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Feedback process and contact information
Areas described under section 5 of the ACA
Information and communication technologies (ICT)
Communication, other than information and communication technologies
Procurement of goods, services and facilities
Design and delivery of programs and services
Export Development Canada (EDC) is a financial Crown corporation dedicated to helping Canadian companies of all sizes grow and succeed on the world stage. Our vision is to help Canada regain its standing as a leader in international trade by 2030 and to help build a better and stronger economic future for all Canadians.
FinDev Canada, a subsidiary of EDC, is a Canadian development finance institution with the mandate to support inclusive private sector growth and sustainability in developing markets. Visit FinDev Canada’s website to learn more about their accessibility plan.
EDC is committed to creating accessible, inclusive, and equitable experiences for our customers, employees, and Canadians, specifically people with disabilities.
EDC activities are underway to support people with disabilities:
Our accessibility plan builds a foundation for accessibility across the organization over the next three years. This foundational plan:
You can request alternate formats of our accessibility plan, progress report or description of feedback processes in the following formats:
EDC welcomes your comments and feedback on this plan, our progress reports, feedback process, or any other inquiries you may have. Similarly, we welcome feedback on barriers you may have encountered when visiting our workplaces or website, or during the implementation of our accessibility plan. To submit feedback, request a copy of our progress report or accessibility plan in any of the above-mentioned formats, or for a description of our feedback processes, you can submit a request using any of the communication channels below:
Our Accessibility Lead will acknowledge receipt of your feedback and follow up with you directly, unless it was received anonymously. We may address some feedback right away or use it to develop our accessibility plans.
We hope to hear from you.
We are applying accessibility to our services, programs, and products to remove barriers for people with disabilities and improve the customer and employee experience.
Consultations to inform our 3-year accessibility plan identified barriers to accessibility and proposed actions we could take to prevent or remove these barriers. The annex lists accessibility barriers organized by ACA section 5 areas.
For the 7 ACA section 5 areas, we are meaningfully engaging people with disabilities and taking a collaborative, multi-year approach within teams to deliver accessible, inclusive, and usable services, programs, and products for all.
We apply an accessibility, inclusion, diversity, and equity lens at all stages of the employment life cycle to attract and retain employees with disabilities and build an inclusive work culture.
Actions:
All our offices are leased spaces. We design our spaces with accessibility in mind to ensure equal access for employees and visitors with disabilities. Our health and safety information provides guidance for people with disabilities, including procedures to follow in case of emergency.
Actions:
We are advancing our technology and digital capabilities to improve our customer and employee experience, and to help Canadian businesses grow and succeed.
Actions:
We use creative communications and channels to support our vision and mandate to help Canadian businesses grow and succeed on an international scale, and to inform, inspire, and engage our customers and employees.
Actions:
Our Procurement initiatives focus on improving the availability of accessible goods, services and facilities, and the accessibility of Procurement policies, programs, guidelines, and processes.
Actions:
The Accessibility lead is partnering with the ACA working group, our partners, and representatives across EDC, including people with disabilities, to embed accessibility into daily practices.
Actions:
We are committed to creating a barrier-free experience for employees and visitors with disabilities when accessing our spaces or participating in EDC-hosted events or meetings.
Actions:
We held internal and external consultations through August and September to gather accessibility plan feedback to inform our 3-year accessibility plan.
We invited employees to share their feedback via an anonymous online survey and 6 virtual focus groups, including one with the DiversAbility employee resource group, a key partner for accessibility at EDC whose members include employees with disabilities and allies.
In addition to the targeted consultations, we met with 123 employees at 52 meetings to discuss accessibility at EDC. During these meetings, teams and individuals leading initiatives across EDC provided information on:
We consulted with external partners to inform our 3-year accessibility plan, and to identify best practices and evidence-based resources to support awareness and training goals:
In addition to the consultation activities, we are using customer satisfaction surveys, employee engagement surveys, and self-identification information to inform our plan and to prioritize accessibility activities.
We will collaborate with representatives from Learning, Communications, Wellness and Accommodations, the DiversAbility employee resource group, and employees with disabilities, to design and deliver awareness and training activities to advance accessibility and disability inclusion at EDC.
Awareness and training activities will include:
Examples of roles requiring targeted training include content creators and leads, designers and developers, product owners, legal and procurement teams, talent acquisition team, and hiring managers, and customer-facing teams.
We are committed to making investments to enhance accessibility at EDC. We are allocating budget and resources to support accessibility plan activities in each of the 7 ACA section 5 areas.
Investments include targeted training, partnerships with disability groups, consultations and audits, and accessibility and usability testing.
Summary of accessibility barriers shared with EDC during consultations organized by ACA section 5 area: