November 2023

OPEN LETTER TO PREMIER EBY

Earlier this year the executive of the Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) submitted a detailed letter to Ms. E. Ohler, Chair of the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. Copies were provided to relevant ministries and the Ombudsperson’s office. The letter outlined two devious failures of the Tribunal. This caused the human rights process to be incomplete thereby normalizing discriminatory practices.

Where we do acknowledge the Chair’s response we have deep mistrust regarding the Tribunal’s integrity. Blind people who dare attempt redress from deceitful public service providers have suffered harm and public defamation through published case law. Rejected, excluded, deceived, bullied, humiliated and degraded, summarizes our ubiquitous denigration. All at the hands of Canada’s prejudicial judiciary, government authorities, public and private services, with a complicit media remaining unmoved. Blind people’s lives have been irrevocably made a misery and sometimes a nightmare.

We believe we demonstrated the Tribunal’s longstanding treachery dating back from 2003 to the present day. Ms Ohler, rather than addressing our concerns, chose to minimize what amounts to corrupt practices. Ms Ohler implied that other unrelated rulings (one having nothing to do with public access) somehow compensates for the Tribunal’s deceit and dishonesty. Our evidence shows this is just part of a much larger coercive practice evident in other B.C. Ministries.

The human element of the BCHRT fails to apply the fundamental application of human rights related to the social equity of blind citizens. Such equity is clearly authorized with specific related legislation. The BCHRT Is mandated under the Code to take statutes into account. The Tribunal is not there to reduce a right into a form of “accommodation”, as that is directly contrary to the intention of the social equity law.

Discrimination against blind citizens is primarily related to equitable public access. Vital human rights related legislation was introduced in 1974, namely The B.C. Blind Person’s Rights Act later strengthened as the Guide Dog and Service Dog Act. This Statute provided blind people, with or without a guide dog, the right of public access free from accommodation or permission to enter a public place or public conveyance. The 1974 legislation created the new norm. The blind customer of a public service is, therefore, not the one seeking “accommodation” as the law has removed that requirement. The public service provider, such as a taxi company or driver, that refuses service, is the one acting out of the ordinary.

Any service provider’s “accommodation” is the responsibility of the company up to the point of providing equitable treatment of all customers. It is the responsibility of the service provider to file any claim related to a service refusal. An impartial BCHRT should explain to the public service providers that it is their responsibility, not the innocent customer, to file a claim. This has, of course, never occurred. On the contrary, the provider employs various underhanded methods to refuse service to a vulnerable customer. Consequently the customer being denied service should be informed that under the offence act, related to the legislation, there is the ability to issue a fine. A blind customer should never be expected to try and defend what has already been decided. The legislation was created to prevent such an arduous protracted process.

Imagine being a blind victim of discrimination having to step into what seems like the Roman arena at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. We are defenceless, confronted with an illusive opponent armed to the teeth with a biased judge happy to turn us into the sacrificial lamb. The Tribunal reception is indicative of intolerance with inflections of superiority together with derogatory comments directed towards traumatized innocent victims. From the outset the Tribunal creates an atmosphere of victim self-blame, ridicule and animosity. However, this abuse pales compared with the Tribunal’s deceitful conduct at unpublished mediations. The full betrayal of Tribunal trust concealed through non-disclosure agreements (NDA’s) , free from scrutiny and accountability, delivers the maximum possible abuse of injustice. The blind defenceless lamb is duly sacrificed. Punishing the defenceless customer where a public service is involved can never be justified.

Why has the Tribunal systematically defied the human rights code to cause hundreds of blind victims to undergo years of targeted abusive treatment?

In addition both the BCHR Commission and the associated Human Rights Clinic have legal staff willing to undermine blind people’s legal rights and defend discriminatory practices. Other ministry Departments, such as the Passenger Transportation Board and Branch, have engaged in targeting us to allow unscrupulous public service bullies to create anarchy through the taxi industry and allied services.

Under the Offence Act, related to the 1974 amended Act, the police have confirmed that a $288.00 fine can be administered to any person who violates this legislated right. The provincial Police or the RCMP have the ability to apply this fine. The police have failed to prevent such abuse from escalating. For years such systemic violations have persisted.

Canadians who live with blindness in this province deserve and expect an apology for such persecution. We also deserve recognition for the years of trauma we have endured with a significant compensation for such an unprecedented attack on our liberty. All we ask is to be able to live free from discriminatory barriers and bullies.

Yours Sincerely,

Graeme McCreath, Executive Member of the CFB
Douglas Lawlor, President of the CFB
Mary Ellen Gabias, First Past President
Oriano Belusic, First Vice President