16 Jun The unbearable whiteness of the Waterfront Development Corp.

Gus Reed, the eagle-eyed wheelchair rights advocate, has trained his gaze on the Waterfront Development Corporation, and turned up facts so startling, he was moved to write commission chair Dale Godsoe. As usual, Gus is as entertaining as he is perspicacious.

Dear Ms. Godsoe,

I am Gus Reed, one of the people on a tear about the Stubborn Goat, your contractor, and the unequal protection afforded people with disabilities by the public health authorities. I realize there is confusion in government about jurisdiction and the building code, but that doesn’t excuse the haphazard approach or the jury-rigged result.

From your website, I learn your mission:

Well-designed cities or towns are attractive, safe, inclusive, and invigorating. They are places that attract people to live, create diversity, and spur entrepreneurial activity. They become magnets for growth in our population and our economy. Waterfront Development strives to create the optimal mix of private sector businesses, public infrastructure, and community partners to flourish.

Does Waterfront Development meet those lofty goals?

I learn by visual inspection (I take responsibility if I have guessed wrong) that the board of directors is eight people of white, western European descent (a majority women – good!). The management team of three is white, western European (2 women!). 13 staff members are white, Western European (4 women). A total of 24, 11 women. So where’s the native Nova Scotian, whose land it was first? The African Nova Scotian, whose family was evicted from the waterfront? The new Nova Scotians who are changing our city so dramatically? Someone from the large community of disabled Nova Scotians?

From your website and a field trip, I also learn that your office is in a second story walk up. Is it a surprise that no wheelchair users work for you? That no one on your staff has any notion about disabilities? I suspect that any wheelchair-using job applicant would easily win a Human Rights claim of discrimination. This is inexcusable in 2016. A corporation owned by taxpayers that discriminates against some of the people who pay the bills, including generous compensation? A wheelchair user can’t even visit? Outrageous.

On the subject of tourism, I wonder if you have a useful grasp of your customer base. Well-heeled and aging tourists don’t expect porta-potties. Shipsful of norovirused visitors need to wash their hands, for their sakes and ours. Americans, on ADA-compliant* cruises set high standards. Finding a washroom should be effortless. The answer has to be “Over there, to the left of the bar” not “See that building across the way? Well, it’s around back. Let me get the key.” You’ve done a good job on some things, but a simple thing that turns complicated colors a whole experience.

To illustrate how it works, here’s a perfectly reasonable comment from TripAdvisor about Le Coq (not on the waterfront, but a useful lesson):

Wheelchair users, those with vision or hearing problems, indeed anyone with modest mobility issues, should avoid this restaurant. The restaurant is dark, and has different levels separated by short flights of stairs. The layout is very hard to negotiate. And the restrooms are down a set of stairs in the basement. In this day and age this is totally unacceptable.

Finally, I remind you that most of your $8 million revenue comes from taxpayers. Not some taxpayers; all taxpayers. Those of us who consider paying taxes a privilege want good value.

At the moment, we’re not getting it. You can do better.

Canadians with disabilities face discrimination, isolation, poverty and neglect. This won’t end until organizations like yours are held accountable. I’d like to learn how you intend to remedy this problem. If you would like to meet in person, I would be happy to do so.

Gus Reed

This illustrates the crucial value of diversity to an organization like the WDC. Many people were shocked that the commission would permit construction of a new business on its premises without an accessible washroom. But when you look at the white bread uniformity of the commission’s able-bodied board of directors, management, and staff, the shock fades. Had there been even one wheelchair user among them, this blunder would have been much less likely.

What else is the WDC missing because no Mi’kmaq or African Nova Scotian graces the commission’s personnel?

Note: The WDC has responded to Gus’s letter, and to Contrarian’s report on the failure to provide an accessible washroom at the Stubborn Goat Waterfront Gastropub. I’ll include those responses in a future post.

[Spoiler: There’s a temporary, unequal fix in the works at the gastropub, but no change in the WDC’s refusal to abide by the Nova Scotia Building Code, and no end to the Minister of Environment’s continuing discrimination against people with disabilities.]

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* ADA = American’s with Disabilities Act