement or through the Government of Canada's assistive devices lending program.

Though the ERC does not currently use Artificial Intelligence (AI) as per the ERC’s Notice on the Use of Artificial Intelligence, the organization is assessing advancements in AI and, using the new technical guide on Accessible and Equitable Artificial Intelligence Systems, published in August 2024, to determine if there are AI advancements that will support accessibility in the organization.

Due to the small size of the ERC, the organization contracts IT services through larger Government of Canada departments who follow all Government requirements and service standards.

4. Communications Other than ICT

The ERC is committed to ensuring that all communications are accessible. The ERC continues to ensure that it adheres to all Government of Canada style guidelines, including its directive on producing communications using plain language. The organization is currently in the process of reviewing the new Standard on Plain Language, published in October of 2025 to identify what areas the ERC can improve upon and what items can be incorporated into the processes and procedures currently used by the organization. It is important to note that due to the legal nature of the majority of the documents produced at the ERC, it can be difficult to fully implement plain language standards while using the necessary judicial/legal terminology.

In order to maintain accessibility, the ERC will continue to update communications and the ERC’s website in compliance with updates to the Government’s Standard on Web Accessibility and will ensure that its communications continue to meet all Government of Canada accessibility guidelines.

5. The Procurement of Goods and Services

The ERC understands the importance of timeliness in the procurement of adaptive equipment and providing an accessible environment. As such, the ERC is committed to continuing to provide a rapid and simplified procurement process. Due to the ERC's size as a micro-organization, it is able to quickly and efficiently action all procurement requests. It is also able to process, on a priority basis, any requests that are identified as meeting an adaptive or accessible need. The ERC continues to update its policies, procedures and mechanisms to ensure that the procurement process remains accessible and that requests are actioned in a timely manner.

6. The Design and Delivery of Programs and Services

The ERC is an administrative agency with the mandate of reviewing appeal cases relating to labour relations within the RCMP and issuing Findings and Recommendations (F&Rs) and has only one ongoing program. Its mandate is to review grievances, discipline and discharge and demotion matters involving RCMP members and to provide F&Rs to the RCMP Commissioner. As such the organization does not provide services to public or customer services and therefore the organization’s focus is on accessible design and delivery of internal programs and services. The ERC is currently reviewing the new technical guide on the Design and Delivery of Accessible Programs and Services, Including Customer Services, published in July 2025, to determine what areas or internal practices can be improved upon.

The ERC will:

Consider accessibility in the development and implementation of all policies and practices
Develop policies and practices using an accessibility foundation so services are accessible.

7. Transportation

This priority area under the Accessible Canada Act does not apply to the ERC.

Culture Change, Education and Awareness

The ERC is committed to creating an environment where persons with disabilities can be successful. In the process of updating its Accessibility Plan it was noted that in the last employee survey the majority of staff indicated that they feel they can be open about any disabilities and that they do not fear judgment or discrimination at the ERC. This indicates that the work the ERC has done to create a culture of safety and inclusion is working.

The ERC understands that the workplace culture is a major factor in the comfort and willingness of employees to self-identify and discussing ways to ensure the workplace is barrier free. Education is a key component in this culture change. As such, the ERC will continue to encourage and promote accessibility training for all ERC employees. The ERC has also focused on creating a safe environment where all employees feel safe to share their lived experiences, thoughts and suggestions.

All ERC employees will be regularly consulted using confidential surveys to collect their feedback and suggestions, and to ensure that progress towards an accessible by default workplace is not stagnant. The ERC will be promoting the self-identification of all of its employees and it will raise awareness of the Accessible Canada Act with its employees through presentations, training sessions and informal discussions.

The ERC constantly strives to improve upon its existing models and ensure that all of its employees experience a safe and accepting workplace free of discrimination and barriers.

Consultations

The Government of Canada's commitment to "Nothing without us" was imperative in the updating of this Plan. Due to the ERC's size as a micro-organization it was not possible to consult solely and specifically with employees who identified as persons with disabilities, as it would not be possible to ensure their confidentiality. Combined with the knowledge that there may be employees of the ERC who are not comfortable self-identifying, all employees of ERC were consulted through anonymous surveys and discussions to gain their opinions regarding accessibility at the ERC. This internal consultation was beneficial in setting the table for future on-going discussions and consultations.

Implementation, Monitoring and Reporting

In accordance with the Accessible Canada Act, organizations are required to prepare and publish annual progress reports on the implementation of their accessibility plans. These reports will outline any feedback received and the actions taken (if any) to improve upon existing models. These annual progress reports will ensure that accessibility remains in the forefront of the organization's initiatives and will ensure constant attention and progress in meeting its goals. The ERC's next progress reports for the 2026-2028 Accessibility Plan will be published in December 2026 and December 2027. It is also specified that a revised plan must be published every three (3) years. In accordance with this regulation, the ERC will publish an updated Accessibility Plan in December 2028.

Appendix A: Glossary

Barrier

“means anything—including anything physical, architectural, technological or attitudinal, anything that is based on information or communications or anything that is the result of a policy or a practice- that hinders the full and equal participation in society of persons with an impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment or a functional limitation.”

Disability

“means any impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment—or a functional limitation—whether permanent, temporary or episodic in nature, or evident or not, that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society.”

"Nothing without us"

"Nothing without us" is a guiding principle used across the Government of Canada to communicate the message that no policy should be decided by a representative without the full and direct participation of the members of the group affected by that policy.

Self-Identification Modernization Project

In September 2020, the Treasury Board Secretariat launched the Self-Identification (self-ID) Modernization Project to increase the accuracy, depth and breadth of the data across government. The project explored ways to reduce stigma associated with self-identification for all employment equity groups. Following extensive research and consultations, a new questionnaire was co-designed with employees from various diversity networks.

Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport

The Government of Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport helps address the obstacles federal public service employees and applicants with disabilities face in obtaining the tools, supports and measures to perform at their best and succeed in the workplace. It facilitates recruitment, retention, and career advancement for persons with disabilities. The Accessibility Passport facilitates employee mobility between GC organizations. It is meant to follow each employee and it is an evergreen document that can be updated throughout a career.