AR-News: (Canada) Victory for guide-dog users

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Victory for guide-dog users
Disabled rights trump religion in precedent-setting case
  
Gordon Kent  
The Edmonton Journal 


Thursday, January 29, 2004
 
Doris Owen relaxes at home with her guide dog Mr. Wolf. A shop owner refused to let her and her husband's guide dog Ansil into his Oliver convenience store on May 20. 
  
CREDIT: John Lucas, The Journal 
 
 
EDMONTON - In a case pitting religious freedom against the rights of the disabled, a Muslim shopkeeper was found guilty Wednesday of refusing entry to a blind woman's guide dog.

Mohammad Rafiq testified his faith prevented him from letting animals into his Oliver convenience store, even after police told him Alberta's Blind Persons' Rights Act requires that guide dogs be given access to public places.

"This store is also my church, because I pray, I eat ... there, and my religion will not allow dogs to come in my store, or any animal."

He insisted he didn't know Doris Owen was visually impaired last May 20 when she tried to go into his shop near 114th Street and 102nd Avenue with her blind husband's guide dog, named Ansil.

Rafiq, who has owned the market since 2001, offered to serve her outside if she wanted to stay with the dog. She left instead.

"I help the blind people," Rafiq said. "I respect the blind people, and we pray and pray what happened to them will not happen to anyone."

It's one of the first known convictions under the 1980 act. Owen, who has the degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, said Rafiq shouted and wouldn't discuss her legal right to bring the dog inside. 

"You got mad and angry and you started yelling, 'Get that dog out of here, get that dog out of here,' " she said under cross-examination by Rafiq, who represented himself. 

"You didn't give me a chance ... (to explain) what a guide dog means to me, and it means a lot."

The maximum fine for the offence is $1,000. Provincial court Judge Al Chrumka imposed a three-month conditional discharge, "bearing in mind the concerns that Mr. Rafiq has, his cultural background."

Rafiq was born in Pakistan and lived in Saudi Arabia for 25 years. If he obeys the order, there won't be a record. The main condition he must fulfil is learning the requirements of the Blind Persons' Rights Act, Chrumka said.

Outside court, Owen was still upset at the way she was treated in the store.

"Do we have to tell him we're blind? It's very embarrassing. I think it's a disgrace to my human rights."

Some Muslims believe the Koran considers dogs unsanitary, and if they touch one they must go through a cleaning ritual before they can pray.

Diane Bergeron, a board member with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, said later she hears every month of people refusing entry to guide dogs in Edmonton.

"Finally someone has taken this seriously and has paid attention. This is a precedent-setting case," said Bergeron, who made a similar complaint against a taxi driver that was dismissed. "I think now other guide-dog users will see there is a way for us to protect our rights -- we don't just have to walk away."

Business operators can follow their religion by keeping part of their space off-limits to the public, she said.

"I don't think anybody's rights should be violated, whether it's religious rights or whether it's guide dogs."

She estimated there are more than 100 people in Alberta with guide dogs, including 30 in the Edmonton area.

Lawyer Norm Assiff, who has handled cases like this in the past, said the Charter of Rights and Freedoms forbids discrimination based on either religion or disability. "The problem comes where my rights end and yours begin," he said. "At the end of the day, this is an unresolved issue ... . I imagine it could go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada."

gkent at thejournal.canwest.com

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RIGHTS REVIEW

- The province hopes to introduce amendments to the Blind Persons' Rights Act during the spring session of the legislature, a spokesman for Alberta Community Development says.

- A review begun in 2001 included input from hundreds of people.

- While the government won't outline the changes it plans to make, there has been discussion of extending protection to all disabled people who use various types of animals.

Ran with fact box "Rights Review", which has been appended to this story.

© Copyright  2004 Edmonton Journal