Maria Kovacs, one of AEBC’s long-time members, filed a BC Human Rights case against the City of Maple Ridge back in 2018. She claimed that as a blind person who uses a guide dog, she was not able to safely navigate her Maple Ridge neighbourhood due to intersection changes that included traffic circles and bike lanes that did not take the visually impaired into account.
The final hearing was held in January of this year and on October 13, the Tribunal ruled the city should pay Kovacs $35,000 for “injury to her dignity,” and make changes at one intersection. This is a partial win for Maria which she is happy about. It also likely sets a precedent for the city. Apparently, while the case worked its way through the BC Human Rights Tribunal, the city continued to make modifications to the areas noted in the original complaint and to proactively apply lessons learned in other areas of the city.
Read the full article in the link here: https://tinyurl.com/mtmhzkxb
Read an article from January of 2023 here: https://tinyurl.com/yh84bmab
Maria anticipates an upcoming interview with the CBC and we will update this blog article when that happens.