Part A: Public statement
Our commitment
Checked Canadian wants every manufacturer, buyer, and visitor to be able to use our site. We are building checkedcanadian.ca to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA, in both English and French, and we test against it as we ship new features.
What we do
- Keyboard access to every feature, including the directory, RFQ form, checkout, and account settings.
- Text alternatives for images, including manufacturer photos (manufacturers are asked to supply alt text; we add a default if they do not).
- Colour is never the only way we convey meaning. The red Check mark is always paired with the word "Checked" and a date.
- Colour contrast of at least 4.5:1 for text.
- Visible focus indicators, logical heading structure, and form labels and error messages that screen readers can announce.
- Content that works at 200% zoom and on small screens.
- Embeddable badge ships with alt text and a text link.
- PDF or document downloads are provided with an HTML equivalent where possible.
Known limitations
We have not yet had an external accessibility audit. Known limitations today:
- Photos uploaded by manufacturers may lack descriptive alternative text until the manufacturer adds a caption.
- The payment page is provided by Stripe and is outside our control; Stripe publishes its own accessibility statement.
- Some development photos carry generic alternative text until commissioned photography replaces them.
Feedback
If you have trouble using any part of the site, or want content in another format, contact us and we will respond within 5 business days:
- Email: accessibility@checkedcanadian.ca
- Mail: Toronto, Ontario, Canada (mailing address available on request by email)
We accept feedback by any method that works for you.
Standards
This statement was last reviewed on 16 September 2026. Our target standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We track progress toward WCAG 2.2.
Part B: Internal note on which laws apply
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and its Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (O. Reg. 191/11) apply to every organization in Ontario with at least one employee, but the detailed obligations scale with employee count:
- Any size: customer service standard basics (serve people with disabilities, allow service animals and support persons, train staff).
- 20 or more employees: must file an accessibility compliance report with the Ontario government. The current reporting deadline for businesses with 20 or more employees is December 31, 2026, and reports recur on a cycle set by the province.
- 50 or more employees: public websites and web content must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA (excluding live captions 1.2.4 and pre-recorded audio description 1.2.5), plus written accessibility policies, multi-year plans, and accessible-format obligations.
As a solo founder with no employees, Checked Canadian has no filing or website obligation under AODA today. Obligations begin when the first employee is hired and increase at 20 and at 50 employees. Contractors are generally not counted as employees for the thresholds .
Accessible Canada Act (ACA) applies only to federally regulated entities: federal departments and agencies, Crown corporations, banks, telecommunications and broadcasting companies, interprovincial transportation, and similar. A provincially regulated Ontario web business is not covered by the ACA. It does not apply to Checked Canadian.
Why we commit anyway: (1) buyers include public-sector procurement teams that are themselves bound by AODA or the ACA and may require accessible vendor sites; (2) the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibit discrimination in services regardless of size, and inaccessible sites have been the subject of complaints; (3) building it in now is cheaper than retrofitting at 50 employees; (4) WCAG 2.1 AA is the practical reference used by the Government of Canada and most procurement templates, and it is a superset of the AODA's WCAG 2.0 AA requirement.