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Racist Cab Drivers in Winnipeg
April 25, 2010 - 11:14am
This happened to me Friday night, but it's not really about me because this shit happens to FNs here all the time.
A bunch of us go to RRCC which is right downtown, so we walked to a lounge for some drinks after classes. When we called a cab they asked us where we were going and we said Lord Selkirk Park. When the cab shows up the driver demanded payment up front. This always happens to FN peeps. Anyone else pays when they get to their destination. Any way the driver was a real asshole about it, but we paid anyway. Anyone else here have this happen to them? And can we fight this in the taxicab commission or a human rights thing?
Peace!
Prob both to be honest. The Human rights commission should certainly be pursued since that would get the wider media representation and pressure placed on them. But the taxicab commssion most likely has rules about this and can be made to also start an investigation and crack down on their members (especially if they know a human rights appeal is in the offing)
Pick your battles.
Rather I would contact the company and complain. And if they try to justify it or slough you off then notify the media about it being specific to mention the cab company's name and the supervisor that you spoke to.
The real trick is to change the behavior by challenging the comments. A Human Rights case would likely just disappear into the back pages, and the company would not make any issue about claiming it was an isolated incident.
This has never happened to me as a white girl however 6 months ago I got into a cab with my partner (FN) and we wanted to go two blocks away, about 10 bucks. The guy asked for the money upfront. My partner is an ex-cab driver as well. We made the guy feel real uncomfortable (what, you want to be paid now, what are you talking about? Why? etc) then said forget it we will get another cab. Before we could leave he said never mind he would drive us and he did but we didn't give him a tip.
Oh yeah we didn't tip either. Felt like hocking a gooey one on the floor though (didn't). Really though the cabbies here are total fucktards when it comes to FNs.
Thankfully we have only come across the one. Most of the time they either ignore us (to talk on the phone a lot!) or they actually get into a good conversation with my partner about cabbie stuff.
That has never once happened to me, E.Tamaran, but I've heard of it happening to other people who aren't quite so white as me. And I know that's why, too.
It really sucks. There should be a law against asking for money up front unless they come up with a standard procedure to ask EVERYONE for money up front. But I'm sure that people would get around it by just not stopping at all for people of colour and First Nations people. Which is even worse.
I'm sorry that happened to you. It's really wrong, and racist. I wonder if this is an issue people would mobilize around. A letter to the editor of your local paper might be one way to get the ball rolling. Sometimes shining a light on it and naming it for what it is can shame people into doing the right thing.
An interesting action, if you were up to it, might also be to get video evidence. A number of times, you could surreptitiously video yourself being asked for money up front. Have a white friend somewhere close to your destination who then flags down the same driver after you get out, and videotapes themselves getting in and not being asked for the money up front (perhaps a second passenger could do the taping in both cases).
That would be an eyeopener. But it would take some planning to set it up. And it would also cost money (the cost of a couple of fares) every time. And I don't know what the laws are in Manitoba about secret cameras, either. But it's just a thought.
Recently a law was being brought in permitting Cabbies to request a deposit up front - at their discretion. So a law suit may not get far.
I believe EVERYONE should have to pay up front. Cabbies get ripped off all the time and unpaid fairs come out of their own pocket.
Cab drivers are not making big bucks as some people think. If the driver doesn't own the car they have to pay 350 bucks a week to use the car. One driver I talked to told me that he was five days into the week and he didn't even make enough to cover the rental of the vehicle.
There are two sides to every story. But to make it fair, I believe the white guy with the brief case and $500 suit should pay up front too.
Absolutely. Could not agree more.
I think you'd also find that cabbies would simply stop responding to their dispatchers calls for cabs to pick up or drop off in certain neighbourhoods. There have always been neighbourhoods that drivers avoid like the plague (especially after dark) but this would likely only compound the problem.
I don't really know how it is here yet (Montreal), but yeah. The prairies has a particular attitude towards FNs that just won't quit. It was just as bad in Alberta with cabs, even sometimes before it got all that late.
Contacting the cab company might be interesting just to see if they have an official or even non-official policy on this, or to see how on earth they're justifying it.
Where? That sort of law would likely be at the municipal level, definitely not federal, so it would vary area to area.
is my friend a racist?
My friend and training partner in martial arts is a 56 year old white male. Grows his own pot and smokes it, never has a bad thing to say about anyone [except the gov't]. Total hippie. Total peace and love,man.
He is also a cab driver and this very topic came up one evening after class while we all had drinks. There is a native reserve close by where he lives and he was telling us that he makes people going to the reserve pay up front. He has had a lot of fares [fairs?] brought to the reserve refuse to pay and either walk off or run away. Some have threatened him with knives..
He said the tribal police seemed uninterested in any type of serious follow up and the local police said it's not their jurisdiction- see the tribal police. He said it has happened here and there in the city but next to all of the times it has been when he has brought people to the reservation late at night- to the point where he asks for payment upfront now.
Serious non-leading question, does that make him a racist? Or is he trying to look out for himself and avoid loosing money/food on the table?
Seriously is racial profiling and the idea that you should not trust people based on their race, racist? Duh what do you think.
Does it make a difference that he didn't suggest making native americans pay first, only that any fares to the reserve pay up front because in his words most of the "runners" are from late night drop offs there?
On one hand I clearly see that it is being biased towards FN people but at the same time I am trying to look at it through my friend eyes. The reservation is a bit of a drive away and if he is bringing someone out there and back and someone doesn't pay [Always an occupational hazard] and he is loosing other fares while driving-is that fair to him?
