Digital Accessibility Funding in Canada: Grants of Up to $200,000 and Full Tax Write-offs for Accessible Websites and Technology

Making your website, apps and documents accessible is one of the best investments a Canadian business can make: it opens your site to the millions of Canadians with disabilities, meets the rules in Ontario and for federally regulated organizations, and makes your content easier for search engines and AI assistants to understand. And the government helps pay for it.

Canadian businesses have two powerful ways to recover what they spend on digital accessibility. The federal Enabling Accessibility Fund gives grants of up to $200,000 per project for communication technology and small-scale construction. And the Income Tax Act lets businesses write off disability-specific software and equipment, including accessibility software like Inclusivio and Elixir, in full in the year they pay for it.

This guide shows how each one works, what qualifies, and how to put together a digital accessibility plan that is ready for funding.

Up to $200,000 per project. According to the Government of Canada, the Enabling Accessibility Fund, run by Employment and Social Development Canada, offers grants of up to $200,000 for small-scale construction and communication technology projects that improve accessibility, and contributions of up to $3 million for larger construction projects.

Communication technology is the part that covers digital accessibility. The government's examples include screen reader devices and hearing loop systems. Projects that remove technology barriers for employees or the public, such as accessible kiosks, public terminals or assistive technology for staff, fit the fund's purpose best.

Past calls have been open to for-profit businesses with up to 99 full-time equivalent employees, as well as not-for-profits and other organizations. Each call sets its own eligibility rules.

Connect your website to the people and places it serves. The Enabling Accessibility Fund funds communication technology that removes barriers for employees and the public, so the strongest digital accessibility applications show how the website, apps and technology work together to include people with disabilities.

For example, pair an accessible website and accessibility widget with accessible self-service kiosks, accessible public terminals, or assistive technology and accessible software for employees with disabilities. Show who benefits, how many people, and what changes for them.

Businesses apply during the Enabling Accessibility Fund's calls for proposals, which usually open once or twice a year for each stream and stay open for a few weeks.

Because the window is short, the businesses that win grants are the ones that are ready before a call opens: a costed digital accessibility plan, quotes for the work, and a clear description of who benefits. Get yours ready now, and sign up for Employment and Social Development Canada updates so you hear the moment the next call opens.

Two kinds, under Canada's Income Tax Act. Normally the cost of equipment or a renovation is capitalized and deducted over several years. Sections 20(1)(qq) and 20(1)(rr) let a business deduct the full cost in the year it is paid.

Section 20(1)(qq) covers prescribed renovations to a building used mainly for the business that help people with mobility impairments, such as ramps, hand-activated power door openers, and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, elevators and doorways.

Section 20(1)(rr) is the one that touches digital accessibility. It covers prescribed disability-specific devices and equipment, and the regulations list disability-specific computer software and hardware attachments alongside items such as visual fire alarm indicators, listening devices and telephone devices for people with hearing impairments.

Yes. Section 20(1)(rr) of the Income Tax Act lets a business deduct the full cost of prescribed disability-specific devices and equipment in the year it pays for them, and the prescribed list includes disability-specific computer software and hardware attachments. Software built to be used by people with disabilities is exactly what this rule is for.

Inclusivio is disability-specific software. Its accessibility widget is used directly by people with disabilities every time they visit your site: they turn on larger text, higher contrast, reading guides, a reading mask, readable fonts, stopped animations and more, and AI agents acting for them get WebMCP tools to navigate and act on your pages.

Elixir is disability-specific software too. It is a voice assistant that works alongside screen readers such as VoiceOver, NVDA and JAWS, so employees who are blind or have low vision can summarize pages, jump to sections and get work done by voice.

That means a Canadian business can deduct Inclusivio and Elixir in full in the year it pays for them, instead of spreading the cost out. Keep your invoices for the claim.

Yes. Line 21500 of the personal tax return, the disability supports deduction, lets a person with an impairment deduct supports they pay for so they can work, go to school or carry on a business, including certain devices and software.

That makes assistive software such as Elixir, a voice assistant that works alongside screen readers, worth claiming for self-employed people who are blind or have low vision. Businesses claim their own accessibility software under section 20(1)(rr) instead.

Ontario's main accessibility grant is the Enhancing Access to Spaces for Everyone (EASE) grant, which pays up to $60,000 per project for small capital projects that make outdoor spaces, buildings and housing more accessible. It replaced the EnAbling Change Program and the Inclusive Community Grants Program. The second round opened in March 2026 and closed on May 7, 2026, and it was open to municipalities, not-for-profit organizations and Indigenous governing bodies, not to businesses.

