Accessibility Statement

Equity is at the core of our mission. That commitment doesn't stop at representation in nursing — it extends to how accessible our own digital front door is to students, professionals, chapter members, mentors, donors, and allies of all abilities, including people who are blind or low vision, Deaf or hard of hearing, have motor or cognitive disabilities, or rely on assistive technology of any kind.

We design and build canadianblacknursesalliance.org to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, Level AA — the internationally recognized standard, and the benchmark referenced by Canada's Accessible Canada Act and Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). This is an ongoing target we actively test and refine against, not a one-time claim.

This statement covers canadianblacknursesalliance.org and its French-language pages. It also applies to embedded tools we control directly, such as our contact, mentorship, and event registration forms. Some third-party services we link to or embed — our donation processor and community/mentorship platform — are operated independently and maintain their own accessibility commitments.

• Semantic HTML landmarks (header, nav, main, footer) and a logical heading hierarchy on every page
• Descriptive alt text on meaningful images; decorative images are hidden from assistive technology
• ARIA roles, states, and labels on interactive components — including our navigation menus and accordions — kept in sync as they open and close
• Descriptive, unique page titles and link text (no bare "click here")

Every interactive element — navigation menus, mega menus, accordions, forms, and buttons — can be operated with a keyboard alone, with a visible focus outline at every stop. Menus that open on hover for mouse users also open on keyboard focus, and Escape reliably closes any open panel.

Text and interactive elements are checked against WCAG contrast minimums, and we never rely on color alone to convey meaning (status, required fields, and errors are labeled in text too). Site animations — including menu transitions — respect your operating system's "reduce motion" setting and are minimized or removed automatically when it's enabled.

Pages reflow cleanly from small phones to large desktops, remain usable at up to 400% browser zoom, and support text resizing without loss of content or function.

Membership, mentorship, volunteer, and contact forms use associated labels, clear instructions, and specific, programmatically identified error messages so screen reader users know exactly what to fix.

Every page on our site has an equivalent French-language version, reachable through the language switcher in the header. Pages are marked with the correct lang attribute so screen readers and translation tools pronounce and process content correctly in each language.

Content from our donation processor, community/mentorship platform, and any embedded social or media widgets is hosted and coded by those providers. We choose vendors with strong accessibility track records, but cannot fully control or guarantee the accessibility of their interfaces.

Some event photo galleries and older uploaded documents are still being reviewed for complete alt text and accessible formatting as part of our ongoing content audit. If you find one that's missing a description you need, let us know and we'll prioritize it.

We test new pages and features against WCAG 2.2 AA before and after they launch, using a mix of automated scanning, manual keyboard and screen-reader testing, and real user feedback — and we treat accessibility regressions with the same urgency as a broken link or a security issue.

If you encounter any difficulty accessing content, a page, a form, or a program on our site, please let us know. Include the page URL, the assistive technology or browser you were using, and what happened — we'll investigate and respond within 5 business days, and aim to resolve confirmed barriers as quickly as possible.

Need information from this site in an alternate format — such as large print, plain text, or a read-aloud version? Contact us and we'll work with you to provide it in a timeframe that meets your needs.

As an Ontario-based organization, CBNA welcomes formal feedback under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the federal Accessible Canada Act. Formal complaints receive a written acknowledgment and a documented response outlining any corrective action.