Paralympian Brock Richardson landed in Fredericton already knowing that a piece of equipment he requested before the trip would not be there to help move him from his seat to his wheelchair.
But he didn’t expect an Air Canada staff member would also attempt to separate him from the person responsible for his care.
Richardson, who has cerebral palsy, was told that his support person would have to get off the plane before employees would lift him onto a narrow wheelchair that would take him down the aisle of the plane.
It’s a request that Richardson said “unsettled” him.
“I’ve never been asked for my attendant to leave the aircraft,” Richardson told the Air Canada employee. “Never. And I’m not comfortable with that at all.”
Months after Air Canada committed to immediate action to improve the experience of customers with disabilities, a Marketplace team went undercover with Richardson in May to see whether the airline had followed through on its promises from Nov. 9, 2023.
The pledges came after a series of unsafe and demeaning incidents involving customers who use wheelchairs and a Marketplace investigation that uncovered serious issues with staff training, among other shortfallings.
Air Canada said it would invest in equipment — like the lift Richardson requested, board customers who require staff assistance to get to their seat before anyone else and to seat them at the front of the cabin they book. And it also promised enhanced training for employees.
But Marketplace‘s hidden cameras documented the airline falling short of multiple announced improvements during a round-trip flight from Toronto to Fredericton it paid for Richardson to take for the investigation.
Air Canada stalls on boarding, seating
For passengers like Richardson, air travel can be accompanied by considerable risk and discomfort. Passengers who use wheelchairs have been injured during transfers to and from their seats and Marketplace heard from several people who said their wheelchairs were damaged. .
Once Richardson is in his plane seat, he can’t get to the bathroom so he has to manage how much he eats and drinks when he’s travelling.
Not all airports have a lift used to transfer a passenger with disabilities between their wheelchair and plane seat. And that can mean someone has to rely on staff to physically pick them up and place them on a narrower wheelchair and then again to get onto their seat. It can be uncomfortable, Brock Richardson says.
“I enjoy just the atmosphere of travelling in general,” he said, noting it’s something he did often as a boccia player. “I just enjoy being [in] different places.”
It’s getting there that can be the difficulty, he said.
Last year, Air Canada committed to “consistently” boarding customers who need help transferring from a wheelchair to a seat “before all other…
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