He was our final live, in-studio interview in February of 2020, right before the whole world changed with this pandemic. We had him on to discuss the guide dog discrimination he’d experienced at a gas station in western Canada while on a road trip to celebrate becoming qualified as a lawyer.

Ben Fulton is back with us on Outlook, at the start of 2022, to discuss the human rights case he’s bringing to the Ontario Human Rights Commission on the grounds that he was discriminated against, while looking for student shared accommodations, after showing up to meet landlords. Once they saw his white cane or learned he is blind, suddenly their rooms were no longer available or they were worried it would be a liability to rent the room to a blind person outright. We, as blind people, are constantly having to prove we are not liabilities, that we don’t all constantly fall down stairs.

There is currently a housing affordability crisis in Canada and minorities, students, they are the most vulnerable in such situations. This stuff happens far too often and though Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects minority groups such as those with disabilities, some landlords have found a loophole when it comes to shared housing accommodations where a kitchen and other facilities are being shared.

Ben is working with the Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) to put out a call to action, to collect the stories from anyone who has been discriminated against, from any marginalized group whether that’s disabilities like blindness or race, religion, gender, etc.

Fulton is a lawyer who specializes in human rights (a key part of what we advocate for on this podcast). He works with clients, in criminal and civil cases, to deal with minor offences which have baring on both jobs and travel. He works on alternative justice instead of the out-of-date punitive model and, with his own situation, he’s fighting for legislation change for greater access for all.

So tune in to hear his story, to learn from a qualified legal expert what the law actually says, and to find out how you might be able to help him create a more accessible and fair world from here on out.

This episode originally aired on January 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and King famously said: “ Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere . We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

If you feel you’ve been discriminated against when looking for accommodations, please help out Ben’s case by sharing your experience through the CFB website:

https://www.cfb.ca/discrimination-in-shared-housing

To find out more about him and the legal services he offers to clients, check out his website:

https://benlaw.ca

To watch his presentation on this topic at CFB’s 2021 convention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny0EYPLXxEQ

And to hear Ben’s first appearance on Outlook from 2020:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2020-02-17-interview-with-ben-fulton-on-guide/id1527876739?i=1000488226657