Internal report flags slow, uneven accommodations as disability workforce in federal core grows
The federal government met its disability hiring target years ahead of schedule – but a key accessibility office now sits in limbo as gaps persist in accommodating public servants with disabilities, according to CTV News.
The Office of Public Service Accessibility, created in 2018 to help departments meet or exceed the Accessible Canada Act, has funding only until March 31, 2026, with no clear mandate beyond that date.
Budget 2024 renewed its funding to that point, but officials have not confirmed what happens after.
A Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat spokesperson, Rola Salem, said only that “further details regarding its mandate after that date will be shared once available.”
An internal document prepared by the office for the Treasury Board president in June says the federal government has already achieved its goal of hiring 5,000 new employees with disabilities by 2025.
It also reports progress on anti-bias training and on developing centralized workplace accommodation processes.
At the same time, the document warns that accommodating employees with disabilities remains “a challenge,” particularly when barriers are complex or hard to identify, including those that are “mental health and neurodiversity related.”
CTV News said it notes that accommodation processes vary across government and that employees “may face delays if tools, technologies or expertise aren’t immediately available in their organization.”
According to Salem, some of the most common barriers employees report involve noise in the workplace and workstation equipment.
Recent data show that barriers linked to IT requests and changes to the built environment “may be among those that take the longest to implement.”
She said initiatives are underway to reduce delays and improve consistency by “streamlining procurement processes for adaptive technologies.”
The document says the government has fallen behind in “several important areas,” including how departments assess their accessibility performance.
“Some use clear and measurable indicators, while others rely on general descriptions,” Salem said.
The report also cites what it calls a “lack” of external consultations with people with disabilities, even though such engagement would provide “essential feedback” to help departments design and deliver better services.
The recommendation, Salem said, was for “broader, deeper consultation to ensure barriers are fully identified and removed,” both for workplace accessibility and, where relevant, for services to Canadians with disabilities.
The Office of Public Service Accessibility supports departments and agencies on hiring, retaining and promoting people with disabilities, and advises on how to support employees once they are in the workplace.
The document says the office aims to build “an inclusive and productive digitally enabled public service” by hosting government-wide workshops and providing guidance and worksheets on how to track and report on accessibility.
Scrutiny of outcomes is set to increase.
The federal auditor general plans to release a report next year examining the recruitment, retention and promotion of people with disabilities in the federal public service.
Recent employment equity data show that since March 2020, the number of people with disabilities in the core federal public service – departments and agencies under the Treasury Board – has risen steadily, reaching 21,089 in 2024, up from 12,893 in 2021.
The internal document cautions, however, that “collectively, more progress is required to fully embed accessibility into the culture and the operations of the public service.”
