Seven steps — that’s all it takes to get into the front doors of the BMO building at Portage and Main. But for someone in a wheelchair, the short climb might as well be a mountain.
On the weekend, Nate Sawatzky wanted to tour the building as part of Doors Open Winnipeg but he couldn’t get inside.
“It’s literally insurmountable. It’s an obstacle that really can’t be overcome. It’s annoying because you look at it and go everyone else is going up those steps with no problem and here I am,” he said.
Sawatzky took to Twitter to outline his journey, which involved him crossing Portage Avenue to get to the underground tunnels below the iconic intersection. But even then he faced barriers with lifts behind locked doors that are only open during the week.
What was a three second climb for many took Sawatzky more than 30 minutes. And he never actually made it inside.
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“We went across to the Fairmont down into the concourse, took two different lifts in the concourse and then found out there was stairs going directly into the BMO building and to actually access the BMO building you have to go into the MTS building, which was locked on the weekend,” he said.
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BMO issued an apology to Sawatzky and issued the statement to Global News:
“The accessible entrance to the branch is available through the 333 Main Street entrance during regular business hours, Monday to Friday. As the branch is not open on weekends, accessibility through that entrance was unfortunately unavailable during the Doors Open Winnipeg event. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and we have since been in touch with Mr. Sawatzky.”
Five years ago the province pledged to make Manitoba more accessible by 2023, but half way though that mandate a disability advocate group says the province is failing.
Barrier-Free Manitoba released a report card Tuesday saying the province has only succeeded on one out of five key points they set out to achieve, and they’re not on track to get the rest done.
The Accessibility for Manitobans Act aimed to make the province more accessible, relative to:
- outside of buildings (like stairs, ramps, pathways, sidewalks and in parks)
- transportation
- information communication (that information would be available in print, in person or whatever format works for the individual)
- employment standards
- customer service
So far, only the customer service accessibility standard has been made law. It looks at ways to provide better customer service to people with disabilities.
Minister of Families Scott Fielding was unavailable for an interview Tuesday but pointed Global News to a statement from last week where he said the province is on track to hitting the targets on accessibility.
“Recently I had a meeting with Jim Baker who heads up our Accessibility Advisory Council. We had discussions in terms of timelines. He is of the opinion that we will hit all the targets that are incorporated into the accessibility act – the five standards that are in place,” he said.
According to Statistics Canada, more than 15 per cent of Manitobans have a disability.
View the Accessibility for Manitobans Act here:
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