Creator: The Government of British Columbia
Date Updated: January 12, 2023
Overview
The Accessible British Columbia Act, assented to on June 17, 2021, outlines accessibility requirements that organizations need to fulfill. This includes creating an accessibility committee and accessibility plan and asking the public for feedback.
The information on this page is summarized from the Accessible British Columbia Act (Chapter 19 – Section Accessible Organizations).
Accessibility Committee
Organizations need to form an Accessibility Committee to identify accessibility barriers that organizations may have and provide feedback and suggestions to solve them. The accessibility committee needs to have members with a wide range of expertise that must reflect the diversity of British Columbia, including:
- A diverse number of persons with lived experience.
- Persons from organizations that support people with disabilities.
- At least one member must be an Indigenous person.
Accessibility Plan
The Accessibility Plan will identify, make plans to solve, and prevent accessibility barriers in the organization. Organizations need to update the Accessibility Plan at least once every three years. The accessibility committee needs to be consulted during the creation and update of the accessibility plan.
The accessibility plan needs to consider several principles when creating and updating the plan, including inclusion, adaptability, diversity, collaboration, self-determination, and universal design.
Public Feedback
Per the Accessible British Columbia Act, the public needs to be consulted about any accessibility barriers in the organization. This includes providing a way for the public to provide that feedback and consulting them during the creation of the organization’s accessibility plan.
Review the Accessible British Columbia Act.
References
Province of British Columbia. (2022, December 14). The Accessible British Columbia Act. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/21019