“We fell short”: Woman at centre of BC Place wheelchair controversy accepts apology
A woman is accepting an apology from BC Place after saying she watched several people, who are in wheelchairs, be turned away from a lounge at Sunday’s Lions game.
“That being said, the situation shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” she said.
Marcia McNaughton, a season ticket holder, purchased tickets for her friends to watch the BC Lions take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. One of her friends, who is in a wheelchair, was especially excited about Sunday’s CFL game because he is a “die-hard” Blue Bombers fan.
McNaughton arranged to have five tickets in the Edgewater Lounge and was assured that it was wheelchair accessible.” This way, all of our group could sit together,” she said.
When they arrived, McNaughton said the group was denied entry into the lounge. A staff member said there was no longer wheelchair-accessible seating in the area due to a policy change.
Edgewater Lounge (bcplace.com)
Several wheelchair users, including a young child, were turned away from the lounge, McNaughton said, and added, “The majority of them went home.”
“It was extremely discouraging,” she said.
“This is not an us problem”
However, McNaughton insisted on finding a resolution.
“I caused a bit more of a stink, and I refused and said, ‘We’re not leaving,'” she said.
“This is not an us problem, this is a you problem, and you need to fix it for us,” she said she told BC Place staff.
McNaughton admitted staff were helpful and tried to help as much as they could. As a solution, an assistant manager was able to let her and her friends access club seating and gave them a $100 voucher for food and beverages.
“But split between five people, that didn’t even cover a burger, fries and a pop,” she said. “I understood the staff could only do what they could do. Their hands were tied. But the fact that large groups were turned away when it was guaranteed and assured that everybody would be comfortable and fine — it was disgusting.”
While most of the group was assigned a new seat, McNaughton said most of her friends joined their friend, who is in a wheelchair, because he was seated overlooking the field and away from the group. Since the friends didn’t want to leave him, most watched the game on the TVs in the lounge, and some missed nearly half of the game due to the seat changes.
“My friend is an adult, he understood we were doing what we could to make it work, but I feel more for people [BC Place] couldn’t and didn’t make it work for.”
McNaughton takes to X
After the game, McNaughton voiced her concerns about the alleged policy change on X.
“Families with children in wheelchairs were left stranded,” part of her social media post reads.
All these groups, including my own, were left stranded and the only option was to hand in the concourse and watch the game on tv. This is unacceptable. This is not acceptable service for wheelchair accessibility. THIS IS NOT OK!
— Miss Marcia (@MarciaOnTheGo) August 19, 2024
Her X posts have been seen by thousands of users and even caught the attention of BC Place. The stadium got in touch with the local on Monday.
BC Place “regrets” issue
She told Daily Hive the stadium was “extremely apologetic,” confirmed miscommunication among staffing, and that “in fact, there was no policy change.”
Instead, the chairs that are wheelchair accessible in the Edgewater Lounge were being used, BC Place told McNaughton.
It added it was doing what it could to rectify the situation.
BC Place confirmed with Daily Hive that “unclear communication” about lounge access for different ticket types “likely contributed to this issue.”
“BC Place takes full responsibility for the mismanagement of this situation and recognizes that we fell short of the high standards of service we strive to provide,” it said in an email statement. “We are conducting a thorough review of the incident and are implementing additional staff training to prevent similar issues in the future.”
In response to the inconvenience, BC Place said it “offered affected ticketholders new seating in the club section, complete with food and beverage service, as a gesture of our apology.”
“Those who preferred not to accept the alternative seating were advised to contact BC Place for a resolution,” BC Place said. “We intend to invite these guests to a future game, with the tickets, food and beverage covered to provide a positive experience and make amends for our error.”
BC Place told Daily Hive it “regrets” that a ticketing issue occurred on Sunday and has apologized to those who tried to access the Edgewater Lounge area of the stadium.
“This hopefully never happens again”
McNaughton added BC Lions reached out, but she emphasized it was not the team’s fault.
She criticized BC Place, adding it shouldn’t have allowed BC Lions to sell those tickets if they weren’t able to accommodate.
“This general admission area is available to ticketholders between sections 225-230 with seats available on a first-come-first-served basis, but due to high demand, the accessible seats were already occupied when the impacted guests arrived,” BC Place said in an email statement. “We recognize that our 41-year-old building poses challenges for accessibility, and while we are actively working to improve this, it was a mistake to deny entry to the lounge.”
“Accessibility remains a top priority for BC Place. We are currently interviewing for an accessibility-focused guest experience coordinator to ensure all guests receive the care and attention they deserve,” BC Place added.
I wanted to thank you all for your messages since last night.. I’m very glad that @bcplace has reached out and will change this situation from ever happening again. We are pleased with the result !
— Miss Marcia (@MarciaOnTheGo) August 20, 2024
McNaughton credits BC Place for owning up to its mistake but said, “Moving forward, this hopefully never happens again.”