Passengers with disabilities filed approximately 200 complaints with WestJet last year, a figure the airline's CEO says he's "proud" to call a "small number."
WestJet's CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech told a parliamentary committee studying accessibility in the airline industry that 260,000 passengers with wheelchairs or other mobility devices flew on the airline in 2023. Though he says mistakes happen, von Hoensbroech told the Transport, Infrastructure and Communities committee that the number of complaints is low compared to the total number of flights taken.
"Every single case is a case we investigate in order to improve our service because it is our mission to provide a good service," he said. "The percentage is low, it's very very low. It's 99.9 per cent of the guests that actually have a good experience but having said that every case is a case too many."
von Hoensbroech apologized to passengers who "didn't have a good travel experience" and has committed to "doing better."
WestJet says it is introducing a number of changes that it hopes will make flying smoother from new ways to ensure a mobility device always travels with the passenger to wrapping every wheelchair to protect it while in the belly of the plane. The airline says 390 mobility devices were "fixed or repaired" last year.
"These guests are as valuable as any other guest to us and we want to be an accessible airline and that has been our ambition from the first day. That doesn't mean we are perfect; no organization is ever perfect," he said.
Stephanie Cadieux, Canada's first Chief Accessibility Officer, the issues in the airline industry are a symptom of a much larger problem around accessibility.
"There is a lot of work to be done but it is not unique to the airline sector," Cadieux told Â鶹´«Ã½.
Today Cadieux filed her first ever annual report entitled "." In it, Cadieux finds that while progress is being made, Canada still has a long way to go if it wants to be barrier free by 2040 - the goal of the government's .
"Accessibility is no longer option. If it's not accessible it's not done," Cadieux told Â鶹´«Ã½. "There is a lot of work to do in all areas of society if we are to remove the barriers so people with disabilities of all types can be included."
Last year Cadieux's wheelchair was following a flight to Vancouver. After Cadieux went public, the airline apologized and her wheelchair was returned.
That situation is one former Paralympian and president of BC Adaptive Snow Sports Sarah Morris-Probert has also experienced. She says her wheelchair and athletic equipment has been repeatedly damaged or left behind on her travels around the world.
"It is extremely frustrating," she said. "On good days it works great, but consistency would be good."
Last fall, Morris-Probert says she had to in Cabo San Lucas after she says staff refused to pull a ramp up the airline's door.
"Barrier free access through ramps is the easiest way," she added. "In Cabo there were ramps but they did not deploy them."
NDP MP Taylor Bachrach highlighted Morris-Probert's case at committee today as an example of "mistreatment" of passengers with disabilities by WestJet. von Hoensbroech said on that day airplane congestion forced the arriving WestJet flight to park on the tarmac instead of at a gate, as usual. He says the Plan B was to carry Morris-Probert up the stairs but she refused, citing safety concerns.
"I understand this is not a great process," he told the committee. "I don't like that either, but it was the next best option or the last good option we had."
von Hoensbroech told the committee that many airports it flies to, including some in northern Canada, do not have the necessary equipment to ensure passengers with a disability have a smooth experience. He also called for international regulations to ensure a smooth transition for passenger flying internationally where airlines currently have different regulations relating to accessibility.
Passenger Rights Advocate Gábor Lukács says one thing legislators can do is strengthen the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations, so compensation is automatically provided to passengers whose wheelchair or mobility device is damaged or left behind.
"The culprit is the perennial problem of inadequate enforcement and inadequate legislation," he told the committee.
He also says stiffer fines should be added for airlines, and that airlines should be required to track and hand over data to the Canadian Transportation Agency about complaints filed by passengers with disabilities.
"It codifies important principles, but was not written with enforcement in mind," he told the committee. "It does not stipulate clearly defined, predictable and significant financial consequences for violations nor does it offer automatic compensation for effected passengers."
The U.S. National Hurricane Center designated Hurricane Milton as a Category 5 storm again after reaching wind speeds of 165 m.p.h. (270 km/h).
Hurricane Milton is expected to leave a path of devastation across central Florida, from Tampa in the west to Daytona Beach in the east.
