WATCH: A blind 89-year-old war veteran is being evicted from his West End apartment because he’s been deemed as a “threat.” Ted Chernecki reports.
During the Second World War, Jack Ellard was a tail gunner on a B-24 Liberator, and was lucky to make it home alive, but not before a round of fire tore through his midsection.
“It came right through my plexiglass and it hit me,” said Ellard. “I felt wet. I didn’t even notice that I was shot.”
The 89-year-old Ellard, who is legally blind in both eyes and has a paralyzed arm, is being evicted from his West End one-bedroom apartment that he’s called home for 28 years.
Six days ago he received a letter from building management accusing him of bullying and harassing behaviour relating to an ongoing incident with a 30-year-old tenant, also on permanent disability, who claims the blind war veteran attacked him with his white cane.
There’s also the question of money. The landlord is only entitled to increase rent by 2.5 per cent next year, but they could charge a new tenant far more.
Ellard has no surviving family but today he was surrounded by some of his former students who he taught when he was a ballroom dance instructor after the war. During his career, he worked with celebrities like Kirstie Alley, John Travolta, and Ted Danson.
The owner of the building, Five Mile Holdings Ltd., refused to comment because the case is now before the Residential Tenancy Branch.
-With files from Ted Chernecki
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