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Hidden cameras capture passenger who uses wheelchair struck by lift on Air Canada flight
Featured VideoMarketplace is releasing an exclusive preview of its hidden camera investigation which documented a rarely seen first-hand account of the challenges faced by those flying with a disability.
A Toronto woman who uses a power wheelchair had her ventilator disconnected and a lift fall on her head, all on a single journey, as Air Canada staff struggled to transfer her between the aircraft and her wheelchair, a new Marketplace hidden-camera investigation shows.
“I did not feel safe,” Alessia Di Virgilio said after the incident.
Marketplace accompanied Di Virgilio on a round trip with Air Canada from Toronto to Charlottetown where hidden cameras captured a multitude of issues. Di Virgilio agreed to let Marketplace document her journey to raise awareness of the ordeal people who use wheelchairs go through when getting on flights.
Air Canada wouldn’t comment on Di Virgilio’s specific case. In a statement, the airline said: “The vast, vast majority of customers with mobility needs travelled without issue and in those relatively rare instances where barriers were encountered, we moved quickly to address concerns.”
Air Canada also said they had since reached out to Di Virgilio to apologize. Read more
Marketplace has spent months documenting accessibility failures in Canada’s transportation systems including using vehicles-for-hire with service animals and navigating public transit with a disability. You can watch Marketplace’s latest investigation, Access Denied, anytime on Youtube and CBC Gem.
Air Canada promises changes after passengers with disabilities share ‘dehumanizing’ experiences
Following Marketplace’s story about Di Virgilio’s journey with Air Canada and a spate of other CBC News coverage—including reports of one passenger who had to drag himself off a plane — the airline says it’s apologizing and making a number of changes internally to improve the way it treats passengers with disabilities.
The airline said Thursday it will be updating the boarding process and changing the way it stores mobility aids like wheelchairs to ensure customers with disabilities can get on and off the plane safely, as well as updating its training procedures for thousands of employees.
“Air Canada recognizes the challenges customers with disabilities encounter when they fly and accepts its responsibility to provide convenient and consistent service so that flying with us becomes easier. Sometimes we do not meet this commitment, for which we offer a sincere apology,” CEO Michael Rousseau wrote in a statement.
“As our customers with disabilities tell us, the most important thing is that we continuously improve in the future.”
The company also said mobility aids, like wheelchairs, will be stored in the aircraft cabin “when possible.” If aids have to be stored beneath the aircraft, the company said it is creating a new tracking system that will include a process to confirm the aids are actually on the plane before it takes off.
“Customers travelling within Canada will be able to track the journey of their mobility aid using the Air Canada app,” it said. Read more
Is that snack chocolate or ‘chocolatey’? How skimpflation might be affecting your groceries
You’ve heard of inflation. You may have heard of shrinkflation. Now, we are seeing more skimpflation, when companies switch recipes to use cheaper ingredients.
It’s tough to spot, but Daniel Noël of Sherbrooke, Que., stopped snacking on Quaker Dipps granola bars last year after he took a bite and noticed something was up.
The bar tasted “very old,” Noël, 51, told CBC News in an email. “I first thought that the product was way over its expiration date.”
It wasn’t. So Noël compared the ingredient list on the bar’s box with older packaging and made a discovery: the Dipps bars’ previous milk chocolate coating, made with cocoa butter, had been replaced with a “chocolatey coating” made with a typically cheaper fat — palm oil.
“I feel that I’ve been fooled,” said Noël. “It’s not the same product. It’s not the same taste.”
Quaker’s owner, U.S.-based PepsiCo, did not respond to requests for comment about the switch to the “chocolatey coating” made with palm oil.
According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, products must meet certain criteria to be labelled “chocolate”, including a specified minimum amount of cocoa butter and powder, and no vegetable oils. Read more
Marketplace tackled skimpflation, shrinkflation, and tipflation in a special episode digging into to…you guessed it… inflation.
And, want to learn more about how palm oil is sneaking into products, without you even knowing it? You can catch up on those stories and more on CBC Gem.
What else is going on?
This grandmother is working gruelling 70-hour weeks just to pay the bills.
And she’s not alone, there’s a ballooning demographic forced to find a second job to pay for life’s essentials.
Nurses in Ontario will soon be able to prescribe birth control
Starting in early 2024, nurses can train to prescribe drugs to help stop smoking, and travel medications to prevent malaria and travellers diarrhea.
Companies are a lot more willing to raise prices now — and it’s making inflation worse
High inflation has given corporations cover to raise their prices, and central banks are now taking notice.
Marketplace needs your help!
When it comes to your grocery items, have you ever found that you’re not getting the amount on the label? Does the 500 grams you were promised come out to less? Marketplace is on the case and wants to hear what grocery items may be falling short. Get in touch at [email protected]
Is new technology in your car giving you road rage? Is the touchscreen keeping your eyes off the road? We want to hear how new technology in cars is impacting your driving. Reach us at [email protected]
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