At the last Annual General Meeting, a unit owner stood up and asked the lawyer a question that, in its sheer absurdity, managed to condense months of bias, ignorance, and legal illiteracy into a single sentence:
“Why did she move here? Didn’t she read the rules?”
Let’s pause here.
This is not just a rude question – it’s a revealing one. It assumes that the problem lies with the person asserting their rights, not the system violating them. It suggests that a woman with an invisible disability should have predicted, that she would be subjected to hostility, exclusion, and legal harassment – because, apparently, “reading the rules” is supposed to protect you from systemic discrimination.
Let’s be clear: I did read the rules. What I didn’t anticipate was that they’d be selectively enforced, misquoted, and buried when inconvenient – especially Rule 7.08, which actually requires accommodation. Funny how no one ever reads that one out loud.
What this question really asked was:
“Why did she think she had the right to live here?”
Because I’m disabled? Because I asked for a service dog? Because I didn’t submit to intimidation?
So yes – I read the rules. I followed them. I also read the Condominium Act, the Human Rights Code, and the decisions of the Condominium Authority Tribunal and the Ontario Superior Court, which upheld my rights.
Perhaps the more pressing question is:
Did he?
