Man denied medical priority boarding by B.C. Ferries to get a hearing

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A human rights complaint filed by a man who was denied priority medical boarding for a B.C. Ferries sailing will proceed to a hearing.

In the decision issued last month, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal heard how Roger Chin was denied priority boarding for a sold-out sailing in August 2019, despite being permitted access with a doctor’s note on previous sold-out sailings.

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The complaint was filed on the basis of discrimination based on Chin’s disabilities, which included a brain injury that made travel “very difficult, especially in the summer heat.” Chin had been making weekly trips between Vancouver Island and Vancouver for non-emergency medical appointments.

At the time, he was also using an oxygen tank, which only lasts four hours and limits the distance and time he is able to spend travelling.

In 2019, B.C. Ferries had several programs to support accessibility for passengers. The travel assistance program offered subsidized or free transport for eligible people travelling for medical care, and a 50 per cent discount fare card for those needing medical escorts. Another program, called medical assured loading, provided priority to those seeking urgent medical care and who would otherwise experience discomfort or difficulty waiting extended periods.

On Aug. 18, 2019, Chin went to thee Departure Bay terminal in Nanaimo but was denied medical assured loading, even after showing his doctor’s note and a supporting travel assistance program form, something he had done without issue many times before.

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“The B.C. Ferries staff denied Mr. Chin assured loading because he did not have a medical assured loading letter issued by B.C. Ferries,” read the tribunal decision.

“Mr. Chin says that it was hot that day, and he could not wait for the next ferry. He says that, after he was denied boarding, he had a ‘medical crisis and needed to escape.’”

After taking a few hours to recover, Chin travelled to the Duke Point terminal south of Nanaimo, where he showed the same documents and was put on the next sailing despite a two-sailing wait.

B.C. Ferries argued that while Chin had a doctor’s note and a travel assistance program form, he had not applied for a medical assured loading letter.

Chin told the tribunal that following the incident, he worked with a doctor to try to get medical assured loading letter for future sailings “but that he did not qualify because he was travelling for non-emergency medical treatment.”

Tribunal vice chair Devyn Cousineau noted in her decision that since the pandemic, B.C. Ferries had expanded their accessibility programs to include non-emergency travellers such as Chin, but that alone did not fully address the remedies he sought, and ordered a hearing be scheduled.

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“It is an express purpose of the Code to ensure that people who have been discriminated against have access to a remedy,” she wrote.

“B.C. Ferries does not explain how it has addressed the discrimination that Mr. Chin alleges that he suffered; indeed, it denies that there was any discrimination — as it is entitled to do.

“In my view, notwithstanding the systemic changes that have taken place since Mr. Chin filed his complaint, it furthers the Code’s purposes to allow Mr. Chin to advance his complaint and seek a personal remedy.”

sip@postmedia.com

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