Canadian Digital Standards
Privacy, accessibility, bilingual requirements, responsible AI, and data residency — what every Canadian organization needs to know when building or improving a website.
Canadian Websites Have Canadian Responsibilities
Building a website in Canada isn't just about design and content. Canadian organizations operate under a distinct set of legal, regulatory, and cultural expectations that affect how websites should be built, what data they can collect, who they must serve, and how they must communicate.
Most website providers — especially those based outside Canada — don't account for these realities. We do. Every website we build is designed with Canadian privacy law, accessibility standards, bilingual considerations, and responsible technology practices in mind from the start.
Privacy Law and Your Website
Canada has some of the strongest privacy protections in the world — and they apply to your website. Here's what you need to know:
PIPEDA
The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act governs how private-sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activity. If your website collects any personal data — contact forms, email signups, analytics — PIPEDA likely applies.
Privacy-First Websites ?BC PIPA
British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act applies to private-sector organizations operating in BC. As a BC-based consultancy, we operate under PIPA and build client websites with BC privacy requirements in mind.
Learn More ?Quebec Law 25
Quebec's Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector (Law 25) introduced some of the strictest privacy requirements in Canada, including mandatory privacy impact assessments, consent requirements, and breach notification obligations.
Learn More ?Cookies & Consent
Many Canadian websites use cookies and tracking scripts without proper consent mechanisms. We build websites without cookies and third-party tracking by default — eliminating the consent problem entirely for most clients.
Privacy Checklist ?Website Accessibility in Canada
Approximately 22% of Canadians live with a disability. An inaccessible website doesn't just exclude these users — it may expose your organization to legal risk and reputational harm.
WCAG 2.1 AA
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA is the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility. It's referenced in Canadian federal accessibility legislation and provincial standards including AODA in Ontario.
Accessibility Guide ?AODA (Ontario)
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act requires Ontario organizations to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA for websites. Public-sector organizations and large private-sector organizations have had compliance deadlines since 2021.
AODA vs WCAG ?ACA (Federal)
The Accessible Canada Act (2019) requires federally regulated organizations to identify, remove, and prevent barriers to accessibility. Web accessibility is a key component of ACA compliance for federal entities.
Learn More ?Our Approach
Every website we build includes skip links, ARIA labels, semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, focus-visible styles, and sufficient colour contrast. We treat accessibility as a design requirement, not an afterthought.
Accessibility Checklist ?English & French: Canada's Two Official Languages
Canada is officially bilingual at the federal level, and French is the first language of approximately 7.2 million Canadians. For many organizations, a bilingual website isn't optional — it's expected.
Quebec (Bill 96)
Quebec's updated Charter of the French Language requires businesses serving the public in Quebec to make their services available in French — including their websites. Bill 96 (2022) significantly strengthened these requirements.
Federal Organizations
Federal institutions and federally regulated businesses must provide services in both official languages under the Official Languages Act. Federal grant recipients often have bilingual obligations as well.
Our Bilingual Capability
All five of our featured projects include live EN/FR language switching. We implement bilingual support through in-page toggles, separate URL structures, or CMS-driven translation — depending on your needs.
View Showcase Sites ?Bilingual Resources
We've published practical guides on bilingual website implementation, costs, technical approaches, and SEO considerations for Canadian organizations.
Bilingual Guide ?AI Transparency and Responsible Use
AI tools are increasingly used in website development, content creation, and digital marketing. We believe organizations have a responsibility to be transparent about how AI is used — and to ensure AI-assisted work meets the same quality and accuracy standards as human-produced work.
Our AI Policy
We use AI tools to assist with research, drafting, and code generation — but all deliverables are reviewed, edited, and validated by our team. We don't publish AI-generated content without human review and fact-checking.
Trust Centre ?Canada's AI Governance
Canada's proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) and the federal government's Directive on Automated Decision-Making signal a growing regulatory framework for AI use in Canada. We stay current on these developments.
Responsible AI Guide ?AI Readiness Assessment
Before adopting AI tools, organizations should assess their readiness — data quality, governance, staff capacity, and risk tolerance. Our AI Readiness service helps you make informed decisions.
AI Readiness Service ?AI Disclosure
We disclose how AI tools are used in our work. Our Trust Centre documents our AI use policy, review processes, and governance commitments in plain language.
Trust Centre →Where Does Your Data Live?
Data residency — where your data is physically stored and processed — matters for Canadian organizations. Data stored on US servers may be subject to US law, including the CLOUD Act, which can allow US government access to data held by US companies regardless of where it's stored.
Canadian Hosting
We recommend Canadian-based hosting for organizations with data residency requirements. Canadian data centres keep your data under Canadian jurisdiction and Canadian privacy law.
Hosting Services ?Cloud Provider Considerations
Major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) all have Canadian regions. Choosing a Canadian region doesn't fully eliminate cross-border data flow risks, but it's a meaningful step for organizations with residency requirements.
Our Infrastructure
Our hosting infrastructure uses AWS with Canadian region options. We're transparent about our technology stack and data handling practices — see our Trust Centre for details.
Trust Centre ?Data Sovereignty
Canadian organizations should understand who controls their data and under which legal jurisdiction. We help clients make informed decisions about hosting, vendors, and data governance.
Building Trust Through Transparency
Trust is earned through consistent, transparent behaviour — not marketing claims. Here's how we demonstrate our commitment to Canadian digital standards:
Canadian Digital Standards Resources
Privacy Resources
Accessibility Resources
Bilingual Resources
Browse the Resource Centre
The Resource Centre is a curated library of Canadian privacy, accessibility, bilingual website, AI governance, and website planning resources — practical guides and checklists for Canadian organizations.