Woman in Callander files Ontario human rights complaint arguing municipal building isn't accessible

A woman from Callander has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the municipality and the province over her concerns around accessibility at the northern town's municipal building.

Chantal Cormier uses a wheelchair due to an accident a decade ago that left her unable to walk.

She argues the municipality of Callander, located south of North Bay, has failed to make its municipal building accessible for people with disabilities. The building is where town council meets and residents go to access some municipal services.

In an online survey in 2021, Cormier pointed out that the building was not wheelchair accessible. The main entrance was near a hill too steep to safely use in a wheelchair.

In a special council meeting the next year, Callander Mayor Robb Noon asked if provincial legislation required the municipality to build an accessible ramp at the main entrance.

"No. It is not a necessity unless major repairs or enhancements are completed to the building," responded Ashley Bilodeau, Callander's senior municipal director.

Thea Kurdi, a consultant who specializes in accessibility, told CBC News that doesn't take into account Ontario's Human Rights Code, which supersedes the Ontario Building Code.

Building a 2nd entrance

In 2023, council voted to reallocate $50,000 in capital funding budgeted for an accessibility ramp to instead build a second entrance to the building.

The second entrance, completed in September 2024, was meant to improve access for people in wheelchairs. But Cormier has argued a path leading to the entrance — which was made with lines painted along the edge of a parking lot — remains too steep.

"The hill would be very challenging for the majority of wheelchair users and in my opinion, it would be very dangerous to descend," Cormier told CBC News.

"Personally, I would be very afraid to go down that hill. I'd be afraid that I would not be able to stop and wind up in the middle of Main Street, fearing that I'd be kissing my life goodbye to the front of an oncoming vehicle."

A staff report to council on March 25, 2025, said the path leading to the entrance does not exceed Ontario Building Code standards of an 8.33 per cent slope.

But Cormier said her husband measured the slope at 13 per cent, which is too steep for a wheelchair. CBC has not independently measured the slope along the path.

Kurdi said there are other issues with the path leading to the building, beyond the slope.

"The most significant issue I could see that was clear from the pictures was the lack of safety for pedestrians because there was no curb edge," she said.

This barrier didn't just arise last week, or last year, or in 2023 or 2022.- David Lepofsky, disability advocate 

Kurdi said a height difference between the path and parking lot would help better separate pedestrians and wheelchair users from cars. If a person is blind, a curb edge also lets them know where they can safely walk.

Kurdi also noted a lack of wayfinding, handrails and the proximity to parked cars.

"Unfortunately in parking spaces like this, where people and cars are in conflict, a seated person in a wheelchair or a shorter-stature person can easily, and often are, sadly hit by cars," she said.

Kurdi said painted lines are also often covered by snow and ice in the winter, which makes them difficult or impossible to see.

Cormier said the ideal solution to make the entrance accessible would be for the municipality to build a switchback ramp, which zigzags back and forth. It's a way to ensure the slope is never too steep for a wheelchair.

The municipality's March 2025 staff report, however, estimated the cost of building a switchback ramp would be over $350,000, which would result in a five to six per cent municipal tax increase.

The report also said there is not enough space for such a ramp without encroaching into the neighbouring road allowance.

Disability advocate David Lepofsky, who chairs the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance (AODA Alliance), argues the Town of Callander should have thought about making its municipal building accessible at least 20 years ago.

"This barrier didn't just arise last week, or last year, or in 2023 or 2022," he said.

Lepofsky lobbied for the creation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, which became law in 2005.

The act gave organizations in the province, including municipalities, 20 years to meet accessibility standards outlined in the law. That deadline was reached in January 2025.

"When the question is, 'Why was the province given 20 years?' The answer was because there's a bunch of old buildings out there. Society, the business community, municipalities said, 'We need time to get this all fixed,'" Lepofsky said.

"Now when you suddenly decide in 2022 or 2023, 'Oh my gosh, maybe we should fix this.' That's squandering 17 of the 20 years for no good reason."

Cormier is also including Ontario's ministries of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and Seniors and Accessibility in her human rights complaint.

She argues they have failed to uphold accessibility standards and inspect Callander's municipal building to see if it meets current standards.

In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility said it "would be inappropriate" to comment on Cormier's case because it is now before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Noon and senior municipal director Ashley Bilodeau also said they cannot comment for the same reason.

A long process

According to Lepofsky, it could take years for a resolution from the tribunal.

He had his own fight against the City of Toronto decades ago. In that case, he argued the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) was not accessible for blind people because there was no audible information about upcoming stops.

Because of his win at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, upcoming stops are now announced over speakers. Many other cities in the province also have the same system for their transit services.

But Lepofsky said it took years for that change to happen.

"It can take half a decade to just get a hearing, and cities know that. So they can just sit on their hands and not worry about it. Or politicians could go, 'Let the next council worry about it.'"