A Nanaimo traveller who wasn't allowed to skip the ferry lineup because he hadn't received BC Ferries' approval for medically assured loading had his human rights case dismissed, but he may still receive a settlement.
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal recently released a decision from July 17, when it dismissed a complaint from Roger Chin.
The complaint was made after a 2019 incident when the traveller, who has had a brain injury, sought to board a ferry despite a two-sailing wait from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay. He had a doctor's note from 2016, but did not have a letter indicating approval under BC Ferries' medical-assured loading program. He subsequently applied for the program and was denied, according to the rights tribunal.
In 2020, the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General ordered BC Ferries to assure loading to any person travelling to or from a medical treatment who had a doctor's note and a completed travel assistance plan form. The order was adopted as BC Ferries policy in 2023.
"This effectively expanded medically assured loading to those people, like Mr. Chin, who were travelling for medical reasons and who could not endure an extended wait at the ferry terminal, for health reasons," the tribunal noted.
BC Ferries previously requested that the complaint be thrown out, but the tribunal decided last year that although "the new policy framework appeared to address the systemic concerns" raised by the complainant, it did not address the "personal remedy" of $20,000 that the complainant was seeking.
BC Ferries has now offered to settle the traveller's complaint with a payment of $15,000, which it says is a reasonable offer and combined with the systemic changes it has implemented, "fully resolves" the issues raised in the complaint.
Devyn Cousineau, vice-chairperson of the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, concluded in the decision that there is no further purpose to be served by the time and expense of a hearing.
"I acknowledge Mr. Chin’s efforts to advocate on behalf of people with disabilities for an inclusive, equitable ferry service in B.C. I am dismissing his complaint because he has effectively achieved what he set out to do. I remind him that BC Ferries’ offer remains open for him to accept."
