SAINT JOHN, N.B. – A group of visually impaired Saint John Transit riders have launched a human rights complaint against the transit authority.
They are demanding it reverse a decision made earlier this year that scrapped a program allowing registered members of the CNIB to ride the bus for free.
Up until July 1, these riders just had to show their CNIB identification card when they boarded the bus and they did not have the pay a fair.
Scott Rinehart, Gerald Harris and Andrew Wilson filed the complaint with the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission on Friday, saying Saint John Transit made several errors when it decided to change the program and did not complete their duty to consult with the CNIB prior to making the decision.
The free transportation accommodation had been in place for several decades and was actively used by 38 visually impaired people in Saint John, according to Pat Riley, who spoke on behalf of the group at a press conference Tuesday morning.
“Those that are using that bus pass, use it because they need it,” he told Global News.
Riley said that the decision to eliminate the accommodation of free transportation was made after the Board of Directors received a half-page memo that included several errors. The memo said that the practice of providing free bus transportation had been discontinued at most transit systems “primarily because they have been challenged by other disabled groups for the same consideration.”
Riley said both statements were wrong and that many jurisdictions across the country continued to offer the service, including Moncton, Halifax, Hamilton, Ontario and Ottawa.
Riley said the idea that Saint John Transit could face a Charter challenge if they continued to offer the program was incorrect.
“The Charter of Rights and Freedoms section 15.2 actually protects affirmative action like we have here in Saint John rather than prohibit it,” he said.
Riley added that the City of Hamilton faced a similar situation in 2013, and a challenge to the Ontario Human Rights Commission found programs with voluntary or free-pay policies were bona fide and reasonable special programs under the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Charter.
Rinehart, one of the people named in the complaint has a severe and aggressive form of glaucoma.
“I was diagnosed at 33,” he told Global News. “Mine is hereditary.”
Rinehart is on Canada Pension disability and says he gets about $720 a month, adding his glaucoma medicine costs about $70/month with the discount from the province’s drug plan.
“It’s expensive to be blind,” he said, saying for him, the ability to use public transit to get around is a matter of dignity.
“It’s independence. It’s the same independence that is offered to and enshrined for other people.”
Other visually impaired transit users plan to file their own complaints later this week.
Marisa Page, the co-chair of #WeArePassengers advocacy group and also legally blind, said the group was formed to advocate for accessibility for blind passengers.
“We have the right to access public transportation. Independently and safely,” she said, adding she didn’t believe offering the program was putting a financial burden on the city.
“They have to run the buses anyway,” she said.
No one from Saint John Transit responded to requests for interviews Tuesday.
According to the complainants, free bus transit for the legally blind was instituted as an accommodation in Canada for several “very valid reasons”. They are:
- Legally blind people can’t be accommodated to drive their own vehicles.
- The legally blind have a right to transportation for the purposes of accessing their health, education, employment and other human rights.
- They have the right to dignity and not having to depend on family and friends to access their human rights.
- Eight out of 10 blind people do not have a job and have a standard of living inferior to other Canadians. The labour force participation rate is 20 per cent for blind persons, 44 per cent for persons with disabilities and 73 per cent for non-disabled Canadians.
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