Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez summoned Air Canada representatives to Ottawa after three high-profile incidents involving passengers with disabilities.
This meeting, scheduled for next week, will be held in the presence of Canada’s Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and People with Disabilities, Kamal Khera.
The company must provide a plan to resolve 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 after Air Canada lost her wheelchair on a flight from Toronto to Vancouver. According to her, this incident highlights the extent of accessibility problems in the country’s aviation sector.
His story prompted Rodney Hodgins, a Briton who suffers from spastic cerebral palsy, to publicly describe another incident involving the airline.
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Rodney Hodgins (left) typically exits a plane using 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 because no help was available. Air Canada has since apologized and admitted that it violated applicable accessibility rules.
Ryan Lachance, a comedian from British Columbia with cerebral palsy, also decided to speak out, claiming he was injured by members of the aircraft carrier’s crew after landing in Vancouver.
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Ryan Lachance photographed with his medical assistant Emma Proulx on Wednesday at his home in White Rock, British Columbia, about fifty kilometers southeast of Vancouver.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Ben Nelms
At the end of the day on Friday, the Minister of Transport reacted on the X platform (formerly Twitter): I was horrified to learn that another incident had occurred on an Air Canada flight. All Canadians must be treated with dignity and respect. Point.
Air Canada says internal reviews are ongoing
In a press release, Air Canada said it was conducting an internal investigation into these three cases.
In each case, we would have contacted customers to apologize, listen to their concerns and offer them compensation, the statement said. The most important thing for each of them was that we are committed to improving our services so that no one else has to go through a similar experience.
The airline said it completed a plan in June to improve 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