Transport committee  The airlines have known about this issue for a very long time. We haven't seen their willingness to actually address it proactively. We hadn't heard much until more recently, when this issue gained national and international attention. We do need regulations and, to echo the colleagues on the call, we need enforceability.

Transport committee  I just want to quickly echo that point about equality versus equity. I can tell you that last week I was on a flight that was overbooked, and they tried to combine two flights into one. I was promised seat strapping, which allows me to secure my travel portable wheelchair onto the plane, and it takes one and a half seats on the plane.

Transport committee  I'd like to see co-creation with people with disabilities in every single policy, every decision, every training and every single thing that touches a disabled passenger's experience. We don't have the proper seats at the table. We—people with disabilities—are the experts on this issue, as you have heard in this study, yet we are not involved in the plans and decisions made.

Transport committee  The current reality is that airlines all over the world have violated the trust of disabled passengers, because we don't have the safety, the security or the confidence to know that our mobility devices will be intact and able to be used. The reality is that the aftermath of that is absolutely treating it like a luggage claim.

Transport committee  I think it's both. I think money talks. Currently, the way the airlines handle this is that's the cost of doing business. The damage associated is currently less to handle than actually proactively solving the problem. I think if we were to increase the penalties associated with damaging mobility devices, we would see much more proactive involvement, because then it becomes a business decision.

Transport committee  If Air Canada can design a contraption that allows for safe storage and flight of an equestrian program, as in actual horses that arrive in the same condition as when they boarded the planes, I believe there is a way to protect mobility devices today before we get to retrofitting or redesigning entire aircraft.

Transport committee  Currently, the data we have is very minimal and relies on the willingness of airlines to actually document and provide that when requested, if they choose to, and the reports we have, the complaints from the CTA.... I know first-hand that the majority of people I've engaged with who have disabilities don't know what to do when they're in a situation and often don't even file a report because they don't think there's any point.

Transport committee  No, I was not.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, I have heard the testimonies. As a person who has been on the receiving end of one of "the few" that were suggested to have experienced the difficulty, I can tell you that the data—which we don't even have on record because there is no documentation of every single incident—is not fulsome.

Transport committee  I would say, absolutely, that is an important starting point. It allows for transparent records to be shown and for us understand the magnitude of the issue. I would go further and say that one of the biggest barriers we're facing is that the onus is on the individual to advocate, when we need automatic mechanisms that document every single instance, and not ones only perceived by what the airline thinks is an incident.

Transport committee  Thank you. Honourable members of the committee, good morning. My name is Maayan Ziv. I am the founder and CEO of AccessNow and the chair of the accessible travel journey technical committee for Accessibility Standards Canada. Although I hold these positions, today the views I express are strictly my own.