Wagmatcook discrimination case to be heard by human rights tribunal

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has recommended a full tribunal hearing for an elder from Wagmatcook First Nation they said is being discriminated against because the band has not accommodated her need for a wheelchair-accessible home.

Annie Oleson, 88, needs a wheelchair about half of the time. She's fallen several times inside her mobile home in the Bras d'or Lake area in Cape Breton. 

The home is overcrowded. Two adult sons and a teenage granddaughter live there full time and three grandchildren part time. Oleson has been trying to get another home for more than a decade. She said she wants "lots of room" where her family can help look after her.

'A new home that accommodates'

Her son Joey Oleson filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission on his mother's behalf. 

"We'd like them [the band] to provide, like they do with the young people, with a new home that accommodates or even like they said, build a small house connected on the side of this," Joey Oleson said. 

The band said it has tried to help.

"They want one of sufficient size so that Mrs. Oleson and her two sons and some grandchildren can live there and it's not feasible in the limited funds that the band has for housing every year," said Gary Richard, Wagmatcook's lawyer.

Richard said the band offered the Olesons an accessible house in 2008 and they turned it down. But Joey Oleson said the family of the woman who previously lived there was claiming it and they didn't want a battle.

"The band spent $100,000 or so to build a house for her that was ramped and, you know, fit her needs and was in the location she wanted and that's the house she's in now," Richard said, referring to the mobile home. 

Finding a solution

Concerning the mobile home, the Human Rights Commission decision stated "the bedroom and bathroom doorways are too narrow to accommodate a wheelchair" and "neither of the home's exits are adequate for her to depart the dwelling quickly … in an emergency.

"The respondent First Nation provided a series of explanations for its denial, which do not appear to reasonably explain its failure to accommodate the complainant's disability," the decision said. 

Richard said the band is having trouble meeting Joey Oleson's desires. He said the band can provide home care to help Annie Oleson in her own place.

Both Oleson and the band said they are willing to sit down with a mediator to see if they can find a solution.