Disability activists say province too slow to act on tribunal order

Two Nova Scotianswho recently won a human rights complaint against the Nova Scotia government are frustrated.

They are upset that the McNeil governmentwon't immediately comply with a key order from thetribunal's decisionthat calls for the province to enforce aprovincial law that requires every restaurant to have an accessible bathroom.

In a news release issued Friday afternoon, Justice Minister MarkFureysaid the province would fast-track implementation of the plan "in a timely fashion." However, the release did not stipulate what the timeline would be.

Paul Vienneau, one of the five complainants, criticized the province for its handling of the ruling, which was issued last month.

"It's great that they're not going to appeal this, but now it has to be fixed," he said. "And it should start Monday morning."

In September, Gail Gatchalian, the chair of the human rights board of inquiry into the complaint, ruled that the province discriminated against the five disabled people for not cracking down on restaurants that didn't have an accessible washroom.

The five had complained they had a right to wash their hands before eating and inaccessible washrooms made that impossible, whichposed a health risk for themselves and for others.

Gatchalianagreed with the complainants that they hadbeendiscriminated against and ordered the province to pay each of the five $1,000 in damages and that the province enforce its regulations.

'Moving at lightning speed'

Furey was not available for an interview Friday.

Instead the Justice Department put up the province's executive director of accessibility, Gerry Post, who said he'd like to see the decision implemented within a year, although he couldn't guarantee that would happen.

Post said the work would include regulations and support for businesses that need to make changes.

"It's a collaboration between the industry, the restaurants association, the disabled community and the province and perhaps some others. So it depends on how easy it is to get an agreement on something that's pragmatic and reasonable for everybody."

The province is "moving at lightning speed on this," said Post.

"The Accessibility Act wasn't proclaimed until September of last year. By December we had a whole program in place for business that's very generous for them to upgrade their facilities," he said.

"I don't think there's any other province in Canada that's moved as quickly as we have on this thing."

Warren Reed, one of the complainants,said the province had informed the group's lawyer it would likely take four years to start implementingthat plan.

"We've already waited 806 days for the human rights decision and I don't think the government has a history of actually fulfilling its promises, especially in relation to people with disabilities," said Reed.

Post said he couldn't say why the group's lawyer would have told clients that, but said 2022 is when the government would have the build environment standard complete. Implementing the human rights decision would precede that, he said.

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