Vancouver cafe ordered to pay visually impaired woman $12K for discrimination

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ruled in favour of a visually impaired woman who says a Vancouver café discriminated against her in September 2019.

Georgia Pike, a 28-year-old Victoria, B.C. woman, who prefers the term visually impaired to blind, uses a guide dog to navigate. She says she and her father were refused service by the Ooh La La café because they were accompanied at the time by her guide dog, Grainger. 

After Pike spent nearly four years fighting her case, the tribunal has found the café's actions to be discriminatory and ordered it to pay her $12,000. Pike is grateful for the outcome and the support she received from her father and the University of Victoria Law Centre but says she wishes the process was simpler.

"For one morning when I was denied service, it's taken four years and a tremendous amount of energy just to have an outcome," she said.

"I think about all of the other people who use guide dogs who have been denied service and who don't have the time or means or energy to pursue any justice through that incident, and there's gotta be an easier way."

William Thornton, CEO of B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs, says that the long legal process can be a barrier to those who feel they've faced discrimination. 

"Many individuals who have guide dogs may not have the financial means to see it through."

'Exhausting and demoralizing'

Pike says she typically encounters people every day who push back when she tries to navigate public spaces with her current guide dog. In these situations, she shows her dog's identification and explains that they're legally allowed to accompany her, which she says normally ends any dispute.

"It's exhausting and demoralizing," Pike said. "It's difficult to travel with ease, and especially since this interaction with the café owner in 2019, I have been much more reluctant to travel on my own because of the negative impact that the incident had on me."

Pike and her father, Tobin Pike, were on their way to a doctor's appointment in Vancouver when they stopped at Ooh La La cafe to eat. She says they were asked to leave by Lu James Li, the café owner at the time, because of her guide dog. 

According to a video Pike submitted to the tribunal, they were asked by Li repeatedly to leave, even after explaining that Grainger was a service dog.

Li claimed Pike walked into the café without the assistance of a guide dog, which he said resembled a different dog that he believed to be a pet, according to the tribunal.

In its decision, the tribunal found Pike's claims to be credible and that the impact of this encounter "justifies a $12,000 order of compensation for injury to her dignity, feelings, and self-respect."

In the wake of that experience, Pike says she has been less willing to go out alone, even to the grocery store, as she wants witnesses with her in case she faces discrimination.

"It defeats the purpose of a guide dog, which is to increase independence," she said.

An ongoing struggle

Pike credits the success of her case to the persistence of her father, who filed the complaint but died before the tribunal released its decision.

"The way this ruling has gone is in big part [because of] him and his persistence and ability to advocate for me," she said.

She hopes the decision will raise awareness for other guide dog users about their rights.

Tommy Leung, advocacy program lead for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in B.C. and the Yukon, says a lack of awareness contributes to the backlash faced by guide dog users.

"When you're denying the dog, you're actually denying the person with disabilities their human rights," said Leung.

"It's sad that as guide dog handlers, we have to keep advocating. The battle's not over."