SETTLEMENT DATE – MAY 2017
The complainant is the mother of a 5-year-old child, severely disabled, who acts on behalf of her son. The latter is in a motorized wheelchair and lives with cerebral palsy, which in his case causes him strong uncontrollable spasms in the upper limbs.
On July 20, 2013, the little family (mom, dad and two boys, 5 and 7 years old) get ready to go under the Jacques-Cartier Bridge to see the fireworks. They decide to have supper on a terrace in the Gay Village. Their choice ends at an Asian restaurant on rue Sainte-Catherine Est, the Wok & Soup.
The restaurant has a relatively large counter-terrace on the street, but not accessible to people in wheelchairs. However, the big brother insists on going there, so Dad will help the boy in the chair to get on the terrace, the tables and chairs are already installed.
A waiter comes running, making big signs to signify that the little family cannot sit there. The angry mother asks the waiter why they can’t, especially since at this time there are only a few clients. As the waiter does not speak French, he goes to get his boss, the owner of the restaurant who comes to explain to the parents that they would be much better inside.
The mother is angry, but as time flies, as her eldest son insists on staying, they head towards the interior of the restaurant, accessible to him and will sit at a table on the edge of the open window that overlooks the street.
There, it is a lady who comes to tell them that they cannot sit there (???) and that they would be much more comfortable there, by pointing out to them a table, hidden at the very bottom of the restaurant, below a staircase, “where no one will see them,” mumbles the mother. But, so as not to displease her elder son, as her younger brother does not seem to take offense, they stay, but she swears that the next day, she will contact the media.
This is indeed what it does. On Monday morning, she will be the guest on a morning radio show where the RAPLIQ is also invited to give her point of view. Little by little, she will address us and we will bring her complaint to the CDPDJ.
A long process will follow, where mediation will be refused and the file will go to the Human Rights Tribunal (TDP) and judgment will be rendered in May 2017
As in the meantime, the news spread and that this discriminatory refusal on the part of the owner and his employees shocked the community of the Village and beyond, the ridership rate of the Wok & Soup fell by 70%, which which led him to bankruptcy.
Moral and punitive damages were, however, awarded to the victim and his parents.
The restaurant is now reopened under the same name, but by new owners.