For a website or app project in Ontario, the money is federal, not provincial: the Enabling Accessibility Fund covers communication technology, and the full tax write-off under section 20(1)(rr) applies to any Ontario business. Ontario businesses with 50 or more employees also have the AODA deadline behind them already, so the website work is a legal requirement they can deduct, not a nice-to-have.

British Columbia's accessibility grants go mostly to non-profits and local governments. The Accessibility Projects Grants, run by Disability Alliance BC with the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, pay up to $40,000 per project to BC-based not-for-profits that serve the public; the 2026/27 round took applications from August 5 to September 11, 2026, with $450,000 to distribute. SPARC BC's Local Community Accessibility Grant Program pays local governments and public libraries up to $25,000 on a rolling basis.

For a BC business, the provincial route is training rather than capital: the Employer Training Grant helps pay for staff training, including digital accessibility training, and WorkBC Assistive Technology Services funds assistive technology for employees with disabilities. The BC Accessibility Hub keeps a current list of every program.

Saskatchewan has no provincial accessibility grant for businesses. The Accessible Saskatchewan Act sets obligations but does not fund them, so a Saskatchewan business pays for website work through the federal Enabling Accessibility Fund and the section 20(1)(rr) deduction, which the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission documents on its own site.

Non-profits have one small provincial option: SaskCulture's Small Grant Accessibility Program pays up to $2,000 for cultural initiatives with budgets under $5,000, open to non-profits, First Nations, Tribal Councils, municipalities, Métis Locals and rural libraries.

Nova Scotia is the one province that funds businesses directly. The Business ACCESS-Ability Grant Program covers up to two-thirds of eligible costs for a Nova Scotia business to improve accessibility, and its categories include communication and assistive technology as well as the built environment. The provincial announcement in June 2026 described both ACCESS-Ability programs as paying up to two-thirds of costs to a maximum of $50,000, and reported $1.6 million going to 79 recipients that round, including non-profits, municipalities, public institutions and businesses. The current funding guide lists a $40,000 cap, so confirm the figure with the department before you budget.

The next intake runs now: expressions of interest are open until November 30, 2026, and invited full applications run from December 1, 2026 to February 14, 2027. Non-profits and municipalities apply to the sister Community ACCESS-Ability Program on the same terms. Both can be combined with the federal Enabling Accessibility Fund.

Non-profits have the widest choice, because almost every program above is open to them and most are closed to businesses. The Enabling Accessibility Fund is the largest, at up to $200,000 for communication technology and small construction, and it has always been open to not-for-profits. Ontario's EASE grant (up to $60,000), BC's Accessibility Projects Grants (up to $40,000), Nova Scotia's Community ACCESS-Ability Program (up to two-thirds of costs) and Saskatchewan's Small Grant Accessibility Program (up to $2,000) all take non-profit applicants.

A non-profit's website counts as communication technology for the federal fund when the application shows who it serves and what barrier it removes. Pair the site with the widget, so the application can say that visitors with disabilities adjust text size, contrast, fonts, spacing and motion themselves, and with Elixir for any staff who use a screen reader.

Alongside the programs above, these provincial programs can help pay for digital accessibility work and training.

Many do. In Ontario, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act requires public websites of organizations with 50 or more employees, along with public sector organizations, to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA, a requirement that took full effect on January 1, 2021.

Federally regulated organizations, such as banks, telecommunications companies and airlines, have obligations under the Accessible Canada Act. Even where no law applies, accessible websites and apps reach more customers: people with disabilities, older visitors, people on slow connections and, increasingly, AI agents acting on someone's behalf.

Yes. If you sell to customers in the United States, US accessibility law matters too. US courts have applied the Americans with Disabilities Act to business websites, and thousands of website accessibility lawsuits are filed there every year, so an accessible website protects your US sales as well as your Canadian ones. Our guide to ADA website lawsuits explains how those claims work.

There is an upside as well. A business that pays US taxes may qualify for the US Disabled Access Credit, which gives eligible small businesses a tax credit of half of what they spend on accessibility between $250 and $10,250, up to $5,000 a year, claimed on IRS Form 8826.

If you also sell in Europe, the European Accessibility Act has applied to many websites and online services since June 28, 2025. One standard covers all three markets: a website that meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA meets the technical bar in Canada, the United States and the European Union.

WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the practical target. In 2024, Accessibility Standards Canada adopted CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024, a national standard for accessible information and communication technology products and services. It is an identical adoption of the European standard EN 301 549, and it uses WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content.

The standard is voluntary for most organizations, free to download in English and French, and covers more than websites: software, documents, hardware and support services. Ontario's AODA still references WCAG 2.0 Level AA, so meeting WCAG 2.1 Level AA covers both.

Start with an audit and turn it into a costed plan. The businesses that win Enabling Accessibility Fund grants tend to be ready before the call opens, and the same records support tax deductions.