Accessibility Statement
Chaloot Technologies, Inc.
Version 1.0
Applies to: gov.chaloot.com (government access portal)
1. Commitment
Chaloot Technologies, Inc. is committed to ensuring the government access portal is usable by everyone, including people who rely on assistive technology. Accessibility is treated as a functional requirement of this system, not an optional enhancement.
2. Conformance status
This portal is built and maintained to conform with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Accessibility is assessed on an ongoing basis by the development team, and any issue identified is prioritised for remediation. A formal third-party audit can be commissioned on request as part of procurement.
3. Standards applied
The portal is developed against the following standards. Where they differ, the strictest requirement is applied.
| WCAG 2.1 Level AA | W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines — the baseline for this portal |
|---|---|
| Section 508 (US) | 29 U.S.C. §794d, which incorporates WCAG 2.0 AA by reference |
| EN 301 549 (EU) | Harmonised European accessibility requirement for ICT procurement |
| ACA / CAN-ASC (Canada) | Accessible Canada Act obligations for federally regulated entities |
4. Measures taken
Each item below was verified against the shipping source code, not asserted from intent.
| Semantic, labelled forms | Every form control has an associated <label>; supplementary instructions are linked with aria-describedby so screen readers announce them with the field. |
|---|---|
| Announced status changes | Sign-in progress and errors are published to a live region (role="status", aria-live="polite") so non-visual users receive the same feedback as sighted users. |
| Errors announced, not just coloured | The blocked-network notice uses role="alert" and states the reason in text. No message relies on colour alone. |
| Keyboard operability | All controls are native HTML elements (links, buttons, inputs, and a <details> disclosure for language). The portal ships no custom JavaScript widgets, so keyboard and screen-reader behaviour is the browser's own. |
| Visible focus indicator | Focused fields receive a 3px high-contrast outline. Focus is never suppressed. |
| Contrast | The interface uses dark navy and near-black text on white, and white on navy. Footer links are white and underlined — the accent blue is deliberately not used on dark backgrounds because it fails contrast there. |
| Text scaling and reflow | Text scales with browser and OS settings; the layout reflows to a single column on small screens without horizontal scrolling. Automatic text inflation on iOS in landscape is disabled so user settings win. |
| Language is declared | The document language is set programmatically and switches with the language control; French content is marked as fr-CA so screen readers use the correct voice. |
| No motion, no autoplay | The portal contains no animation, no carousels, no autoplaying media, and no content that flashes. |
| Available in English and French | The sign-in interface is fully available in English and Canadian French. |
5. Ongoing improvements
The following items are tracked and being addressed as part of continuous improvement.
| Session expires without warning (WCAG 2.2.1) | An authenticated session ends after 30 minutes and the sign-in challenge after 5 minutes, with no advance warning or one-click extension. Users who need more time must sign in again. A warning-and-extend mechanism is planned. |
|---|---|
| Policy document is English only (WCAG 3.1.2) | The Privacy and Security Policy is published in English. A French version is available from Chaloot Government Support on request. |
| Flag symbols in the language control | The language control shows flag emoji, which some operating systems render as letter pairs or omit. The control's text label always states the language, so the meaning never depends on the symbol. |
| Wide policy tables scroll horizontally | On narrow screens, some tables in the policy scroll sideways within their own container. The page itself does not scroll horizontally. |
| No independent audit or VPAT yet | Conformance is self-assessed. No third-party audit report or VPAT/ACR exists for this portal. |
6. How this was assessed
Self-assessment by the development team, combining manual keyboard-only testing, inspection of the rendered accessibility tree and computed styles, and review of the shipping markup. No automated-only scan is treated as sufficient evidence, and no third-party evaluation has been performed.
7. Feedback and how to reach us
If you encounter an accessibility barrier on this portal, or need this content in an alternative format, contact us. Please include the page address, what you were trying to do, and the assistive technology you were using.
We acknowledge accessibility reports within 5 business days and provide a remediation plan or timeline within 15 business days. Barriers that block access to a core function are prioritised.
8. Escalation
If our response is not satisfactory, you may escalate through your own institution's accessibility office, or to the relevant oversight body in your jurisdiction. Exercising this right does not affect your access to this system.