A seasoned American meteorologist became emotional on air as he gave an update on a major hurricane, later suggesting the reason behind his strong reaction.
Former cabinet minister Marc Garneau, who describes himself in his new book as always-a-Liberal, 'but a decidedly blue one,' says he hopes the party still has room for someone like him.
The Ontario Ministry of Health says four people have been sickened after consuming beef tongue believed to be contaminated with listeria.
The renewed pleas of people in Fort Chipewyan, Alta. for government to take action cleaning up contamination in their community have reached the ears of federal Transport Minister Anita Anand.
Emotions boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died.
On September 11, Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.
The Dominican Republic said Tuesday it has deported or repatriated nearly 11,000 Haitians in the past week, fulfilling a pledge to do so weekly as neighboring Haiti scrambles to handle the influx while besieged by gang violence and poverty.
Elections BC is reissuing new 'where to vote' cards to some residents after an administrative error mistakenly recommended voting places that were farther from homes than necessary.
On September 11, Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.
Political leaders are condemning what they describe as "hateful rhetoric" from a speaker at a pro-Palestinian rally in Vancouver who told the crowd that 'we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas.'
A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.
More than two weeks have passed since Hassan Ali walked out of a Toronto courtroom a free man, after prosecutors decided not to move forward with a first-degree murder trial against the local rapper.
The province’s consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.
Donald Trump has had as many as seven private phone calls with Vladimir Putin since leaving office and secretly sent the Russian president COVID-19 test machines during the height of the pandemic, Bob Woodward reported in his new book, 'War.'
A seasoned American meteorologist became emotional on air as he gave an update on a major hurricane, later suggesting the reason behind his strong reaction.
The Dominican Republic said Tuesday it has deported or repatriated nearly 11,000 Haitians in the past week, fulfilling a pledge to do so weekly as neighboring Haiti scrambles to handle the influx while besieged by gang violence and poverty.
Florida gas stations struggled to keep up with demand Tuesday as long lines and empty pumps compounded the stress for residents planning to hunker down or flee as Hurricane Milton approached the state's western coast.
The FBI has arrested an Afghan man who officials say was inspired by the Islamic State and was plotting an Election Day attack targeting large crowds in the U.S., the Justice Department said Tuesday.
A former New York City official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destroying evidence in a federal investigation that led to Mayor Eric Adams’ bribery indictment. The arrest came amid yet more high-profile departures from Adams' administration as federal prosecutors delve deeper into allegations that the mayor was involved in a coverup.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the government has no intention of proroguing Parliament to end an impasse with the Tories over a matter of privilege.
Former cabinet minister Marc Garneau, who describes himself in his new book as always-a-Liberal, 'but a decidedly blue one,' says he hopes the party still has room for someone like him.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is not allowed to speak in the House of Commons today as his public feud with Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly spilled into a second day.
The Ontario Ministry of Health says four people have been sickened after consuming beef tongue believed to be contaminated with listeria.
One in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in their lifetimes, according to the American Cancer Society. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States, with 42,000 women dying every year from this cancer.
A new report that looks at the sex lives of Canadian youth suggests more needs to be done to encourage safe sex, including reversing a decrease in condom use.
The Brazilian Supreme Court's Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday authorized the restoration of social media platform X´s service in Brazil, over a month after its nationwide shutdown, according to a statement posted on the court's website.
A British-Canadian researcher has won the Nobel Prize in physics for work developing the foundations of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The University of Toronto's Geoffrey Hinton was awarded the prize Tuesday morning, along with Princeton University researcher John Hopfield.
A device used by researchers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada appears to have been the victim of an attack by a great white shark 300 metres under water off the coast of Nova Scotia.
An elevator mechanic mistakenly threw out a piece of artwork, made to look like empty beer cans, assuming it was litter, a Dutch museum revealed earlier this month.
Sum 41 lead singer Deryck Whibley alleges in his new memoir that he was pressured into a secret sexual relationship with his former manager, Treble Charger frontman Greig Nori.
Cissy Houston, the mother of the late Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, has died. She was 91.
