Taking action to remove barriers

I’m pleased to announce that our new and improved accommodation and accessibility policy is now live!

Access to justice is one of our top priorities. We want everyone to be able to participate fully in their appeal on an equal basis. By updating our accommodation and accessibility policy, we aim to help people do just that.  

To make sure we addressed any gaps in our former policy, we consulted with:

• An internal working group
• Our Employment Insurance Appeal Consultative Committee (EIACC) and Income Security Appeal Consultative Committee (ISACC) stakeholders
• 32 additional stakeholder groups, including:
  • Disability legal organizations and scholars
  • Intersectional organizations (organizations that help people who are marginalized in more than one area of life)
  • Disability advocacy organizations

Based on what we heard, here are some of the changes we made:

• Set out our commitments to create an inclusive and accessible appeal process
• Included people’s rights to accommodations
• Included the SST’s obligations, roles, and responsibilities
• Removed the 3-week notice requested for people who need a personal support service, like a guide dog or service animal
• Included a non-exhaustive list of examples of accommodations we may be able to provide
• Created an optional accommodation request form to help people let us know what they need
• Included how we can address barriers that aren’t related to the grounds of discrimination set out in the Canadian Human Rights Act opens a new window

Thank you to everyone who provided us with comprehensive feedback for this project. Not only did it help us refresh our policy, but your comments will inform our ongoing work and future access to justice projects, too.