Bonnie Sherr Klein moved to B.C. after suffering a debilitating stroke in 1987 and finding much of her community in Montreal was not accessible to people with mobility problems.
"I was housebound for at least six months of the year. When they came by with the snowplows, they would pile snow up onto the sidewalks and curbs, making it impossible for me to get by with my scooter. There was also no access to public transit, and I was literally housebound. I was miserable," said Sherr Klein.
She and her husband Michael started looking for another community that would offer the accessibility Sherr Klein said she desperately needed to feel like a valued member of society.
They found that accessibility in Vancouver and moved there in 1993. Later Sherr Klein would fall in love with the Coast and move to Roberts Creek.
"Roberts Creek is wonderfully accessible. They even have a handicapped outhouse at the pier," said Sherr Klein, adding the Coast as a whole is quite accessible with handicapped bus service. But she notes there is room for improvement.
"For example, in Vancouver, they had a special taxi service that was subsidized and could be used by people with wheelchairs or walkers. They don't have that here," said Sherr Klein.
She has also noticed some newer public buildings on the Coast are not entirely accessible.
"I entered the beautiful new Seaside Centre to attend the annual holiday craft fair only to find its second floor is not accessible to people in wheelchairs! Young families with baby carriages, many older citizens and craftspeople with heavy pottery are also handicapped by this building," said Sherr Klein.
The design for the building originally left a very high ceiling above the tourist information centre.
Sechelt Mayor Cam Reid said the Sechelt Downtown Business Association originally created the building and decided to put a second floor in above the tourist information centre to use the space more efficiently.
The District of Sechelt took over the building's operations after it was nearly completed. Reid said he was unsure why there is no access to the second floor other than the staircase.
"That is something I will ask staff to prepare a report on for council," said Reid.
There is a regulation in British Columbia that all new public buildings and newly-renovated public buildings must be accessible to those who are handicapped, but that regulation comes with some exceptions.
"For example, if you are renovating a business and it was not accessible before but it is not physically possible to change that due to space restrictions, that could be an exception," said Peter Rempel, building inspector with the Town of Gibsons.
The building code, handed down to municipalities by the province, has been changing in recent years to ensure more accessibility for all citizens.
The most recent code, adopted in 1998, is stricter about accessibility issues than the past code, introduced in 1992. This building code was one of the determining factors in Sherr Klein moving to B.C. She wants to see the codes adhered to locally.
"I think there is a concept that people like me are the small minority, when in fact we're not, and we're becoming bigger. It's partly a chicken-and-egg thing. We're not visual because we're not out in the public because we can't get out," said Sherr Klein.
In August 2004, Jacqueline Moser won a human rights tribunal decision. She disputed access along the Davis Bay seawall, saying a narrow, sloping section of the seawall was too dangerous for her to navigate with her scooter.
The district was given six months to fix the section of seawall. Reid noted Sechelt is appealing that decision, saying the seawall is safe and accessible as it is.
Sherr Klein hopes local government will pay more attention to accessibility in new developments. She notes, "The whole idea is to enhance independence. We want to do things without having to ask people to help us. We want to feel included and participate in society. It shouldn't be an assumption that everyone can walk."
Sherr Klein's friend Ellen Frank, who is also mobility challenged, is currently creating an accessible tour guide to the Coast called Sticks and Wheels Access that she hopes will encourage all people to explore the Sunshine Coast.
She is currently looking for sponsors to self-publish the resource. She can be contacted by email at [email protected].
