2023-11-04 04:18:45
Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez summoned Air Canada representatives to Ottawa following three high-profile incidents that involved passengers with disabilities.
Scheduled for next week, this meeting will take place in the presence of Canada’s Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and People with Disabilities, Kamal Khera.
The company must present a plan to remedy this situation. Canadians expect Air Canada to do better. Much better, notes Pablo Rodriguez in a press release.
Three recent incidents
Last week, Stephanie Cadieux, Canada’s chief accessibility officer, expressed her anger on social media following Air Canada lost her wheelchair on a flight from Toronto to Vancouver. According to her, this incident demonstrates the extent of the accessibility problem in the country’s air transport sector.
His story prompted Rodney Hodgins, a British Columbian who suffers from spastic cerebral palsy, to publicly describe another incident that involved the airline.
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Rodney Hodgins (left) usually exits a plane with the help of a wheelchair designed to navigate the aircraft’s aisles.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Andrew Kurjata
The 50-year-old man described being forced to drag himself to the exit of a plane during an Air Canada flight to Las Vegas last August due to the lack of available assistance. Air Canada has since apologized and admitted to having violated current accessibility rules.
Ryan Lachance, a British Columbia comedian with cerebral palsy, also decided to speak out, claiming to have been injured by members of the carrier’s crew following landing in Vancouver.
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Ryan Lachance photographed with his medical assistant Emma Proulx in his apartment in White Rock, British Columbia, regarding fifty kilometers southeast of Vancouver, on Wednesday.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Ben Nelms
At the end of the day Friday, the Minister of Transport reacted on the X platform (formerly Twitter): I was horrified to learn that another incident occurred on an Air Canada flight. All Canadians must be treated with dignity and respect. Point.
Internal reviews underway, says Air Canada
In a press release, Air Canada said it was conducting an internal investigation into these three cases.
In each case, we have contacted customers to apologize, to listen to their concerns and to offer them compensation, the statement read. The most important thing for each of them was that we commit to improving our services so that no one else has similar experiences.
The airline says it finalized a plan in June to increase accessibility for customers and employees. She says she fully supports the federal government’s Accessible Canada Act and its goal of achieving a barrier-free Canada by 2040.
With information from Michelle Ghoussoub
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