TORONTO — A toy turtle struggling to crawl, a massaging hair brush that won't vibrate and a gramophone that stopped spinning were no match for the fix-it extraordinaires at Repair Café Toronto.
Over the last 12 years, the volunteer group has mended a plethora of such oddities along with phones, bikes and torn clothing. Kettles and toasters, though, often make for the peskiest repairs, they say.
"You have to take the whole thing apart," said the group's co-founder Paul Magder. "(The manufacturers) know where the problems are, but they don't make it easy to fix."
A growing movement is looking to change that. Right-to-repair advocates want to make items in our homes easier to fix and thus less prone to wind up in a landfill.
For many, it's a matter of principle; if you own something they think you should be able to repair it yourself or take it to someone who can. Others see the right to repair as a way to save money or boost sustainability.
No matter the motivation, the reality is that "our ability to fix things is impeded in all kinds of different ways," said Alissa Centivany, an assistant professor of information and media studies at Western University in London, Ont.
In many instances, manufacturers have made products difficult to open or built them with components that won't stand the test of time.
For example, Magder has noticed the electromagnets manufacturers install in toasters to hold the lever down once bread is inserted are particularly weak and become even more feeble as grease builds around them.
The gears that spin a hand mixer's beaters or pulverize paper in a shredder tend to be made of plastic, so they wear out faster, he said.
"They're built to fail, basically, unless you just use one sheet of paper at a time," he said.
When people try to fix these items, they realize manufacturers don't often provide consumers or businesses the tools or information they need for repairs. Sometimes they find out they are locked into systems where they can only seek help from the manufacturers themselves or their approved partners.
Often, manufacturers position the situation as a result of their product's proprietary nature or their company's expertise, but Centivany said manufacturers "overwhelmingly" see repairs as a ticket to "insane profits."
"If we think about something like a smartphone, you might crack your screen, which happens a lot because it's really fragile," Centivany said. "You take it in to get the screen replaced, and they basically say, 'Well, we can replace your screen for $300 or you can get a brand new phone for $350,' or something like that, right?"
It's important to counter behaviours that limit repairability because they shape the economy, the skill level of communities and some people's ability to work or even carry out daily activities, said Anthony Rosborough, a law professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
"This isn't just a fun, coffee table book type of issue that happens to be an inconvenience for consumers occasionally," he said, noting that wheelchairs, pacemakers, farm equipment and cars are all affected.
"This speaks to a real deeper problem."
To address the barriers to repairs, Rosborough and Centivany co-founded the Canadian Repair Coalition, a non-profit advocacy organization promoting legal and regulatory reform around repairs, in 2022.
They recently celebrated a pair of wins: two federal bills that received royal assent in November.
The first, Bill C-244, amended copyright laws to allow people to circumvent technological protection measures such as passwords, paywalls and subscription keys to maintain or repair some products.
The second, Bill C-294, allows people to circumvent those measures when making computer programs or devices that are interoperable with other components.
"They're small changes, and they're super technical changes, but I think it is definitely an important step and I think it is reflecting a change in momentum," Centivany said.
Much of that momentum has stemmed from grassroots groups like Magder's, who offer their services for free, but some is also coming from companies relenting to consumer demand.
Apple, which was long criticized for making it difficult for consumers to repair products, announced last summer that Canadians will get access this year to a program providing them with the parts, tools and manuals they need to fix their own devices.
Customers will have to pay for any parts and rent tools necessary to make repairs to 42 Apple products ranging from the latest MacBook Airs to mobile devices as far back as iPhone 12. Access to manuals and diagnostic software that helps troubleshoot issues will be free.
Centivany doesn't think much of the program, which features rental tool kits costing US$49 and iPhone 16 battery and screw packages selling for about US$100. Online publication 9To5Mac found in 2022 that, in some cases, having Apple repair the product was cheaper or cost only $10 more than the parts and tool rental the company offers.
"They're sort of blowing a little bit out of proportion how beneficial it will be to consumers because the kinds of repairs that they're offering are super limited and because the cost structure, from what I've seen, really is going to not be a great incentive for people," Centivany said.
Asked about the criticism and a timeline for self-repairs in Canada, Apple spokesperson Josh Zeliger said in an email that the company was on track for a 2025 launch.
Instead, right to repair advocates see a bill to amend Ontario's Consumer Protection Act as a potentially bigger harbinger of change.
If it passes, it would force manufacturers of electronic products, household appliances, wheelchairs, motor vehicles and heavy farming equipment to make the most recent version of repair manuals, replacement parts, software and tools available to consumers and repair businesses.
Manufacturers must share the repair manual at no charge or, if a paper version is requested, at a reasonable cost. Replacement parts, software and tools must be provided "at a fair cost."
Centivany and Rosborough support the bill, which was sent for a second reading shortly after it was introduced by the opposition NDP party in April, but think Canada should go further.
France, which started giving electronics repairability scores in 2021, later leading to the European Union adopting a similar program, could be a good model, they say.
"Communicating to users here's what we expect the average useful life of a product to be and here's the true cost of ownership ... would be really helpful for consumers," Centivany said.
"It would allow them to make better choices, more informed choices, and be able to exercise their power as consumers in a meaningful way."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2025.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
