Wheelchair users on flights are passengers — not problems, says Canada's chief accessibility officer

The Current12:25Wheelchair users on flights are passengers, not problems: Stephanie Cadieux

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Airlines losing or damaging wheelchairs leaves the passengers that rely on them completely vulnerable, says Canada's chief accessibility officer Stephanie Cadieux.

"When my chair is not there, I don't have any way to move. It would be the equivalent of a person, an able-bodied person having both of their legs broken," Cadieux told The Current's guest host Duncan McCue.

"I'm completely reliant on … someone else to push me around in an inappropriate piece of equipment that is not suited to my needs, and wait until my chair is found and returned." 

Cadieux flew from Toronto to Vancouver last month, but on landing she was furious to learn that Air Canada had left her wheelchair behind. The airline returned her device the next morning. At the time, Air Canada told CBC News in an emailed statement that the airline apologized to Cadieux and the company recognizes "mobility devices are vital to their users."

Cadieux said she's had experiences like this dating back 30 years, and many other wheelchairs users report similar problems. This week a B.C. man said he was dropped and injured when an air crew tried to get off a plane without proper safety equipment; while another wheelchair user reported being forced to drag himself off a flight.

In March, the federal auditor general reported that 63 per cent of the 2.2 million Canadians with disabilities faced barriers when travelling on federally regulated planes and trains in 2019 and 2020.

Cadieux told McCue that these incidents are dehumanizing and unacceptable. Here is part of their conversation. 

You're hearing these stories often. What's the process like in terms of [affected passengers] getting it resolved?

It is really completely dependent on each circumstance and the people on the other end. Sometimes it goes relatively smoothly and things are resolved relatively well — and sometimes not at all. 

The reality is though … people with disabilities travel for all sorts of reasons. They travel for work or for school, for family events, medical appointments, to represent our country as athletes, for all sorts of reasons.

We aren't going to stop travelling, and there's a fundamental shift needed in the industry. The sector needs to understand that people with disabilities are paying customers — they are passengers, they are not problems. And until that shift happens, we won't resolve these issues. 

What type of accountability is there for airlines in Canada to deal with this in a timely manner? 

Clearly not enough. People with disabilities who speak up obviously have a greater chance, I would say, of being compensated and getting their issue resolved quickly.

That shouldn't be the case. The system needs to stop relying on anecdotes or reacting to those individual situations. The change will only come when decision making relies on data and we address the issues at a systemic level and change how things are done.

Right now, the onus is on the individual and the pain — in all senses of that word — is with the individual. The airline really doesn't feel that pain, I would argue, the way things are set up. And that needs to change. 

Right now it seems as if the wheelchairs and other forms of transportation are being treated as baggage. Is there a way to make sure that [airlines understand the issue]?

I think there is. That will likely … mean additional regulation is required. Lawmakers and regulators may need to step in here. But again, ultimately, the understanding has to be there at a level in the organizations and with their employees.

The training has to be there that this is not luggage, this is not a bag that can be replaced or, you know, a sweater that can be purchased in the gift shop.

This is a piece of highly customized medical equipment that is required. It's an extension of a person's body and that's the shift that has to happen.

WATCH | Man forced to drag himself off Air Canada flight vows to keep fighting:

Man forced to drag himself off Air Canada flight vows to keep fighting for people with disabilities

1 year ago

Duration 1:40

Air Canada has apologized to a B.C. man after staff told him he would need to get to the front of the plane without any assistance. The airline has also admitted it violated Canadian disability legislation. Rodney Hodgins hopes the situation will lead to systemic change.

What sort of standards are there for not just airlines, but airports internationally to ensure that customers with accessibility needs are properly attended to? 

The Canadian Transportation Agency is the regulator in Canada, and they have a set of standards and regulations that the airlines must adhere to, as do other other countries that the airlines fly into. And [Canadian regulations] set out that wheelchairs are not luggage and that their passengers have rights to be treated in a certain way, to expect a certain level of service.

But there is complexity because the airline sector doesn't operate just in Canada. They're travelling internationally and there needs to be co-ordination internationally.

The best solution would, of course, be to have people's wheelchairs travel with them, have people who use wheelchairs travel in their wheelchair, as they do on trains or buses. But that's a longer-term fix.

In the short term, the fix really is that accountability from the top saying we're not going to point fingers anymore … we're not going to just apologize, but in fact, we're going to make a transparent commitment for culture change and for training and customer service. And that's the first step. 

WATCH | B.C. comedian calls for change, says he was dropped by Air Canada crew:

Wheelchair user, dropped by Air Canada crew, calls for change

1 year ago

Duration 0:59

Ryan Lachance and his caregiver, Emma Proulx, say Air Canada crew need better training to keep people with disabilities safe.

We've been talking about air travel. But ... as Canada's chief accessibility officer, what other challenges are you seeing in terms of trying to make this country more accessible? 

That's a really good question, because it isn't just the case for air travel. All sectors of industry and the world that we interact with have changes to make if we're going to become barrier free.

We need change at all levels of society. We need more understanding. Accessibility and inclusion is everyone's issue. It's everyone's business, and everyone has a role to play. All the different levels of government, civil society, corporate sector, we all have changes to make and learning to do.