If I was a cab driver and 17 out of 20 times a month someone doesn't pay is from a specific neighbourhood I would probably ask someone heading to that neighbourhood to pay up front too. I know asking specific people [ie FN people] to pay upfront is very unfair and racist, I'm just wondering if this is in the same boat?
You can Duh me as much as you want, just trying to expand my horizons.
What lonewulfbunn said, if it is necessary to change the way the taxi industry operates to make everyone pay at least a deposit up front, then everyone pays up front. In my mind it is a total abdication of responsibility to pass a law (as LWB refers to in post 8) to allow this at a driver's discretion.
On a side note, fixed fares from "zone" to "zone" would be a good change to bring in along the way (similar to what the cab industry has in Montreal - fixed fares from the airport into specific zones of the city itself, based on distance [not which community you are travelling to] rather than running a meter) and would reduce the uncertainty about what the fare is actually going to be when encountering traffic problems outside of the driver's or passenger's control, no nasty surprises because you traffic was heavier or the police had closed off a street because of an accident...
In direct response to the OP: the cities I have lived in have all had Taxi Commissions, I would first contact them with a complaint, then the company, then the Human Rights Commission, then the media, and at each step along the way I would make it clear that it was my intention to contact all four.
Toronto has that too Bagkitty, but like Montreal it is only for rises from the airport into the city. (and the zone pricing is way more expensive that what it takes to take a cab from the city to the airport)
Yeah your right, it would be at the municiple level. This was in Calgary. I don't know if it went into effect yet.
My reason for not agreeing with the law is because it is left up to the Cabbie to decide who should be trusted and who shouldn't.
It is legalizing racial profiling.
I know it is hard to hear but yes. If he is making the assumption that someone will or has a greater chance of running based on the colour of their skin or that they are going to a place populated by FN people they are a racist. I wonder if someone drove taxi with him how many would actually skip fairs versus his perception. Also I wonder how many are based on a self fullfiling prophecy. Is it right someone runs when they are not treated properly? No. But it happens for various reasons. I know the taxi driver who drove my partner and I believe that FN people won't tip but it has more to do with his attitude than it does to do with the fact we don't tip (my partner tips well likely because he used to be a cabbie)
I'm a former Toronto & suburbs cabby (70s and early 80s). The upside of the profession is that you get to meet a lot of people. There's a certain element of surprise in that you never know who your next fare may be. However, the downside far outweighed the positives. There are plenty of adversaries - other cabbies, the car owner, the plate owner, dispatchers, insurers, inspectors, police, mechanics, oil companies, other drivers and once in a while, the fare. For the most part though, the fares are the best part of the job. I probably had 2 or 3 run away without paying out of 1,000s of fares. Not really a big issue for me.
My policy was to pick anyone up anywhere EXCEPT one downtown neighbourhood where I wouldn't stop for small groups of men late at night. I used to do very well at a grocery store in another part of town (Jane & Finch) where other cabbies refused to go due to their anti-Caribbean racism.
I waited until I had it confirmed by 3 different cab drivers. Apparently cab drivers ACROSS CANADA have the legal right to ask for a deposit up front.
Each time I asked if they were one hundred percent sure. The third one told me that they were told this in a meeting earlier this year.
So a law suit wouldn't accomplish much.
Sidebar: there is a history of racism towards Winnipeg cab drivers - many or most of whom are Punjabi Sikhs. Shields became compulsory after a particularly brutal murder of one cab driver, Pritam Deol.
I didn't like getting a ride with a white cabbie (in Winnipeg) because too many of them acted like Travis Bickle. The non-white cabbies were fine.
I've spent several years of my life in Winnipeg. I have older aunts and uncles that don't drive and takes cabs often for things such as grocery shopping etc. Most of them are dark skinned and unmistakeably native. Not one of them that I know of has ever been asked to pay a deposit up front.
It's more likely that the young hoodlem looking people with baggy pants, hoodies, and "I'll cap yo ass" attitude that get asked for a deposit from cab drivers regardless of the colour of their skin.
I disagree with this. My partner looks very native and is middle aged. He does not look young, does not wear baggy pants or hoodies and is very respectful when getting in a cab because of his background of being a cabbie. Though, no doubt, what you describe is another way of profiling just being Native was enough for the cabbie to ask him for payment up front without the characteristics you described.
Most cabbies have not profiled, in my experience but the one that did shouldn't have. Also, it never occured to us to tell anyone after it happened until I saw this thread so just because no one you know has told you it happened doesn't mean that it hasn't happened.
There is a cab company in Winnipeg that is Native owned.
If one continually finds himself a victim of racism at Everywhere Turn, I suggest he boycott all other cab companies and use the FN owned company called Spring Taxi.
If a Native cabbie asks him for a deposit up front then... I suppose - a cry of - age discrimination, might be in order?
Excellent find! Can you substantiate your claim?
Here's a list of sorts:
A-Aaa Unicity Taxi
Super Taxi Ltd
Duffy's Taxi
Spring Taxi
Blueline Taxi
Co-Up Taxi
Blue Ribbon Transit
Belle's Express Transit
It might be reasonable to do it based on distance. So everyone going more than a couple km would pay.
I totally agree that discretion is code for tolerated racism.
If everyone has to pay up front there would be no big deal- it is not that inconvenient but to face racism just trying to cross town is devastating.
This also hapens in places that have late night gas stations where they get to eyeball you and decide if you are going to pay.
The guy who hassled us was Sikh.