Woman’s guide dog refused by taxi

Anne Malone won a human rights case against the same company five years ago when its cabs wouldn’t accommodate her guide dog

Lightning usually doesn’t strike twice, but St. John’s disability advocate Anne Malone didn’t expect to experience the same form of discrimination twice in five years — especially from the same company.

Malone, who ran for city council in last year’s municipal election, has impaired vision and has to use a guide dog to get around.

She recently had to fly to Ottawa so her new dog Purdy, a chocolate lab, could get some extra training. When she arrived home Thursday afternoon, there was a rush for taxis outside the airport.

“There were many people outside the airport seeking transportation, wherever they were going, so there were lots of people around with lots of luggage,” she told The Telegram Friday. “Cabs slowly began arriving at the airport, but I had difficulty getting through the crowd to race to one.”

Inside, an airline employee called a taxi for her. When the City Wide cab arrived, the employee confirmed for Malone that it was the one she called.

That’s when things went awry.

“When he saw me approaching him, he started calling out about allergies and ‘no dog,’ and I called back to him that, actually, you have an obligation to accommodate me,” she said.

She reached into her purse to get verification ID that proves Purdy was legitimately her guide dog.

“But we didn’t even get that far in the conversation. He had already taken other customers into his van and was loading their luggage in the back while this back and forth was going on.”

Malone says a driver simply saying he has an allergy is not adequate. For one thing, other pet owners could track dander into the car with or without their pets.

“If that person does have an allergy, then I think that the car could have a sticker on it just saying ‘allergy friendly zone’ where no scents, no dander, no smoke, residue or anything like that is permitted, which creates a safe workplace for the driver and the creates a safe workplace for members of the public who may have that medical issue.”

PREVIOUS CASE

Ironically, this is the second time Malone has been refused entry to a City Wide Taxi vehicle. In fact, she won a human rights case against the company in 2017 after three cars in a row refused to accommodate her dog. One of those drivers also used the allergy excuse.

Malone was awarded $5,000 in damages.

“Almost always, the onus is on the person with a disability to provide some kind of validation or verification of the fact that they identify as being disabled,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s an equitable exchange.”

However, she says she always tells dispatchers that she has a guide dog when she calls cabs herself.

The reason is simple: she feels it’s only fair to give a heads up when she can.

Malone says she will be filing another human rights complaint.

But the fact City Wide is such a large company — it recently absorbed two other companies, Bugdens and Newfoundland Cabs — makes her worry that apathy will prevail, and that $5,000 is too small a price to pay.

Duane Morgan tends to agree.

SENSITIVITY TRAINING

“We’re not saying it’s a given that (their cabs) are not going to be accessible, but we do have fears because of what’s happened this week and what’s happened in the past,” said Morgan, vice-president for Atlantic Canada with the CNIB.

City Wide was required by the 2017 ruling to provide disability sensitivity training for its drivers, but there’s no evidence it ever did.

The CNIB did provide it for Newfoundland Cabs before the takeover. Morgan called Newfound the “gold standard” for cab companies in the city.

“It’s against the law to refuse a guide dog in your cab or in your hotel or in your restaurant or what have you,” Morgan said.

“The excuse can’t be that I don’t want fur on the floor of my car. It can’t be that.”

Malone believes her experience is probably happening more often than people think, and that others in her position refuse to speak out for fear of reprisal.

Morgan said he does know of at least one case where a young man had to quit a job because he had a guide dog.

City Wide owner Peter Gulliver did not reply to a message left at the company’s main office Friday.