Canada’s employment equity law is still using yesterday’s definition of disability

Forty years after persons with disabilities were brought within Canada’s employment-equity framework, the unresolved question is strikingly basic: whether the law intended to measure their equality at work should use the same understanding of disability Canada has already adopted in its accessibility law.
Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu speaks with reporters in the House of Commons foyer on Sept. 21, 2026, after Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon, left, tabled Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act.

Forty years after Canada adopted its Employment Equity Act, efforts to modernize it have stalled.

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