Let us suppose that an elected municipal council passed a bylaw that was intended to promote health and fitness to its constituents by banning the use of elevators so residents were forced to use stairs in all apartments painted yellow or blue.
The bylaw named healthy lifestyles or HLS was slipped past the 2,200 owners/renters of the coloured apartments without their being aware until they tried to use the elevator. There were protests, letters to the editors of newspapers and five years of meetings to prove the injustice of the arbitrary policy.
Some people could not walk and had to have councillors come and inspect their medical records before given permission to use the elevator. Some tried to sell their apartments but no one wanted an apartment with no elevator. Those living in apartments that were pure white had no idea what the HLS was about. But, the vast majority felt that yes those 2,200 who were lucky enough to live in yellow or blue apartments should practice a healthy lifestyle, climb the stairs and stop complaining. The logic of the EDPA was exactly the same. A great idea but completely unjust.
Mary Ross
Saanich
