There is no reason not to build to the latest WCAG recommendation. It is the codified best practice for building digital accessibility into good customer experience. 10 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 ACCESSIBILITY 5) Keep accessibility evergreen Europe has made a commitment to keep up with the evolutions of best practices of digital accessibility. Digital technologies are rapidly accelerating because of the internet. To support the needs of users, it is critical that governments agree to follow the latest recommendations from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). There are some government departments still looking for digital interfaces to meet WCAG 2.0 AA, which was a best practice in 2008—15 years ago. The EU is evaluating the WCAG release recommendations and their accessibility standards, EN 301 549, is updated regularly. The standards bodies that create this EU Standard evaluate best practices and release updated versions to support digital inclusion. There is no reason not to build to the latest WCAG recommendation. It is the codified best practice for building digital accessibility into good customer experience. This can be incorporated into existing contracts and even into public accessibility statements. Invest in standards organizations It took 4 years to provide an official translation of WCAG 2.1 into French. If the Government of Canada wanted to see that Francophones were included, they would begin translating the draft recommendations prior to the finalization by the W3C. An interim set of recommendations could be used while the W3C is finalizing the official French release. This could be an effective role for the new Accessibility Standards Canada. The EU is investing in maintaining the EN 301 549 standards, which are maintained by three separate EU standards organizations. Accessible Standards Canada, could be engaging with new releases of the EN 301 549 and ensuring that these can be effectively integrated into Canadian legislation. Like WCAG regulations, these will also need to be translated into French. The EU also supports several initiatives from the W3C WAI. The W3C really is the central organization that manages global accessibility for the web. The Government of Canada could financially support WAI initiatives. It could also support involvement of Canadians to develop WAI initiatives. Doing
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