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Taxis refuse blind woman accompanied by guide dog

<H2 _counted="undefined"><H2 _counted="undefined">Taxis refuse blind woman accompanied by guide dog</H2>CHUCK CHIANG

The Canadian Press

December 5, 2007

FORT McMURRAY, ALTA. -- The co-ordinator of an Alberta council representing the disabled says she was left with a sour taste in her mouth after being refused a ride by a line of taxis in Fort McMurray because she was accompanied by her guide dog.

Diane Bergeron's plane was already five hours late when she arrived just before midnight Sunday.

Tired, and with a 9 a.m. speaking appointment the next day, she tried to hail a cab to transport her to a hotel.

"There was a whole line of 10, 15 taxis waiting outside [the airport terminal]," said Ms. Bergeron, who is blind and is usually accompanied by her guide dog, Max. "Not one would take me because of my dog."

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getSLinks("topStoriesInSection","LAC.20071205.DOG05",5); A bystander at the airport eventually gave her a lift into town.

Despite provincial and municipal laws aimed at protecting the rights of people with guide dogs, Ms. Bergeron's experience isn't uncommon, said a spokeswoman with a national non-profit agency providing services to blind Canadians.

"It happens frequently, everywhere," said Ellie Shuster, an Edmonton-based spokeswoman with the CNIB.

Ms. Shuster said provincial laws include the Blind Persons' Rights Act, which says no one can be denied access because of a guide dog. A similar bylaw exists in the municipal codes of Wood Buffalo, the sprawling region which includes Fort McMurray.

"They're not allowed to refuse," said Jeanne Goudie, the region's chief taxi inspector, adding that fines start at $100.

Fort McMurray is not alone in dealing with the issue. This summer, a taxi company agreed to pay a blind Vancouver man $2,500 after one of its drivers refused to pick him up because he was accompanied by his guide dog.

About a month earlier, a Calgary judge found a driver guilty of discrimination for the same reason and fined him $300 under the Blind Persons' Rights Act.

Several Fort McMurray taxi companies said certain drivers will not carry dogs as passengers.

"We can't make the drivers do it," said Ron MacNeill, owner of Sun Taxi, who added some employees cite allergies or religious convictions as reasons for denying service.

Mr. MacNeill added that his company can accommodate guide dogs if notified in advance. Mustapha Hemeid, manager at Access Taxi, echoed Mr. MacNeill's statements.

"Not every driver will do it," Mr. Hemeid said about carrying the dogs. "But we do have optional drivers who can, and if you call ahead, we'll do it."

The policy at Fort McMurray Airport is to provide the service, said spokeswoman Sally Beaven.

"Their agreement [with the airport] is that they'll not refuse any fares," she said, adding that management has talked to cab companies about the issue. "This shouldn't happen."

Ms. Bergeron, the co-ordinator with the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, was in town to speak at a workshop on how hospitality and retail businesses can work with people with disabilities.

She said Fort McMurray should take a closer look at the issue.

"When you come off a plane, the taxi driver is often the first person you contact," she said.

"It's the first face a visitor sees in a city, and this definitely put a sour taste in my mouth."

CHUCK CHIANG </H2>The Canadian Press

December 5, 2007

FORT McMURRAY, ALTA. -- The co-ordinator of an Alberta council representing the disabled says she was left with a sour taste in her mouth after being refused a ride by a line of taxis in Fort McMurray because she was accompanied by her guide dog.

Diane Bergeron's plane was already five hours late when she arrived just before midnight Sunday.

Tired, and with a 9 a.m. speaking appointment the next day, she tried to hail a cab to transport her to a hotel.

"There was a whole line of 10, 15 taxis waiting outside [the airport terminal]," said Ms. Bergeron, who is blind and is usually accompanied by her guide dog, Max. "Not one would take me because of my dog."

<H5 _counted="undefined">Print Edition - Section Front</H5> Enlarge Image

<H5 _counted="undefined"> </H5>A bystander at the airport eventually gave her a lift into town.

Despite provincial and municipal laws aimed at protecting the rights of people with guide dogs, Ms. Bergeron's experience isn't uncommon, said a spokeswoman with a national non-profit agency providing services to blind Canadians.

"It happens frequently, everywhere," said Ellie Shuster, an Edmonton-based spokeswoman with the CNIB.

Ms. Shuster said provincial laws include the Blind Persons' Rights Act, which says no one can be denied access because of a guide dog. A similar bylaw exists in the municipal codes of Wood Buffalo, the sprawling region which includes Fort McMurray.

"They're not allowed to refuse," said Jeanne Goudie, the region's chief taxi inspector, adding that fines start at $100.

Fort McMurray is not alone in dealing with the issue. This summer, a taxi company agreed to pay a blind Vancouver man $2,500 after one of its drivers refused to pick him up because he was accompanied by his guide dog.

About a month earlier, a Calgary judge found a driver guilty of discrimination for the same reason and fined him $300 under the Blind Persons' Rights Act.

