Summer is often celebrated as the season of freedom. It’s a great time to get outside, travel, explore nature, attend festivals, gather around campfires, and enjoy lakes, parks, trails, and community events. Yet for many people with disabilities, summer is also a season of exclusion. While others head to the beach, paddle across a lake, hike a scenic trail, or enjoy a weekend camping trip, many people with visible and invisible disabilities are forced to ask a simple question: Can I participate?
Too often, the answer is no.
Disability is not a niche issue affecting a small minority. According to Statistics Canada’s 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, more than one in four Canadians—27% of the population aged 15 and over, or approximately eight million people—live with at least one disability. In the Northwest Territories, the rate is 25.7%. More telling still, nearly three-quarters (72%) of people with disabilities reported experiencing barriers to accessibility, and more than half identified barriers in public spaces as a regular obstacle. These numbers should end any debate about whether accessibility deserves to be prioritized. Accessibility is long overdue.
Accessibility is still treated as an optional enhancement rather than a fundamental human right. Inaccessible washrooms, uneven pathways, gravel parking lots, inaccessible docks, a lack of adaptive equipment and a lack of information about accessibility features send a clear message to people with disabilities they are an after-thought rather than clients of equal value. This is disappointing because it is sign of failing to uphold the principles of equality and inclusion.
Invisible disabilities, including chronic pain, autism, sensory processing disorders, hearing loss, mental health disabilities, acquired brain injuries, and chronic illness, are just as real. A festival without accessible washrooms, a trail with no rest areas, or an event with poor signage and no information about available accommodations can prevent meaningful participation for many individuals. Accessibility cannot be an afterthought added when funding permits or complaints arise. It must be integrated into every stage of planning, whether building a new trail, upgrading a campground, hosting an outdoor concert, or redeveloping a public beach.
Thousands of people come to the Territory to experience Canada’s north. Failing to provide inclusive experiences isolates a huge number of potential visitors and their families. When there are no accessible options, or those options are invisible, families, communities, businesses, and our economy are all affected. The reality is that accessible design benefits everyone. Designing for accessibility creates spaces that are more welcoming, safer, and easier to navigate for residents and visitors. Accessibility needs to extend beyond office buildings and public institutions and include the places where communities gather, celebrate, and connect throughout the summer months.
The question is no longer whether governments, municipalities, Indigenous governments, tourism operators, and event organizers know these barriers exist. They do. The question is whether we are prepared to act. Human rights legislation imposes an obligation to remove barriers—not when it is convenient, not when budgets allow, and not only after someone files a complaint. Every new trail, campground, beach, fishing dock, park, festival, and recreational facility should be planned, designed, and maintained with accessibility at its core. Decision-makers must treat accessibility as the legal and moral obligation it is. Accessibility legislation could help make this a reality.
The Commission developed two documents to address the lack of accessibility in the Territory and they are available for free on our website. The first is an Accessibility Checklist for public events. The second, Accessibility and the Building Code, explains that meeting the minimum standards set out in the National Building Code may not mean a space is considered accessible.
The opportunity to experience the land, gather with community, and enjoy the outdoors cannot remain a privilege reserved for those whose bodies happen to match the design of our public spaces. We should expect better. People with disabilities deserve better. This summer, and every summer that follows, decision-makers should be judged not by the promises they make about inclusion, but by the barriers they remove.