Category: Curb to Cabin Canada

In this practical episode of Curb to Cabin Canada, Donna J. Jodhan talks with Devin Glim, a staff lawyer at ARCH Disability Law Centre, and his law student, Patrick Robitaille, about what the law actually gives a passenger with a disability. Devin explains how his organizing with the Disability Justice Network of Ontario led him to Osgoode Hall Law School and ARCH, and why he believes effective change needs both lawyers and organizers, while Patrick describes what a Disability Law Intensive student does on a transportation file. When Donna asks about blind travellers who are met with a wheelchair instead of a sighted guide, Devin calls the Canada Transportation Act and its accessibility regulations a bare minimum of protection, and Patrick says the Canadian Transportation Agency follows the principle of self-determination, so providers must accept a passenger’s own assessment of their needs. Patrick adds that airlines and airports cannot escape responsibility by using contractors.

In this inaugural episode of Curb to Cabin Canada, host Donna J. Jodhan speaks with Steve Dawson, senior operations manager at Fnyx Aviation Services, whose team provides passenger assistance at Toronto Pearson. Steve says a niece with spina bifida drew him to the work, and that his company assisted 887 people with restricted mobility in May 2021 and almost 36,000 this past May, with Pearson handling over 4,000 wheelchairs a day. He explains who is responsible when something goes wrong: his surrey and wheelchair replenishment division, contracted by the airport authority, and his PRM division, which handles wheelchair service for 27 airlines, while Air Canada still runs its own wheelchair service and uses his team for its Curbside Assistance Program.