VANCOUVER — The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the operators of an apartment complex in Campbell River to build a ramp so a disabled tenant can get into the building more easily.
The tribunal also ordered the landlords, Patricia Vermette and Alan Oakley, and the company Satorotas Enterprises Ltd., to pay the tenant $15,000 for injury to her dignity after they refused to build the ramp.
The complaint was filed by 68-year-old Joyce Stewart, who has severe osteoporosis and a club foot and has lived in the apartment building since 1999.
Stewart has needed a walker to get around since June of 2010.
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal’s ruling says the landlords refused Stewart’s request for a ramp to get up five concrete steps at the entrance of the apartment building.
The landlords refused, arguing they didn’t have to build a ramp because the building isn’t a seniors’ facility and insisting that a ramp would be too expensive.
