Hidden cameras capture passenger who uses wheelchair struck by lift on Air Canada flight

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.

In light of the federal government summoning Air Canada to Ottawa this week to discuss a spate of reports about the mistreatment of customers in wheelchairs, Marketplace 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. 

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.

Marketplace showed the hidden-camera footage to Jeff Preston, an associate professor of disability studies at King's University College in London, Ont. As a power wheelchair user himself, he said these issues are far too common. 

"This moment of remembering that you don't have the same rights or the same access as other Canadians, that you are asked to fundamentally live a lesser life because of your difference, that it's your responsibility to fit within this broken system as opposed to the system saying we need to do fundamentally better," he said. 

Di Virgilio was born with a mobility disability that impacts her muscles and her lungs. She can't sit up without support and uses a ventilator to help her breathe. Her wheelchair is custom-built to support these needs and give her independence. 

"I think that as people with disabilities, often things that are recreational are [deemed] frivolous," she said. "But it goes to quality of life and that's the difference between life and living."

In addition to documenting Di Virgilio's experience with airline travel, Marketplace's investigation will highlight accessibility issues across Canada's transit systems, including using vehicles-for-hire with service animals and navigating public transit with a disability. 

Di Virgilio says the main problem is the requirement to be separated from her wheelchair during flights. The Canadian Transportation Agency requires passengers who use wheelchairs to sit in airplane seats, and most mobility devices must be stowed in the cargo hold along with travellers' luggage. Passengers must also call ahead to ensure their mobility aids can fit through the cargo door, which varies in size depending on the aircraft. Di Virgilio's chair was only a few centimetres under the height limit.

The regulations also require airlines to ensure properly trained staff conduct the transfers of people who use wheelchairs, but Di Virgilio doesn't always trust that training. "It just felt like people weren't trained properly," she said of the final transfer at Pearson International Airport. "People didn't really know what they were doing."

CBC News has received many stories of discomfort or injury during transfers or damages to wheelchairs when they're placed in cargo.

Preston says transferring someone from their wheelchair to an airplane chair can be outright dangerous if that person falls. "I have a spinal cord surgery that was done when I was very young, with two rods on my spine. If I have a really extreme impact on those rods and they break, it will result in paralysis, if not death."

Di Virgilio submitted the form a week before her flight, but 24 hours before her scheduled departure, Air Canada told Di Virgilio she also needed clearance from a respirologist. An appointment with her specialist typically must be booked months in advance.