Taking a cab is a simple experience when visiting Calgary from her home in Ottawa—but not for Kim Kilpatrick and her service dog Ginger.
Kilpatrick said that the taxi driver did not want Ginger to get into his vehicle.
“She’s a yellow Labrador. She’s three and a half. And she’s my fifth guide dog,” Kilpatrick told Global News. “She’s a great little dog. He is a very serious, conscientious worker.
Kilpatrick and Ginger performing in Calgary Rising Stanley / Life With Tulia, a show about guide dogs, at the Lunchbox Theatre. He is a blind storyteller and disability rights activist.
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After a performance on Sunday, Kilpatrick ordered a ride from Calgary United Cabs through an app — something he’s done before without any problems while visiting the city.
Stepping outside Calgary Tower, a sighted co-worker noticed that the cab was waiting across the street, so Ginger guided Kilpatrick and her colleague followed.
“As we got closer, (the driver) said, ‘There’s no dog in the car,'” Kilpatrick recalled. “And we both said, ‘That’s illegal. You need to take the dog. It’s a guide dog. It’s a service dog.’
“He said, ‘You can put the dog in the trunk.’ We said, ‘No, not at all.’
“Then he said, ‘I don’t want dog hair in my car.'”
She canceled the cab – a cancellation later shown as “unable to find Kilpatrick” – and got another taxi. But she faced more pushback from the dispatcher.
“The dispatcher told me I had to book a pet-friendly cab and that not all drivers like dogs in their cars,” Kilpatrick said.
“And I told him that’s illegal too. That’s fine.”
Kilpatrick then filed a complaint with the city-regulated cab industry by calling 311.
Promulgated into law in 2009, Alberta’s Service Dogs Act ensures the rights of people with disabilities to be accompanied by qualified service dogs permitted to enter any space where the general public is permitted. There are similar municipal and federal laws ensuring those rights.
Calgary United Cabs said Kilpatrick’s experience with their driver was “completely unfortunate” and that the company has a zero-tolerance policy for these types of incidents.
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“The company suspended the driver immediately after receiving credible information and (the City of Calgary’s Vehicle Rental Office) fined him $700,” a Calgary United Cabs spokesperson said in a statement.
“Although the livery allowed him to drive, the company extended the suspension for an additional 12 hours and instructed him to redo the required training at the office.”
The cab company said it has sent a message to its entire fleet that refusing service dogs rides will result in dismissal.
“We would like to meet with Ms Kilpatrick directly and offer our management our support and an apology.”
The city’s vehicle for hire office said there is “no excuse” for refusing a guide dog.
A city spokesperson said, “By not providing service, you are not complying with the Service Dog Act and you are potentially putting both the person and the service dog at risk, and no one wants to see that.”
City bylaws say that any business that doesn’t allow a service dog can face a $1,000 fine, and cabs can be fined $700.
“We encourage anyone who experiences a denial of service to contact 311.”
Kilpatrick said that Ginger gives him the freedom to move around the world safely, and that she is a partner in his life.
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Sandra Cramer with Guide Dogs of BC and Alberta has seen how service dogs help enable independence.
“A lot of times these people aren’t going to be able to navigate without that dog. So if they’re denied access anywhere, it makes the whole process even more difficult,” Cramer told Global News.
Kilpatrick, a former para-swimmer and currently blind rights advocate, put a little humor about the incident.
“It’s a little ironic that we’re doing a show about guide dogs and this happened, but I’m glad the city took it seriously.”
This is not the first time such an incident has happened in Alberta recently.
In late December, a woman who uses a wheelchair and a service dog was left stranded outside Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton when the taxi company she booked never showed up.
Another woman told Global News She is filing a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission against a different taxi company, saying that its drivers denied her and her service dog several rides in Leduc, Alta. Even in December.
– With files from Phil Heidenreich, Global News
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