Coquitlam father promises to take legal action against city; says daughter excluded from rec programs on the basis of her deafness

Failing to provide sign language interpreters for deaf children trying to get involved in recreation programs is a human rights violation, according to Coquitlam father Ryan De Temple.

On Monday, De Temple vowed to file a human rights complaint against the city on behalf of his nine-year-old daughter, Alba, and other deaf children.

While there is some American Sign Language interpretations at Coquitlam rec program, that support is limited and restricted, De Temple said.

“That means Alba’s excluded from a lot of recreation programs,” he said.

While the city takes the issue seriously, the city’s director of community recreation Jennifer Keefe previously pinpointed the issue of budget constraints.

“We’ve been supported by our council with a budget to offer these dedicated supports, and we’re trying our best to manage within it,” Keefe said in May. “If we weren’t going to reallocate from elsewhere, we would be looking to the taxpayer to contribute more to fund more in this area.”

The issue is bigger than one child, De Temple emphasized in his speech to council on Monday.

“We’re here talking about Alba, but really we’re talking about all children with disabilities,” he said. “Alba represents all deaf and disabled kids in the city.”

Discussing human rights law, De Temple made the case that his daughter is excluded from city-run recreation programs, which amounts to discrimination on the basis of disability.

The other key issue, he said, is whether the city has exhausted its resources to the point of undue financial hardship in trying to improve the situation.

“The answer to that is ‘no, they haven’t,’” he said, suggesting the cost of ASL interpreters was insignificant in terms of the city’s “robust” budget.

To bolster his argument, De Temple noted a similar case involving the Newfoundland and Labrador English school district. In that case, the human rights tribunal ultimately ordered the school district to provide a deaf child with education in ASL and to pay the child’s family nearly $150,000 for discrimination, according to reporting from CBC.

The school district had a similar operating budget and faced similar accommodation costs compared to Coquitlam, he noted.

De Temple said he would file a complaint in the next few weeks, adding that he’d previously spent time trying to work with the city.

The dialogue with the city has been ongoing for a couple years, De Temple said previously.

“Her settlement is to be determined. The cost of your legal fees is yet to be determined,” he added.

Coquitlam council did not discuss the issue on Monday.