Quadriplegic wins discrimination settlement
Human rights tribunal fines owner, waiter $6,000 for infringing Larochelle’s rights
As a quadriplegic for over 30 years, Michel Larochelle is often reminded of his limitations in public places.
But perhaps the harshest reminder was in August 2009 while dining out at a Prince Arthur St. terrace, when a waiter refused to serve him because he had his service dog with him on the property.
“It reminded me of the backward mentality people used to have,” Larochelle said.
“Thirty years ago, people in wheelchairs were forced to sit by the bathrooms in public places to make space for everyone else.”
On July 3, Larochelle’s feelings were vindicated when the restaurant owner and the waiter were fined a total of $6,000 by the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal.
Larochelle, who was with a friend at La Caverne Grecque, said that they were seated on the restaurant terrace and were told that they’d be served only if they moved to the edge of the terrace and kept the dog tied on the sidewalk.
“When the disabled go to public places it’s important that they’re not treated like they’re trouble or a burden,” said Larochelle. “Staff should be able to simply push a chair away or move a table for them.”
The service dog, Cici, is a MIRA foundation Labrador retriever trained to assist Larochelle with mobility by moving his manual wheelchair on hills and ramps for him. He has been using service dogs for 20 years – his hands are completely paralyzed and his arms are partially functional. Larochelle, who’s in his 50s, lost function of his limbs after a diving accident as a teenager.
According to Larochelle, he presented his MIRA card to the waiter to show that Cici was a fully trained dog but the waiter refused to take a look at it, insisting that the dog needed to be kept off the restaurant premises. Larochelle also explained to the staff that the dog could not be left on its own because it could become unsettled by other dogs or by a passerby petting him but he was still not served.
“After some arguing, you start to mistrust the waiters and don’t really want to eat at the place anymore,” said Larochelle.
Larochelle threatened to file a complaint with the human rights commission and left the restaurant, and said that he was served with no problems at a location across the street.
The Quebec Human Rights Tribunal ordered $1,000 in punitive damages against the waiter and $5,000 in moral damages against the waiter and the restaurant.
In its ruling, the tribunal explained that “He (Larochelle) clearly was made to feel like he wasn’t like the other customers and that he was not welcome in the establishment.” The tribunal also concluded that the waiter’s responses to Larochelle were considered discriminatory according to sections 10 and 15 of the Charter.
Bill Kourelis, the manager of La Caverne Grecque, who was not present at the time of the disagreement, said that many of his regular customers use wheelchairs and are always accommodated at his restaurant.
Kourelis explained in an interview that the disagreement was caused because Larochelle did not change seats and was blocking a lot of space in the middle of the patio, and not because of the dog or the disability.
“We’ve run this business for 34 years, we’re always willing to bend over backwards for our customers,” he said.
The waiter who had refused to serve Larochelle recently left his job at the restaurant and didn’t attend the hearing.
Shortly after the incident, Larochelle filed the complaint to the Quebec human rights commission. “It’s really not fair that we have to pay this fine,” said Kourelis. The owner and the waiter have until Aug. 3 to appeal the decision.
“Service dogs are a universal right,” says Noel Champagne, the director of research and development at MIRA. “It’s the same as refusing to serve someone because of his wheelchair.”
Champagne explained that MIRA deals with legal cases similar to Larochelle’s between 15 and 20 times a year. In 2008, the organization was involved in a lawsuit against a school that refused to let Mélissa Bilodeau, a 15-yearold student with Morquio syndrome, take her service dog to class. The school, École Secondaire Marie-Clarac, was concerned about other students’ allergic reactions to the dog. The Quebec Superior Court ruled in the girl’s favour, ordering the school to allow the dog to accompany the girl to classes.
“It’s actually an infringement of the charter,” explained Champagne, “according to the equality rights in the Charter, a person cannot be discriminated against based on the means of assistance used for his or her disability.”
In the 2011-2012 fiscal year, 353 complaints of discrimination over disability were filed to the commission.