Accessibility

Client service accessibility

Client service accessibility

Invest Ottawa is committed to maintaining an accessible environment for persons with disabilities by serving our clients in a manner which respects their dignity and independence and permits equal access to our services.

We have established policies, practices and procedures for the delivery of our services to persons with disabilities, as required by the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service enacted under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (“AODA”).

We invite feedback on how our services are delivered to people with disabilities. Please contact us by phone, 613-828-6274, email at [email protected] and in person at Invest Ottawa offices. We promise to acknowledge feedback directly as well as to communicate any resulting actions based on concerns or complaints submitted.

Our Client Service Accessibility Policy is available to any person upon request. It describes our policies, practices and procedures relating to:

  • Providing services to persons with disabilities
  • The use of assistive devices, service animals and support persons by persons with disabilities
  • Temporary disruption of our facilities and services
  • Staff training
  • Our Feedback Process

Website

Policy

To ensure equal access to electronic and information technologies, Invest Ottawa has developed a set of web page design standards in recognition of persons with disabilities.

Design standards

These standards are influenced by those recommended by the W3C and Access Board. The Access Board is responsible for developing the standards outlined by the amended Rehabilitation Act of 1998. Universal design calls for appropriate use auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure communication.

Invest Ottawa has adopted the Design of HTML Pages to increase accessibility to users with disabilities as the primary guideline to meet the objectives of the Universal Access for State Design policy.

These Universal Access Design Standards are being integrated into Invest Ottawa’s web site and will continue to evolve as new technologies and opportunities emerge.

  1. Every graphic image will have an “alt” tag and a short description that is intuitive to the user. If a graphic image is used as a navigation element, it will contain text description and direction that is intuitive to the user.
  2. Every graphic image that uses an image map, alternative text of the hyperlink will be provided.
  3. Photographs that contribute to the content of a page will include a long description or a “D” to denote an alternative description. A “return” link will be provided on the description page to return the user to the page of origin.
  4. The Invest Ottawa web site will have descriptive, intuitive text links and avoid the use of vague references such as “click,” “here,” “link,” or “this.”
  5. An alternative form of access will be made available for online forms, such as an email address or phone number.
  6. Tables will include textual information displayed in a linear form across the table, as well as cells will be named to aid as reference.
  7. Background colours will be avoided since colour schemes can create problems with legibility.
  8. Multiple browser testing will be conducted on the current versions of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Software Utilities

Adobe’s PDF Converter allows you to convert regular PDF files to html. One of the required standards is providing, where applicable, an HTML alternative to PDF files.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html

Checklists

http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/

Multi-year Accessibility Plan

Invest Ottawa is committed to fulfilling our requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. We want to play a role in making Ontario an accessible province for all Ontarians and are working hard to remove and prevent barriers to accessibility for our employees, clients and our guests. This plan highlights some of the steps Invest Ottawa is taking to meet those requirements.

Strategies and Actions

Bayview Yards is home to Invest Ottawa’s offices. This section highlights some of the changes that have been made at Bayview Yards to enable a more inclusive environment and to remove and prevent barriers for our employees, clients and guests. Recent improvements have included:

  • the addition of improved signage and upgraded infrastructure;
  • increased automatic door operators at all the doors to allow independent access to all safe areas of the building;
  • adding changing tables and designating three washrooms as gender neutral;
  • an updated assistance alarm in the accessible washrooms to provide easy access in the event that urgent help is required;
  • upgraded lighting for enhanced video monitoring to ensure personal and asset security,
  • adding bilingual defibrillators to each floor;
  • installing four additional phone booths that are wheelchair accessible meeting spaces; and fitting one of our showers to be wheelchair accessible with added railings.

Customer Service

Invest Ottawa is committed to providing accessible customer service. This means that we will provide services to people with disabilities with the same high quality and timely service as all others. For support and/or accommodation requests please reach out to [email protected].

Information and Communications

Invest Ottawa is committed to ensuring that our website meets the appropriate accessibility standards.

Actions Time Responsibility Completion Date
Review new website content and ensure it is up to date with WCAG 2.0., Level A. Make amendments as required. 1 day Marketing & Communications Ongoing

Employment

Invest Ottawa is committed to fair and accessible employment practices.

Actions Time Responsibility Completion Date
We have recently completed a DEI survey with a third party and are currently developing recommendations which include enhancing our talent acquisition and talent management practices. TBD Human Resources TBD
Continue to create opportunities for an open environment where new and existing team members can easily report any accessibility barriers and accommodation throughout their employee experience. On each request, we will develop individual accommodation plans and will prepare return-to-work plans for any team member who has been on leave. 1 day Human Resources Ongoing

Training

Invest Ottawa is committed to providing training to meet the requirements of Ontario’s accessibility laws and the Ontario Human Rights Code as it applies to people with disabilities.

Actions Time Responsibility Completion Date
Ensure that all team members are aware of where to locate our AODA policies and complete the required training during their new hire orientation. The training includes an introduction of AODA and its purposes, who to reach out to obtain support using equipment or devices available on IO/CBY’s premises or otherwise provided by IO/CBY that may help with the provision of services to a person with a disability, what to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty accessing IO/CBY’s services, etc.    1 day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human Resources

 

 

Ongoing

 

 

Human Resources will maintain a training record including the dates when the training is provided and the names of the participants. We will ensure all team members complete a mandatory self-serve training module post our Health and Safety onboarding training presentation.

 

1 day Human Resources Ongoing

Additional Efforts

Invest Ottawa’s employees, clients and guests will soon benefit from additional initiatives that will be made at our office building to further enable our work environment to be as accessible as possible.

Actions Time Responsibility Completion Date
Install four additional accessible door operators to our east wing ground floor so that the area would be accessible to everybody. 1 week Infrastructure Jan 2021
Install an accessible door operator to the outside of the door to our second-floor terrace that will allow two-way entry for everyone. 4 days Infrastructure May 2021
Install a ramp from our ground floor to our event space level to eliminate the need to use the steps or the elevator. 1 week Infrastructure Dec 2022