Northern Focus (northernfocus.org), owned and operated by Northern Beacon Media Inc., is committed to making its digital news content accessible to all readers. This statement outlines our ongoing efforts to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA under the Accessible Canada Act, enforced through the Canadian Accessibility Standards. We welcome feedback on how we can improve.
What accessibility standards do we follow?
Northern Focus aims to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA, the standard recommended by the Accessible Canada Act and enforced by the Canadian Accessibility Standards (accessible.canada.ca). This means we design and maintain our site to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust for the widest possible audience, including people using assistive technologies.
We test our website regularly using automated tools and manual reviews. We work toward full conformance, and any deviations are documented in our known limitations section below. Our compliance target is reviewed annually as part of our editorial governance process led by Editor-in-Chief Catherine Roy.
How do we support keyboard navigation and focus?
Northern Focus is built so that every interactive element — links, buttons, forms, navigation menus — can be reached and activated using only a keyboard. Visible focus indicators appear as you tab through the page, and the logical order follows the visual layout.
If you encounter a part of the site that does not respond to keyboard input or where the focus order is confusing, please let us know. We also support standard browser shortcuts and screen‑reader navigation. Our team, including Managing Editor Marc Tremblay, treats keyboard accessibility as a core requirement during development and content updates.
What about contrast and reduced motion?
Text and interactive elements on Northern Focus meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA contrast ratios, ensuring readability for users with low vision or colour‑vision deficiencies. We also respect the prefers-reduced-motion operating‑system setting, which disables non‑essential animations, transitions and scrolling effects.
Where decorative or functional motion is present, we provide a clear way to pause, stop or hide it. We avoid flashing content that could trigger seizures, and we do not rely on colour alone to convey information. Community & Events Correspondent Kevin Sullivan and the design team review these features quarterly.
What you can expect from us
Accessibility is not a one‑time project but an ongoing commitment at Northern Focus. We expect our site to become more inclusive over time as we improve content structure, media alternatives, navigation and compatibility with assistive technologies.
We will continue to train our editorial and technical staff, consult with users about barriers they encounter, and publish updates to this statement annually. Standards & Fact-Checking Lead Andrew Leblanc oversees the process of logging known issues and tracking fixes. Our Editorial Policy and Complaints Procedure provide additional avenues for raising concerns.
What are our known limitations?
Some older articles may contain images without adequate alternative text, and certain embedded third‑party content (such as interactive maps or social‑media widgets) may not fully conform to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. These are documented in our internal issue tracker and prioritised for remediation.
We have not yet implemented full live‑captioning for streaming video, though we provide transcripts for pre‑recorded content. PDFs published before 2024 may lack proper tagging. If you encounter any barrier not listed here, please report it so we can address it. Northern Focus will never penalise a user for requesting an accommodation or providing feedback on accessibility.
Questions or concerns?
Your experience matters to us. If you have questions about this statement, need content in an alternative format, or want to report a problem, contact our accessibility team at accessibility@northernfocus.org or use our general contact page. For formal complaints, please refer to our complaints procedure. Complaints are handled by Editor-in-Chief Catherine Roy and tracked by Andrew Leblanc. We aim to respond within five business days.
We also encourage you to review our team page and editorial policy for more information about how we uphold trust and accountability. This statement was last updated in April 2025 and will be reviewed annually or sooner if significant improvements are made.