Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I will take your advice and start with my questions to Mr. Fenton.
First of all, thank you to all of the witnesses for sharing what is very difficult testimony. Clearly these experiences are not just one-time events, something that happens and then you move on from it. I think it reaffirms, for many people who live with disabilities, many past incidents as well, and that trauma is revisited. In many cases it simply reinforces that society is not yet doing the job that needs to be done to support people with disabilities. Travel is supposed to be a positive experience. It's heartbreaking, quite frankly, to hear some of these stories. I appreciate the opportunity to try to be part of a solution here for all of you and for the millions of people experiencing similar experiences.
Mr. Fenton, I read a post of yours on LinkedIn, in which you said, “Blind travellers, beware when you travel through Pearson Airport now.” You laid out a scenario in which there are multiple hand-offs, from airport personnel to Air Canada personnel, to porters, to actually picking up your bags off of the luggage carousel. One thing we heard or one suggestion that's been made is that we need to do a better job of eliminating all of those different “hand-offs”, I'll call them, among airport, airline, security and baggage personnel. It sounds to me that an individual who needs assistance navigating the travel system could go through five or six people with various levels of training and responsibility trying to assist them. Can you talk about that part of the travel experience?
As I understand it, in some European airports the airport itself is responsible for the passenger experience, from the time they reach the curb until the time they are seated on the aircraft. I'm wondering if you have thoughts on that sort of system or if you might have any thoughts on how to ensure that passengers with disabilities don't fall through the cracks whenever there is a hand-off between persons responsible for their travel experiences.