Accessibility Statement

Branch aims to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. We also align with Nova Scotia's Accessibility Act (2017) standards for customer-facing digital services, and apply the same standards site-wide regardless of which province a visitor is in.

Current status: Partially conformant — most of the Service meets WCAG 2.1 AA, with ongoing work on data tables, complex visualizations (voting stats), and any newly added content.

• Skip-to-content link on every page
• Visible focus indicators on all interactive elements
• Keyboard navigation support throughout — including Cmd/Ctrl+K search and ? help
• Semantic HTML and ARIA labels on icons, buttons, and dialogs
• Color contrast meeting WCAG AA in both light and dark themes
• Responsive layout works on screen readers and mobile assistive technology
• Respect for prefers-reduced-motion for users sensitive to animations
• Resizable text up to 200% without loss of functionality
• Form labels associated with inputs; clear error messages
• Bilingual (EN/FR) with language switcher and proper lang attributes

• Voting record progress bars rely on color to differentiate yea/nay/abstain — we are adding text labels to supplement.
• Politician photos may have generic alt text (the politician's name) rather than descriptive image text.
• External news sites linked from /news are not under our control.

Branch is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

• NVDA, JAWS (Windows screen readers)
• VoiceOver (macOS, iOS)
• TalkBack (Android)
• Browser zoom up to 200%
• Keyboard-only navigation
• Speech recognition software (Dragon)

If you encounter an accessibility barrier — anything that prevents you from using the Service — please tell us. We treat these reports as urgent and aim to respond within 2 business days.

Email: accessibility@branchpolitics.ca

When reporting, please include:

• The page URL where the issue occurred
• A description of the barrier
• Your assistive technology and operating system (if applicable)
• Any workaround you'd like us to communicate while we fix the issue

If you feel we have not responded adequately to your accessibility concern, you may contact your provincial human rights commission or the relevant provincial accessibility office. Nova Scotia residents can contact the Accessibility Directorate at the Department of Justice (accessibility@novascotia.ca).