A coherent scheme of Air Accessibility Standards is emerging in Canada which may prove to be useful to other countries, both in development of domestic standards of their own and as the basis for international standards yet to be developed. The Canadian Model has its origin in a regulatory process committed to protecting the public interest and in the non-partisan atmosphere created by the International Year of the Disabled Person. It has since been supported by amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the inclusion of equity protection for the handicapped under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both of which are scheduled to come in force April 17, 1985. All of these trends suggest that accessibility will be a right rather than a matter of charity and that the obligation to accommodate the handicapped will be borne by the airlines, as a cost of doing business, rather than by government as a social service.
Abstract