Several Fort McMurray taxi companies said certain drivers will not carry dogs as passengers.

"We can't make the drivers do it," said Ron MacNeill, owner of Sun Taxi, who added some employees cite allergies or religious convictions as reasons for denying service.

Mr. MacNeill added that his company can accommodate guide dogs if notified in advance. Mustapha Hemeid, manager at Access Taxi, echoed Mr. MacNeill's statements.

"Not every driver will do it," Mr. Hemeid said about carrying the dogs. "But we do have optional drivers who can, and if you call ahead, we'll do it."

The policy at Fort McMurray Airport is to provide the service, said spokeswoman Sally Beaven.

"Their agreement [with the airport] is that they'll not refuse any fares," she said, adding that management has talked to cab companies about the issue. "This shouldn't happen."

Ms. Bergeron, the co-ordinator with the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, was in town to speak at a workshop on how hospitality and retail businesses can work with people with disabilities.

She said Fort McMurray should take a closer look at the issue.

"When you come off a plane, the taxi driver is often the first person you contact," she said.

"It's the first face a visitor sees in a city, and this definitely put a sour taste in my mouth."

RCMP STILL GETTING AWAY WITH IT

<H2 _counted="undefined">RCMP watchdog clears Mountie in fatal shooting</H2>ROD MICKLEBURGH

From Friday's Globe and Mail

November 30, 2007 at 4:26 AM EST

VANCOUVER — The RCMP's civilian watchdog has vindicated rookie Constable Paul Koester in the shooting death of Ian Bush and shot down widespread public perception that the force conducted a questionable investigation into Mr. Bush's death.

In his highly anticipated report yesterday into the circumstances of an incident that damaged the Mounties' reputation across the country, Paul Kennedy concluded that the police criminal probe was "highly professional...[and] free from any manner of conflict, interest or partiality."

Mr. Kennedy acknowledged "significant misapprehension by the public" on the manner of the RCMP investigation, plus increasing concerns over the continuing issue of police investigating police.

"But those concerns are not borne out by the facts of this case," he declared.

Enlarge Image Ian Bush is shown in this undated family photograph.

<H5 _counted="undefined">Videos</H5> Ian Bush

How did Ian Bush die?

Constable Koester's 911 call

Extract from audio heard during the inquest during the week of May 22, 2006. The hearing is presently scheduled to resume in Houston, B.C. on July 3, 2007

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• On the Web: Read the commissioner's report

The report appears to be the final chapter of a tragedy that began just over two years ago.

Mr. Bush, 22, was holding a friend's unopened beer outside the local hockey rink.

After Constable Koester accosted Mr. Bush about the beer, the matter turned - inexplicably to many - into a series of events that led to the young mill worker from the northern B.C. community of Houston lying dead on the floor of the police station less than 45 minutes later.

Constable Koester told fellow police officers that he shot the victim in the back of the head, fearing for his life when Mr. Bush began choking him during a violent, life-or-death struggle.

At an afternoon press conference yesterday, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al Macintyre held up vivid colour pictures of Constable Koester's bloodied face taken 21 minutes after the altercation.

In exonerating Constable Koester, Mr. Kennedy accepted that he had acted in self-defence because of a "reasonable apprehension of death."

He gave considerable weight to Constable Koester's first, traumatized words to another cop who rushed to the scene that he had started seeing stars and felt he was going to die.

Still, from the start, some questioned how the RCMP officer could have shot Mr. Bush as he claimed, while being choked face down on a couch.

A long police silence on the shooting only enhanced growing public unease and concerns about whether it was appropriate to have RCMP officers, albeit from another unit, investigate the fatality.

Even Mr. Kennedy's report was based on fact-finding by RCMP members on the Lower Mainland.

Nonetheless, the RCMP's handling of the matter was not flawless, said Mr. Kennedy, chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

He found fault in nine areas, issued recommendations to help prevent similar tragedies, and vowed to conduct a comprehensive review of past events in which the use of force by RCMP officers led to serious injury or death.

Mr. Kennedy said such a review is necessary to address a growing belief that the RCMP is biased when investigating actions of its own officers.

"A perception of bias can be as deadly or even more deadly in the long term [to police credibility] than an isolated incident. It can be very, very corrosive."

Among his recommendations were a call for closed-circuit video recorders in each RCMP detachment where prisoners are released and a specific media strategy for police-involved shooting that recognizes the need for regular, meaningful updates to the public.

Despite the recommendations, Mr. Kennedy's overall findings were a bitter pill to swallow for Linda Bush, Ian's mother, who sat impassively at the back of the room while Mr. Kennedy answered reporters' questions.

Afterward, Ms. Bush, a tireless crusader for police accountability in her son's death, said she continues to disbelieve that Ian died the way it was described in the report.

"But we're never going to get answers," she said, sorrowfully. "We've known that from the beginning. All we can do is change how it works in the future.

"As for Ian, we've lost him forever. We can't change it."

GARY MASON, NEWS, PAGE A8