Former Vancouver City Councillor Sam Sullivan is over 6 feet tall on a short day. I, Tim Louis, also a former Vancouver City Councillor, am barely 5 feet tall on a tall day. Sam weighs 180 lbs dry. I am lucky to weigh in at 90 lbs soaking wet. He is clean shaven. I have…
Category: accessibility
Just the other day
I do not normally talk about my disability but today I’m going to make an exception. When asked “What is your disability?” I always tell the truth – on September 10th 1984 I was called to the bar. I am a lawyer! What prompted my full disclosure now? I recently had a telephone conversation with…
More cracks in the NPA Titanic
If previous revelations of infiltration by the alt-right into the NPA board of directors weren’t enough to sink the ship, this week two more icebergs closed in on it — one small, the other larger and much more destructive. COVID-19 has been a public health crisis for over a year. Now, unfortunately, things are taking…
Help stop The Ice Pick for good. It insults us all!
The Toronto-based developers like to describe it in terms of origami for its so-called “folded planes”. But just about everybody I know calls it The Ice Pick for its cold indifference to its surroundings, and how it stabs at the heart of our city’s most iconic district. We all thought the dreaded Ice Pick project…
Hats off to TransLink’s best CEO ever — Kevin Desmond
Recently, TransLink announced the departure of its CEO, Kevin Desmond, as he’s returning to the U.S. where his wife and family live. I’ll be very sorry to see him leave. Let me explain why. I’ve had interactions with TransLink and its predecessor, the Urban Transit Authority, for more than 40 years. Back in the late…
Old habits vs. new ways
A while ago, I blogged about some of the silver linings in this terrible COVID-19 pandemic. One of the plusses I haven’t mentioned is the increased use of video communications, like Zoom or Jitsi Meet, for conferencing, webinars and more. In my law practice, we’re now doing all examinations for discovery by Zoom. A discovery…
Hospital patients with severe disabilities must be allowed their caregivers — despite COVID-19
With the onset of COVID-19, hospitals throughout BC have instituted a new policy. Patients cannot have visitors, except in rare circumstances. However, the new provincial health policy also supposedly allows for essential visitors — such as vital caregivers for patients with severe disabilities. Prior to this new policy, patients with severe disabilities were clear: They…