Three days after Air Canada staff abandoned disabled violinist Itzhak Perlman at Pearson International Airport, the repentant airline has donated 500,000 Aeroplan miles to Chai Lifeline Canada, the charity Mr. Perlman was in Toronto to support.

“While both Air Canada and Chai Lifeline regret the circumstances that pre-empted their contact, the miles donated to the organization will no doubt do a great deal of good for ill children and their families in Toronto and the GTA,” the charity, which helps the families of children stricken with serious illness, wrote in a statement Thursday.

Monday afternoon Mr. Perlman touched down at Toronto Pearson to play a concert at Roy Thomson Hall to benefit Chai Lifeline Canada.

The Israeli-American violinist, who contracted polio as a child, requires the use of crutches or a mobility scooter and had requested that an Air Canada disability assistant meet him at the gate in Toronto.

According to Mr. Perlman, the employee was argumentative, initially refused to assist in carrying the violinist’s carry-on luggage and soon left him at a bank of elevators.

(Source: National Post)