My legal rights
Under Nova Scotia laws, people with disabilities have important legal rights when it comes to transportation. Whether travel is for work, medical appointments or to enjoy activities with friends and family, everyone in Nova Scotia has the following rights:
- The right to have an equal level of access as anyone else to public transportation services, without discrimination because of a disability.
- The right to receive accommodations for a disability from a public transportation provider up to the point of undue hardship.
- You cannot be denied services or denied access to spaces that are normally available to the public because you are accompanied by a guide dog.
Duty to Accommodate & Undue Hardship
Physical disabilities, including blindness, are protected under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Consequently, transportation providers have a legal duty to accommodate individuals with needs related to their disability. In other words, transportation providers must provide you with the support you need to receive an equal level of access to the transportation service as anyone else. Accommodations come in many forms and may include changes to rules, policies, or practices to accommodate people with disabilities so that they can access the service.
The duty to accommodate, however, has a limit. This limit is called undue hardship. This means that if a certain type of accommodation proves to be extremely difficult for the transportation provider to provide, they may not have to provide it.
There is no set formula for determining what constitutes undue hardship, and it is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Factors that are considered when determining whether the accommodation would result in an undue hardship include:
- Employee and customer safety;
- Financial cost;
- Disruption of services to the public; and
- Size of the employer’s operation.
In many cases, a person with sight loss may be accommodated easily, for example, by announcing upcoming stops or assisting an individual with locating a seat.
Where do my legal rights come from?
Your legal rights relating to transportation in Nova Scotia come from a variety of different laws, including:
- The Nova Scotia Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in most areas of public life, including transportation services.
- The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on disability in most areas of public life where the federal government has authority.
- The Canada Transportation Act and its Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations, governs federally regulated transportation providers and outline some accommodations that people are entitled to when accessing a federally regulated form of transportation.
The Accessibility Act requires the prevention and removal of barriers that people with disabilities may experience while using public transportation and transportation infrastructure, among other factors. - The Blind Persons’ Rights Act authorizes police to lay charges in circumstances where people are denied access to services or facilities because they are accompanied by a guide dog. The Service Dog Act also protects against discrimination based on the use of a service dog.