Statistics Canada says the country posted a merchandise trade deficit of $1.1 billion in August as lower oil prices weighed on exports.
A new report from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is sending a stark warning ahead of the U.S. presidential election, saying protectionist policies like Donald Trump's proposed tariffs could damage economies on both sides of the border.
A Toronto senior says she can’t believe that two roofers took advantage of her, despite knowing she was recently widowed and suffering from a painful disability.
Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.
A woman in Greater Sudbury, Ont., said "It doesn't get more Canadian than this" when she spotted a black bear dumpster diving at a Tim Hortons last month.
A Winnipeg baker is hanging up his apron permanently because he won the lottery.
The NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning have left Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton to practice the rest of the week.
RJ Barrett will miss the rest of the Toronto Raptors' pre-season with an injury.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson made the stunning decision Tuesday to fire Saleh five games into his fourth season after the team's 2-3 start following a 23-17 loss to Minnesota in London on Sunday.
Mercedes-Benz has partnered up with the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) and the provincial government to launch a new “incubator programâ€. One of the first three locations is Windsor, with the other two going to Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo.
New data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) shows that even though claims for auto theft dropped in the first half of 2024 compared to their 2023 peak, the rates of reported theft remain well above those of years prior.
Tesla is recalling more than 27,000 Cybertrucks because the rearview camera image may not activate immediately after shifting into reverse, the fifth recall for the vehicle since it went on sale late last year.
A B.C. couple is getting desperate – and creative – in their search for their missing dog.
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.
Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.
A gargantuan gourd – affectionately named ‘Orangina’ by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home – earned the massive honour of being named B.C.’s heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad has laid out his solutions for the toxic drug crisis in the province, which include cutting wait times for voluntary treatment, a virtual program to connect people with addiction specialists and building "regional recovery communities" that would allow for 12-month live-in treatment.
A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.
The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties will be facing off Tuesday evening for their first and only televised debate ahead of the Oct. 19 election. Here's what viewers can expect.
More than two weeks have passed since Hassan Ali walked out of a Toronto courtroom a free man, after prosecutors decided not to move forward with a first-degree murder trial against the local rapper.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center designated Hurricane Milton as a Category 5 storm again after reaching wind speeds of 165 m.p.h. (270 km/h).
The Ontario Ministry of Health says four people have been sickened after consuming beef tongue believed to be contaminated with listeria.
Calgary police are investigating after several shots were fired by a suspect into a truck in the northeast community of Saddle Ridge.
A Calgary officer's use of force in an August police-involved shooting has been deemed appropriate following an investigation.
Concerned Saddleridge residents will soon gather again at the Savanna Bazaar strip mall, a known trouble spot plagued by social disorder.
On September 11, Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.
OC Transpo officials are satisfied with the start of a critical testing period required before opening Ottawa's new north-south train, despite some technical issues being identified on three trains on Monday.
An Ottawa man who stabbed his estranged wife to death in an attack that also injured his daughter in Ottawa's west end has been found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
An 18-year-old man has died following a collision with an STM bus on Tuesday afternoon in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.
Quebec's chief coroner ordered a public inquest Tuesday into a fatal Old Montreal fire that claimed the lives of two French nationals last week -- the second deadly fire in the historic neighbourhood in less than two years.
Montreal police (SPVM) arrested a 15-year-old in connection with an alleged arson in Saint-Leonard that occurred on the weekend.
A 38-year-old Beaumont resident is dead after a crash involving a motorcycle over the weekend.
Edmonton's transit system is seeing record usage, with six million trips taken in September.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center designated Hurricane Milton as a Category 5 storm again after reaching wind speeds of 165 m.p.h. (270 km/h).
Police in New Brunswick are trying to track down a man they consider “armed and dangerous†after he allegedly crashed a vehicle, waved a weapon at police, and fled in a stolen vehicle.
International award-winning editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder has been cut from the Halifax Chronicle Herald.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center designated Hurricane Milton as a Category 5 storm again after reaching wind speeds of 165 m.p.h. (270 km/h).
There’s a new starting line-up at Canada Life Centre, which hockey fans and concertgoers will notice as soon as they walk in.
