Transport Committee on April 18th, 2024

[Max Brault]

One of the fundamental parts of the Accessibility Canada Act is that no policy or decision should be made in a vacuum without people with disabilities. That is the fundamental concept of that particular act and legislation, and it's not being adhered to in this particular situation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Brault.

I saw Mr. Fenton's hand up so, I'll turn the floor over to you, sir.

[Robert Fenton]

There are a couple of things. First of all, we need to enforce what we have. We don't do a very good job at enforcing the regulations and airport human rights obligations. We need to enforce what we have. However, I think that, within some of these sectors, we actually do need to develop new regulations and standards, especially around transportation of mobility devices, security—those kinds of things—to better accommodate people with disabilities, because there are major gaps there.

To respond to Mr. Brault briefly, the problem with the the Accessible Canada Act is that there are no enforceability provisions. There's nothing that we can to do to enforce our rights under that legislation, so for whatever is developed, we need to have a strong enforcement mechanism so that we can assert our rights, have them adjudicated and have penalties imposed when appropriate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Fenton.

Next I go to Ms. Ziv.

[Maayan Ziv]

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. We need the ability to ensure that not every issue is something that needs to go through litigation, falls through the cracks and takes over seven years to resolve. It's not acceptable. Under Accessibility Standards Canada, yes, there is a technical committee that will look at the accessible travel journey, but I think there is an important part to play here in the enforcement of how that will actually play out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Ms. Ziv.

I go to Ms. Hewitt next, please.

[Michelle Hewitt]

I'll be brief. Mr. Brault mentioned the sentence in the Accessible Canada Act that says that every policy legislation has to be done alongside disabled people. That's currently happening all over government. I don't think that, broadly, government has worked out what that actually means. Rather than having every committee like this working out what co-creation with disabled people means, it would be great if we could actually sort that out so that, when we say to airlines, “You need to co-create,” this is how you do it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Ms. Hewitt.

I yield the floor to Mr. Lupien, who will be the last person to speak in today's discussion.

[Paul Lupien]

I have to say that reasonable accommodations become, the majority of the time, unreasonable accommodations. Often, instead of being useful to us, these accommodations even complicate our lives.

Also, how can we rely on airlines and their goodwill when they ask manufacturers to install as many seats as possible on the plane in order to have as many people on board as possible? We ask them to make space for disabled people, but for these companies, I think it's a question of money. They completely forget that we should have the same rights as all other passengers. We have the right to exist and to be there.

I think the airlines should be forced to change their ways. They should now be obliged to provide spaces for people with disabilities, adapt their bathrooms and make any other accommodations, just as all other carriers do, whether by land or otherwise.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you.

Colleagues, before I adjourn and before I thank our witnesses for being with us today, I inform members that we received a communiqué from Her Excellency the Ambassador of Germany, Ms. Sparwasser, with an invitation to meet with the German minister of housing, urban development and construction, the Honourable Klara Geywitz, between May 5 and May 7.

I believe I've already spoken to many of you about this. I move the following motion:

That the committee meet, in an informal meeting, with a delegation from Germany on Tuesday, May 7, 2024; and that the committee defray the hospitality expenses related to this meeting.

It would happen between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and not take up any committee time. I believe there has been some discussion.

Go ahead, Mr. Barsalou-Duval.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Can we make sure there will be interpretation services?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Yes, absolutely.

Do I hear any objections to that?

(Motion agreed to)

I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of the witnesses for the time they spent with us this morning, as well as for the intimate stories they shared with us. I can assure you that the information you shared will go a long way in strengthening the report and the recommendations that we put forward to the government.

With that, I thank you.

This meeting is adjourned.