Saw this on the news and felt it belonged here. The whole “it’s dangerous for the cats” is bull. It’s more dangerous for them if you force someone who uses a wheelchair to not use their mobility aid… which I’m 99% sure is illegal. Spread this and drive this cafe out out of business. The ableism is just… like part of me hopes the owner needs a wheelchair one day and encounters someone like her. Only way she will ever develop a shred of human decency. Ontario people if you can harass the city into acting to… well grant her wish eh? She said she would rather shut down than allow wheelchairs so let’s speed that process. I don’t know Ontario law well enough to say for sure this is illegal and she’s throwing out bullshit about getting permission to ban wheelchairs from… people who don’t have any say over that? City police don’t enforce that so claiming police of all people said it was ok? Seems she’s a terrible liar trying to cover the fact she doesn’t want to be around disabled people. I would also encourage anyone in Ontario to boycott this place and encourage others to do so as well til she changed her tune or goes out of business… kinda like a store here who when we asked where the accessible entrance was said “why don’t you just come in?” “Uh because wheelchairs aren’t great for stairs?” “Oh in that case no” “you know it has to be accessible by the end of the year right? If it isn’t you won’t be able to have a business licence” “really? Well I’ll go out of business before I make this place accessible” so good riddance.
Yeah; this is 100% in contravention of the Ontario Human Rights Code, which protect individuals from discrimination or denial of services based on disability. The individual in question is under 18, so his guardian can and should pursue legal action on his behalf at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. I hope they’ve filed an application. Seems like they have an excellent case; the cats’ safety is a) a bullshit excuse, and b) in no way even approaches being covered under the Criminal Code (which requires deliberate injury to an animal for animal cruelty to be charged). I don’t know of any other relevant legislation under which the cafe owner could make this claim.
Thank you for confirming and linking the exact sections of the law that are relevant to it.
Teenage boy denied entry to Toronto cat café because of his wheelchair | Globalnews.ca
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