by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 11:50 AM ET, Thu December 18, 2025
Canada’s Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO), Stephanie Cadieux, has released commentary on her findings working with airlines and transportation agencies in Canada to make travel more widely accessible to people with disabilities.
In the commentary, Cadieux shares her learnings about accessible air travel for the benefit of people with disabilities, the air travel sector and the public in general. In it, she discusses challenges, progress, opportunities, roles and responsibilities, and the complexities faced by the air travel sector.
“It’s clear that accessible air travel is an issue whose time has come. We have to make sure progress is real and ongoing. This commentary is part of my commitment to keeping the issue top of mind, raising public awareness, and advocating for change. I expect to see others follow suit.”
According to a news release about the remarks, the CAO’s findings make it clear that accessible air travel affects all passengers and “remains a high stakes issue requiring decisive action.”
The commentary includes three key recommendations for data, reporting, and keeping airline passengers well-informed. They are:
- Data: More and better data is absolutely key to identifying barriers faster and telling us if we are making real progress or not, so the Government should reintroduce for discussion in Parliament its draft proposed law (Bill C-52) addressing this issue.
- Report on progress: The air industry needs to report publicly on progress on their commitments to remove barriers and timelines for meeting them fully, especially on improving the training of their employees and frontline workers,
- Public awareness campaigns: Key federal departments, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), and airlines all need to undertake information campaigns that clearly define (in plain language) the rights and responsibilities of airlines and passengers.
The role of Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO) was created by the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which came into force in 2019. The Office of the CAO serves as an authoritative source of information on accessibility and supports the CAO in “promoting a positive and productive dialogue between the federal government, disability stakeholders, national and international organizations.”
You can read the full commentary at: Checking in: Progress and Challenges in Accessible Air Travel in Canada.
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