2026 EKO Tribute Award for Leadership

As our national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has a responsibility to reach out to and reflect all Canadians. And CBC Kids took accessibility seriously before it became an industry priority.

CBC Kids has long been making their content more accessible to everyone in their audience across all platforms including traditional television, digital streaming and interactive gaming.

To ensure that content is truly accessible, CBC involves members of the communities. For example, Teeny Tales, a series for Deaf children, was developed with the participation of parents in the Deaf community, as well as talented creators from the Deaf community who wrote and directed the series. Notably community members wanted to see Deaf people across the full spectrum of characters—villains and heroes alike – and the Deaf cast had input into their characters.

What a great group of people we got to work with. It was a true collaboration with the Deaf community. – Lisa Wisniewski, Senior Producer, CBC Kids Studios

It's not just TV series. On cbckids.ca, kids with low vision can try one of a whole set of games that use audio cues to navigate through the challenges and levels of a virtual world. In partnership with a Canadian gaming company, CBC Kids has already released three games and plans to create a new game each year. One such game is Blizzard Ball, in which players enjoy an action-packed tennis match using snowballs in the middle of a swirling blizzard. As with Teeny Tales, members of the low vision community came in to test and make the tweaks necessary to bring it to the public.

When you find the right partners that care for the audience, you have that creative collaborative process that can lead to innovation. You can find ways that everyone can play and enjoy the content as well. Last summer our outreach program brought in students from a school for the blind to tour the studio. All these kids came in to play some games. Just watching them play and experience the game and say, "Whoa, this is so cool," made us realize this is why we do it. – Jeff Santos, Senior Producer, CBC Kids

CBC Content Accessibility creates videos about how to make content accessible, and leads an annual conference called AccessWorks for people who want to tell stories and produce content that's more inclusive. Recently, they collaborated with McMaster University to conduct research into optimizing closed captions for children with disabilities. Hosting focus groups is another important initiative enabling CBC to investigate measures that best connect with all audiences. By making their content inclusive, CBC gives all kids the chance to learn and have fun.

From all the research we do and the consulting with the community about their needs, and then seeing these creative wizards make it happen, and then the impact on people's lives, that's the best part. – Sarah Duda, Content Accessibility Lead

This devotion to collaboration, to evaluating their work, and to constant connection with their audiences has made CBC Kids and CBC Content Accessibility innovative leaders in making content inclusive and accessible.
 
I think as a team leader, watching my amazing senior producers and producers take on these projects not only come up with the creative ideas, but also the solutions to making the content inclusive and accessible and really seeing it, it's such a benefit for the learnings that the team receives. It's like the best learning we can do. I'm just amazed. They're the ones like that this award is highlighting. – Marie McCann, Senior Director, CBC Kids