ABSTRACT
In Canada, debates no longer rage about whether disabled people have a right to travel. Clear guidance has been provided, resolving this issue affirmatively. It is at the municipal level that a fundamental debate is raging. To date, predominant service delivery model has been “paratransit”. This policy is based upon the undisputed premise that an accessible fixed route system will not meet the needs of all disabled persons. Transportation planners have attempted to reconcile the principles of equality rights and public finance. They characterize the fundamental issue as choosing between an accessible conventional system and paratransit. By 1985, when the equality clause in Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into effect, human rights legislation was being used to remove the barriers which deprived members of enumerated groups, such as the disabled, from experiencing equality of opportunity. Equality theory took a quantum leap forward when Supreme Court of Canada recognized that factors which adversely impact upon disabled people are inherently discriminatory.
