Lawyers representing Elections Canada and Guelph resident Matt Wozenilek have moved behind closed doors as they attempt to sort out a dispute over accessible voting.
Wozenilek, who uses a wheelchair, filed a human rights complaint against Elections Canada following the 2011 federal election.
He says he was unable to get into the Guelph returning office without someone to open and hold the door for him.
During the previous election, in 2008, he had the same issue at his neighbourhood polling station.
“I felt like I was a second-class citizen and I didn’t have the same rights as everyone else,” he said Monday outside the Guelph courthouse.
“I want a barrier-free access to the building.”
At Monday’s hearing, an Elections Canada lawyer said there ought to have been an election worker to assist him, but was not.
Wozenilek also takes issue with Elections Canada’s handling of his case. He says his complaint was lost in the agency’s system and never dealt with.
In addition to automated doors at all polling stations, Wozenilek says he wants Elections Canada to reimburse him for his court costs and his “pain and suffering.”
