Statement from Chief Accessibility Officer Stephanie Cadieux on progress since the National Air Accessibility Summit

August 20, 2024 – Ottawa (Ontario)

August 20 is National Accessible Air Travel Day in the United States. The day was initiated by All Wheels Up (AWU), an organization set up in 2011 to increase awareness for safer and more dignified accessible air travel through research and advocacy. AWU created this annual day in 2022, to raise awareness about the need to improve accessible air travel for people with disabilities and to recognize achievements being made. To mark the day, Canada’s Chief Accessibility Officer, Stephanie Cadieux, is providing an update on progress made since Canada’s first-ever National Air Accessibility Summit. The following statement summarizes her update: 

“In recognition that air travel accessibility is an issue worldwide, I thought it a good day to provide an update on the efforts underway since the National Air Accessibility Summit held in Ottawa on May 9, 2024. Holding this summit was a commitment that the federal government made last year, after meeting the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) to discuss how to make sure that when persons with disabilities travel by air they are always treated with respect and dignity.

It’s been about 10 months since the night my wheelchair was left behind when I flew home from Toronto. People with disabilities know too well that my incident was far from unique. Many serious incidents have captured the public’s attention over the last couple of years and been reported on by media.

These incidents have fixed a bright spotlight on how much the air travel sector needs to change. The recommendations that came out of the May summit are a starting point.  In the months since, I have continued to meet with organizations involved in the sector to keep the issue top of mind. I’m pleased to report that there has been progress.

The commitments made at the summit were: 

• the industry must develop a simplified approach for accommodation requests and accessibility (not medical) documentation that can be shared between airlines,
• the sector must proactively collect data about the experiences of their passengers with disabilities and make it public, and
• the federal government will take a leadership role with international partners to promote better passenger experiences for persons with disabilities, including championing international global standards and harmonizing regulations. 

Follow up conversations with the NACC, various airlines and government make me confident the work on these three items has been actioned quickly and is progressing.

At the summit, I also recommended the following:

• we need to see timelines attached to these promised actions, therefore, to provide accountability I am recommending the Deputy Minister of Transport Canada convene an air passenger continuum working group to move these and other items forward
• key federal departments, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) and airlines all need to undertake information campaigns that clearly define (in plain language) the rights and responsibilities of airlines and passengers, and
• government/regulators need to help jump start work to ensure development and implementation of accessibility features and infrastructure on airplanes. 

Conversations with the Deputy Minister have assured me that work is underway on these items, as a working group has been established and a workplan drafted.  I now encourage government to make the details of that work and the timelines public as soon as possible, including when they’ll share progress and how their efforts will be directly informed by the lived experiences of people with disabilities.  The timeframes will need to consider shorter and longer term actions, but need to send a clear signal to industry of government’s expectations.

• airlines should move to inform passengers at time of booking, of issues related to the size and stowage of mobility devices and of equipment availability for boarding and deplaning at destination. 

Airlines and the CTA are testing new procedures and putting efforts into a variety of areas including changes to how and where they stow wheelchairs, how they tag mobility devices, and improvements to their apps and websites amongst others.

This is good, and I will continue to encourage them to be very transparent with the public about these efforts (including the stumbling blocks), so that we can all see the progress being made.  As laid out by the Accessible Canada Act, consultation with people with disabilities must remain constant and transparent throughout – it simply has to be part of the way the sector does business.

Overall, I am pleased that work is now, and more publicly than ever, being done, but there is much more to do, and change will not come fast enough. While the summit commitments focused on the airlines, I am pleased by the engagement and efforts underway as well within airports, and with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA).

• I also recommended airlines join the newly launched Canadian Business Disability Inclusion Network, created by the Disability Inclusion Business Council, to learn from other private sector businesses that are further ahead with accessible service delivery.  

As the network develops, I will continue to advocate that the airlines actively participate.

Accessibility is complex. Ultimately, the key to remember, as simple as it is, from the passenger perspective: we purchase a ticket from an airline and we are paying customers, just like everyone else. We deserve to get good and dignified service and to get it every single time.

Quick facts

• The role of Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO) was created by the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which came into force in 2019 
• As an independent adviser to the Minister, the CAO provides advice on wide-ranging accessibility issues, monitors and report on progress made under the ACA, and will provide annual reports detailing outcomes achieved under the ACA, as well as systemic and emerging accessibility issues.
• The Office of the CAO serves as a trusted source of information on accessibility, and supports the CAO in promoting a positive and productive dialogue between the federal government, disability stakeholders, national and international organizations.

Related products

• Statement from Chief Accessibility Officer Stephanie Cadieux on first-ever National Air Accessibility Summit

Associated links

• All Wheels Up 
• Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations
• Accessible Canada Act Summary