Muslim cabbies refuse blind woman with seeing euye dog (again)

The Muslim cabbies in Canada are now refusing to carry blind people with seeing eye dogs. The saddest part of this story is that the Canadian authorities are refusing to enforce the laws against such discrimination.
FROM FORTMCMURRAYTODAY.COM:
Refused: Airport cabbies wouldn’t take blind woman with guide dog, despite laws on her side
By CHUCK CHIANG
Today staff
Tuesday December 04, 2007
Diane Bergeron’s plane arrived in Fort McMurray just before midnight Sunday evening, five hours late. She was tired, and she had to speak at a workshop at 9 a.m. Monday.
But when Bergeron tried to hail a cab to take her to a hotel, she hit a snag.
“There was a whole line of ten, 15 taxis waiting outside (the airport terminal),” she said. “And not one would take me because of my dog.”
A bystander at the airport eventually took her to town.
Bergeron is the co-ordinator with the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, a provincial committee representing Alberta’s disabled community. She is also blind and is normally accompanied by Max, her guide dog.
Despite provincial and municipal laws aimed at protecting their rights, blind Albertans who require guide dogs continue to face difficulty getting cabs and other services, some officials said. “It happens frequently, everywhere,” said Ellie Shuster, an Edmonton-based spokeswoman with CNIB, a national non-profit agency providing services to Canadians who are blind.
Shuster said current provincial laws include the Blind Persons’ Rights Act, which prohibits any services from denying a person access because he or she is accompanied by a guide dog.
In addition, a similar bylaw exists in Wood Buffalo’s own municipal codes, stating clearly that no owner or driver of a cab is allowed to refuse service to a blind person with a dog.
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