Ontario AODA compliance deadline: December 31, 2026Check your risk
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AODA · WCAG 2.2 AA · Ottawa, Ontario

AODA & WCAG Accessibility Compliance for Ottawa Businesses

Ottawa's economy is unusually accessibility-conscious: as the national capital, a large share of local firms are public-sector contractors, professional-services and consulting shops, and SaaS companies in the Kanata North tech hub that sell to government and procurement buyers who increasingly require accessible, WCAG-conforming digital products. The city is also officially bilingual, so customer-facing sites carry both an AODA accessibility expectation and an English/French content burden. From downtown firms near Parliament Hill to retailers and clinics across Nepean, Orléans, and Barrhaven, Ottawa organizations with 20+ employees fall squarely under Ontario's AODA reporting obligations.

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What we do

Accessibility services for Ottawa businesses

AODA Compliance Audit

Automated plus manual screen-reader and keyboard testing against WCAG 2.2 AA, with audit-ready conformance documentation. From $1,500.

Website Accessibility Remediation

We fix the real source code — never a cosmetic overlay — and re-test, so the result holds up if a complaint ever lands.

Accessible Shopify & B2B Builds

New Shopify stores and B2B portals, accessible by design and built to convert. From $6,000 — fundable via CSBFP / CanExport.

Ottawa

Built for Ottawa's businesses

Common local sectors in scope for the Dec 31, 2026 AODA deadline:

  • Federal and public-sector contractors
  • Technology and SaaS (Kanata North hub)
  • Professional services and consulting
  • Healthcare and clinics
  • Retail and e-commerce
  • Tourism and hospitality

FAQ

AODA in Ottawa — common questions

What is the December 31, 2026 AODA deadline, and does my Ottawa business have to meet it?
Under Ontario's AODA, organizations with 20 or more employees must file an Accessibility Compliance Report (ACR) with the province by December 31, 2026. The legal floor for public-facing websites is WCAG 2.0 AA under the IASR; we build and test to WCAG 2.2 AA as best practice. If you employ 20+ people in Ottawa, you are in scope. The bigger everyday exposure is not the report itself but a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario complaint, since AODA has no private right of action. A recent audit and remediation file is your good-faith record. This is accessibility-engineering guidance, not legal advice; we work alongside your counsel.
Can't I just install a free accessibility widget or overlay on my Ottawa website?
We'd steer you away from that. Free overlays and widgets (the accessiBe, UserWay, AudioEye style of cosmetic JavaScript layer) typically catch only about 30 to 40 percent of WCAG issues, and courts have rejected them. In 2025 the U.S. FTC fined accessiBe US$1,000,000 for false compliance claims, and 456 sites that had a widget installed were sued in the first half of 2025. A widget can create a false sense of safety while leaving the underlying barriers in place. We fix the actual source code and give you audit-ready conformance documentation, the kind that holds up.
What does an AODA accessibility audit cost for an Ottawa business?
A PassProof audit starts at $1,500 and includes manual screen-reader and keyboard testing, not just an automated scan. An accessible Shopify or B2B build starts at $6,000. We're remote-first, serving Ottawa and all of Ontario, so you get the same service whether you're in the downtown core, Kanata, or Orléans. You can also start free with the PassProof Report at https://getpassproof.com/risk-snapshot. Defending a single Human Rights Tribunal complaint typically runs $30,000 or more, so a proactive audit is the lower-cost path.
Do Ottawa government contractors and SaaS firms have extra accessibility reasons to act?
Yes. Many Ottawa firms sell to federal and broader public-sector buyers, and procurement processes increasingly require WCAG-conforming, accessible digital products. Beyond the AODA report, meeting WCAG 2.2 AA helps you clear accessibility requirements in RFPs and vendor reviews. With roughly 1 in 5 Ontarians living with a disability, an accessible site also reaches more customers and tends to convert better, so compliance is the floor and growth is the point. If you also sell into the U.S., the ADA can apply too.

See where your Ottawa site stands — free

The PassProof Report scans your site against Ontario's AODA/WCAG rules in ~30 seconds: your top failures, any overlay it detects, what applies to your size, and a fixed-price path. No obligation.

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