Manitoba RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service are launching Manitoba's Most Wanted website.
Many across Canada have had good seats to a dazzling light show in the sky over the past several days.
A 35-year-old Regina man is facing multiple charges after police say he barricaded himself inside a basement suite and set fire to entryways.
The province’s consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.
Regina product and former Pats forward Jordan Eberle has been named captain of the NHL's Seattle Kraken.
Fire crews were called to respond to Mohawk Plaza shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday.
The controversy surrounding Dutchie’s, a grocery company in Waterloo Region, has now hit the ears of lawmakers at Queen’s Park.
The future of a hybrid shelter in Waterloo is up for discussion.
The province’s consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.
A Saskatoon mom is desperately fighting eviction after she discovered mould in her suite and reported it to her landlord.
Those in Saskatchewan gazing at the stars Monday night were treated to a brilliant display of northern lights – as a solar storm continues to bear down on the northern hemisphere.
A crash Tuesday afternoon on Highway 144 has closed the road north of Sudbury.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center designated Hurricane Milton as a Category 5 storm again after reaching wind speeds of 165 m.p.h. (270 km/h).
Police in Huntsville are investigating a deadly single-vehicle collision that happened Tuesday morning.
Speaking in front of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, London Police Services (LPS) Chief Thai Truong gave an update on policing Tuesday.
Drivers and businesses along Wellington Street in London’s downtown area continue to feel the pain as the city works on the downtown loop for the bus rapid transit project (BRT).
The U.S. National Hurricane Center designated Hurricane Milton as a Category 5 storm again after reaching wind speeds of 165 m.p.h. (270 km/h).
A 20-year-old man who was behind the wheel of a speeding car that struck and killed an international student crossing Big Bay Point Road in Barrie last summer and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death will not spend time behind bars.
Police in Huntsville are investigating a deadly single-vehicle collision that happened Tuesday morning.
Police arrested a man accused of setting an animal on fire in Orillia, Ont. last month.
A Toronto couple pleaded guilty to involvement in a $13-million drug investigation that started in Windsor.
A Canadian couple living in the Tampa area had a gut-wrenching decision to make this week: Stay and face a looming hurricane or flee north, hoping their home would still be there when they returned.
Tuesday and Wednesday are Amazon Prime Day and with the holidays quickly approaching, it’s the perfect time for scammers to strike.
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad has laid out his solutions for the toxic drug crisis in the province, which include cutting wait times for voluntary treatment, a virtual program to connect people with addiction specialists and building "regional recovery communities" that would allow for 12-month live-in treatment.
A Vancouver Island man has been charged in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenager near Duncan, B.C., earlier this year.
A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.
Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.
NDP Leader David Eby is promising to offer a $75-million loan forgiveness program to entice doctors, nurses and heath professionals to expand health-care services in rural British Columbia.
Three young suspects have been arrested in connection with a swarming attack on a teenager in B.C.'s Okanagan last week – and authorities have asked the public to stop circulating disturbing videos of the incident.
Charges have been laid against a 44-year-old man following a traffic stop in Brocket, Piikani Nation RCMP said Tuesday.
A metal fabrication company west of Medicine Hat has been fined by Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) following a workplace fatality in 2023.
A Lethbridge police officer involved in a scandal involving former Lethbridge New Democrat MLA Shannon Phillips has been reprimanded.
A woman in Greater Sudbury, Ont., said "It doesn't get more Canadian than this" when she spotted a black bear dumpster diving at a Tim Hortons last month.
The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the latest organization to call on the Doug Ford government to re-open dialogue with an airline service that transports lower-income Canadians to crucial medical care far from home.
For decades, Mississauga First Nation has known that human remains from their land were at the Canadian Museum of History.
A Conservative MP from Newfoundland and Labrador says some small towns in his rural riding are overrun with crime, but police say they haven't received reports to that effect.
As millions in federal funding flow into a Labrador group whose claims of Inuit identity have been rejected by Indigenous organizations across Canada, a national Inuit leader worries the Liberal government is putting the rights of Indigenous Peoples at risk.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
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