The strata council for Eagle Point Bayview is now ordered by the BC Human Rights Tribunal to pay $35,000 to a resident. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

human rights tribunal

Nanaimo senior wins fight against strata for physical disability discrimination

Sep 17, 2020 | 11:19 AM

NANAIMO — An elderly Nanaimo woman essentially trapped in her apartment due to accessibility issues has triumphed over her strata council.

A ruling from the BC Human Rights Tribunal last week awarded Ada Jacobsen $35,000 from her strata at Eagle Point Vayview on Blueback Rd. for injury to dignity. The strata is also ordered by the tribunal to rectify the three major accessibility concerns Jacobsen brought to the Tribunal.

“No one should have to spend their golden years fighting with their strata to get their accommodation requests addressed,” Tribunal member Grace Chen ruled.

“The Strata did not take her requests seriously until she filed her human rights complaint.”

The complaint was filed in 2017, three years after Jacobsen first raised concerns about accessibility in the hallway to her second floor apartment.

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Three major concerns were raised in the complaint, with several smaller issues withdrawn since they were eventually fixed.

At issue were the three steps in the hallway, which she has to navigate in her wheelchair, a steep ramp from the front door to the parking lot and an equally steep ramp to the community centre which she can’t navigate for fear of going too fast and losing control.

In a late July hearing, Jacobsen testified discussions about building a small portable ramp over the three hallway steps went nowhere and she didn’t receive a response on the issue for one year.

The Rick Hanson Foundation, which promotes accessibility and provides funding for accessible options and another consultant were eventually called upon after the Tribunal complaint was filed.

They determined a ramp in the space wouldn’t be appropriate given the design on the building.

“It is not enough for the Strata to stop searching for solutions after it determines the first option is not feasible,” Chen wrote in her decision. “It has an obligation to take all reasonable and practical steps to remove and avoid the negative on Ms. Jacobsen.”

Chen found the Strata did not fully explore options to fix the two ramps Jacobsen had issues with, especially the ramp to the community centre which was built in 2018 after the complaint was filed.

“Accommodation is an ongoing process,” Chen wrote, saying while the path was appreciated it didn’t meet the standard of strata doing all it could since Jacobsen still had issues with the steepness of the ramp.

“The Strata has not demonstrated that it took a lead role to investigate solutions as it is required to do. Rather, it appears to have made no serious attempts to address concerns until Ms. Jacobsen filed her human rights complaint.”

Chen also found the allegation a strata member called Jacobsen a “loser” which would cost them money was in line with the prior behavior of the strata council.

To rectify the issue, Chen ordered the Eagle Point Bayview strata install an elevator or lift in the hallway for Jacobsen, reasonably accomodate her with alternative options to the front ramp and remediate the steep pathway to the community centre.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt