Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada:
Accessibility Plan Progress Report 2023

General

As part of our ongoing commitment to inclusion and accessibility, and in keeping with the Accessible Canada Act, the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs (FJA) is continuing to provide accessible programs, services and environments to federally appointed judges. In its first accessibility plan, FJA identified key initiatives that would advance an equitable, inclusive and barrier-free access, whether in person or virtually.

Contact

Any feedback on this progress report or our accessibility plan can be addressed electronically at accessibility-accessibilite@fja-cmf.gc.ca.

 

Areas under Section 5 of the Accessible Canada Act

Employment

FJA is dedicated to the Government of Canada’s commitment to hire at least 5,000 persons with disabilities by 2025. As a small department, we do not experience the same mobility in staffing actions as larger departments. However, we do have employees that have identified as being persons with a disability and we continue to work to increase their representation.

Action	Steps	Responsibility	Timeline
Barrier identification	Review current hiring policies and procedures	Director HR	September 2024 - on schedule
Identify mitigation strategies	Make changes to policies and procedures	Director HR	October 2024 - on schedule
Provide training to HR staff on accessibility	Provide training	Director HR	December 2024 - on schedule

 

The built environment

As reported in its first accessibility plan, FJA occupies space in a property owned and maintained by the Government of Canada through Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). PSPC has worked in recent years to bringing the building up to code for accessibility purposes and ensuring that occupants and visitors have a seamless experience in accessing FJA and all areas of the building. As such, visitors and employees have availability to

• accessible washrooms on every floor,
• Braille options on floor signage and elevator buttons,
• main access doors fitted with passkeys and auto open/close functionality.

PSPC also retrofitted the building’s main lobby and elevator bays on each floor with accessible lighting in its commitment to a safe and accessible environment.

Action	Steps	Responsibility	Timeline
Identify mitigation strategies	Ensure ongoing mitigation measures are adequate and periodically reviewed	Chief Security Officer	Ongoing so as to meet guidances

 

Information and communications technologies

Since its first accessibility plan, FJA continued its work toward the Cloud, focusing on securing the platforms on which several business functions, including e-learning and virtual committee meetings, are being hosted. Priority was given to the transition from the current server-based platform (JUDICOM) to a cloud-based platform (JUDICLOUD), which was with the aim of enabling our judiciary and the judicial community we support to work from any mobile platform or device.

Action	Steps	Responsibility	Timeline
Ensure that applications developed in-house (including our Website) are accessible and usable	Leverage accessibility and usability standards (e.g. Web Experience Toolkit) for all development activities	Manager, IT Applications	Ongoing so as to meet evolving guidances
Provide users with assistive technologies as and when required	When a need for assistive technology is identified (e.g. text-to-speech, alternate input devices) research must be conducted and steps must be taken to identify or acquire the required technology.	Chief, Information Systems Services Division	Ongoing so as to meet evolving guidances
Provide users with Cloud technologies	Leverage Cloud-based platform technologies to develop and administer a new judicial intranet called JUDICLOUD, which provides judges with a secure and restricted work and communication system environment	Chief, Information Systems Services Division	Onboarding started December 2023 with expected full onboarding on March 2025

 

Procurement of goods, services and facilities

Action	Steps	Responsibility	Timeline
Accessibility training provided to Procurement officers to increase awareness of accessibility standards and potential barriers in the procurement process	Training	Director, Finance	December 2024 to meet staffing changes

 

Design and delivery of programs and services

FJA provides services to federally appointed judges. As such, we ensure to create and provide delivery of programs and services to that clientele while respecting key accessibility priorities as prescribed by the Government of Canada.

 

Training

No specific training in this area has been deemed to be required at this time. Our administration and accommodation personnel meet quarterly with representatives at PSPC to discuss and address requirements as needed.

 

Consultations and feedback

FJA has not received any external feedback and is currently working to address employees requests.

 

Conclusion

FJA continues to monitor the needs and requirements of its personnel and clients and will address these needs on a case-by-case basis with an eye to continuous improvement aimed at creating an environment that is diverse and inclusive.