Parc-Ex Restaurant Accused of Barring Blind Woman’s Service Dog

A Parc-Extension restaurant is in hot water for allegedly not allowing a blind woman to bring her guide dog into the restaurant, according to CJAD News.

Ottawa resident Diane Bergeron contacted the radio station, saying that staff at Restaurant Lyla, a Vietnamese eatery on Jean-Talon West, told her that she could enter the premises, but her dog would need to remain in-between the restaurant’s entrance doors.

Bergeron is also an executive for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (she is vice president of engagement and international affairs) and is well-acquainted with the laws about service animals, and told the restaurant that it’s a legal requirement to accommodate service animals such as guide dogs.

“The dog doesn’t actually have a right to be in the restaurant. It’s my right to be accompanied by my dog. The dog doesn’t care if she’s in the restaurant,” she told CJAD’s Shuyee Lee, adding that it was “extremely embarrassing”.

The restaurant appears to have admitted to CJAD that they barred the woman’s dog: an employee noted to the radio station that a waiter who is scared of dogs was working, and that the restaurant staff were worried about the effect it could have on an allergic customer.

The woman has filed a complaint with Quebec’s Human Rights Commission.

• Blind Woman Alleges Montreal Restaurant Wouldn’t Let Her Service Dog In [CJAD]