Video accessbility and localization in Canada

Background

Canada’s provinces and territories have some of the most progressive accessibility laws in the world. English and French are official languages, with English accounting for 60% of the population’s first language. French is the first official language spoken for 22.8% of the population. A further 20% of the population list another language as their first language. 

As well as a diverse multilingual culture, Canada has some of the world’s most progressive web accessibility laws. 

This combination of language multi-diversity and progressive accessibility demands for video and audio subtitling.

Localisation and language drivers

  • 10 provinces and 3 territories cover 10 million square kilometres making it the world's second-largest country by total area.
  • Quebec (Capital: Quebec City) and New Brunswick (Capital Fredericton) have French as their official language, whilst the other 8 provinces have English as their official language - French and English are both official languages of Canada
  • It has 38 million inhabitants of which the majority of Francophones (85.4%) live in Quebec and over 1 million live in other regions of the country.
  • 7.3 million (20%) of Canadians listed a non-official language as their mother tongue. Some of the most common non-official first languages include Chinese (1,227,680 first-language speakers), Punjabi (501,680), Spanish (458,850), Tagalog (431,385), Arabic (419,895), German (384,040), and Italian (375,645).

Accessibility overview 

  • Canada’s provinces and territories have some of the most progressive accessibility laws in the world set both at the federal and provincial level
  • Multiple laws underpin accessibility, many of them follow W3 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and include criteria for success in captioning

Download this data sheet and full list of applicable federal and province laws here

  • Canadian Standard on Web Accessibility (CSWG)

  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 Level AA Conformance

  • The Accessible Canada Act (Bill C-81) (ACA)

  • Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)

  • The Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA)

  • Nova Scotia Accessibility Act

  • Quebec's Act to Secure Handicapped Persons in the Exercise of their Rights with a View to Achieving Social, School and Workplace Integration

Accessible Canada Act/ACA

The Accessible Canada Act was introduced to create a barrier free Canada by 2040