We’re committed to meeting the needs of all our clients.
We strive to provide our products and services in ways that respect the dignity and independence of people with disabilities.
Our accessibility plan outlines how Canada Life will prevent and remove barriers to access and comply with accessibility laws. It also highlights some of what we’ve accomplished. We review and update this plan periodically, or more often as required.
As part of our ongoing commitment to accessibility, we’ll continue to review and improve how our employees and customers experience and access our:
- Products and services
- Public spaces
- Employment practices
We monitor our progress and feedback and update our plan as needed.
In this plan we refer to ourselves – The Canada Life Assurance Company – as “we,” “our” and “us.”
We put our accessibility policy in place in 2013. It was created to meet requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Next, we also built into it the requirements of The Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA) standards that came out after Ontario’s legislation. When accessibility laws are updated, we’ll review and update our policy and plan to stay consistent with them.
People may need alternative formats or ways to access information we provide. When asked, we have processes for providing or arranging the proper formats or communication supports. We’ll work with the person making the request to find the most suitable format or support. And we’ll ensure that we provide what they need in a timely manner.
Our accessibility policy spells out how we let people know when there is a temporary disruption where they cannot physically access our products and services.
We welcome feedback on how we provide access for people with disabilities. If you have concerns or need us to arrange for accessible formats or communication supports, let us know.
We have processes for receiving, handling and responding to feedback. We updated these processes in 2025.
We track all accessibility concerns we receive and ensure that we handle them according to our process for resolving them. We also track all other feedback about accessibility. We continue to review complaints and feedback to identify where we can improve. This helps ensure that we continue to properly address the needs of customers with disabilities.
We’re committed to providing our products and services based on these principles:
- Respect for dignity and independence.
- Barrier-free access to our products and services wherever possible. Where a barrier to accessibility exists, we’ll offer another way to provide access. This new access method could be temporary or permanent.
- Equal access for everyone to use and benefit from our products and services.
- Effective communication that takes the person’s disability into account.
We deliver on our commitments in these ways:
- Our accessibility policy outlines how we provide access to our products, services and facilities.
- We support persons with disabilities in using assistive devices, support persons and service animals.
- We give notice of any temporary disruption to service or access to our facilities.
- Employees are trained on how to serve customers with disabilities.
As of 2024, when we create and make major website updates, we design them to conform with the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA and any other digital accessibility requirements that apply.
We have a standard for accessible websites and web content for our public websites to promote a consistent, accessible customer experience.
All employees in Canada complete training that incorporates accessibility laws and the human rights codes that apply to accessibility.
We’ve provided accessibility training since 2012 and continue to revise the materials as needed. We updated the training in 2025 to include requirements under the AMA.
We provide specific training on accessibility to all our employees in Canada. New hires are trained as soon as possible, within 3 months after they join Canada Life. We keep records of when we provided this training.
We’ll provide new training to employees when:
- Relevant accessibility policies and procedures change.
- An employee changes jobs or moves to a different area within the company.
- Accessibility laws require it.
We work with outside service providers that deal with the public or others on our behalf in Ontario or Manitoba. We ensure that they are aware of the requirements we follow and what we expect from them in terms of accessibility training.
We’ve incorporated accessibility in our standards for the planning, design and maintenance of our facilities. These are applied to new construction or major changes to existing areas.
We’ve also updated our procedures for operating and maintaining our buildings. They address how we prevent issues and handle emergencies with accessible elements of our buildings.
Our processes for recruiting, assessing and selecting employees are accessible. Here’s how:
- All job postings let potential applicants know that accommodations are available for persons with disabilities.
- We let selected candidates know during recruitment that they may request accommodations.
- Our accommodation policy and employee accessibility policy are provided to new employees during their onboarding.
We have processes to consult with employees and provide the proper accessible formats and communication supports if asked. In each situation, leaders and human resources (HR) teams work with employees to find the solutions that best serve them.
Employees may need emergency response assistance or information designed just for them. We make an online questionnaire available on our intranet site for these requests. Our well-being team will work with employees to help ensure that emergency response measures are in place that are appropriate for them.
We create and document individual accommodation plans (“accommodation plans” from here on) for employees with disabilities who request accommodations at work.
Individual accommodation processes and supports are available to employees who are returning to work with a disability.
We take into account accessibility needs and accommodation plans across the employee experience. Stages include:
- Recruiting, interviewing and assessing applicants.
- Notifying successful applicants.
- Managing performance.
- Redeploying people to another role.
We have updated our performance review processes and forms to account for accessibility needs and accommodation plans.
At times we may have to reassign an employee because their job or department no longer exists. We have updated our HR policies and guidelines to reflect accessibility needs and accommodation plans for employees who are redeployed. Their leader may look into new work within their department and they will take any of the employee’s accommodation needs into account.
If we conclude that there is no other position for the employee within their department, HR will make every attempt to find a suitable position in another division of the company. As part of this, we’ll take any of the employee’s accommodation needs into account.
Last updated – August 2026