Taxi Bill of Rights

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom makes Canada the greatest country in the world! The Taxi Bill of Rights violates the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Proceedings in criminal and penal matters

11. Any person charged with an offence has the right

b. to be tried within a reasonable time;

d. to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;

We have contacted the Ministry of Transportation with regards to dispute proceedings, with no response.

Equality before and under law and equal protection and benefit of law

15. (1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom states that Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

There are at least three grounds that show a clear Charter breach with respect to the Taxi Bill of Rights.

equal protection
equal benefit

without discrimination

The Taxi Bill of Rights is based on the BC Transportation Act, which has been recently amended by Honorable Kevin Falcon.

  • The taxi driver is the only service provider that has been chosen to be fined for refusing service (outside of a return to work, court order). How about when the Taxi Driver who is liable to a fine for refusing service is refused service! No fine for refusal in these cases! Not equal right!
    • Lawyers will refuse taking a case, acceptance is based completely on discretion and monetary gains.
    • Gas Station Attendants refuse the public access to restrooms, claiming that the restroom is out of order.
    • City workers will refuse to take your garbage, without any valid reasons/grounds.
    • Police Officres will refuse to enforce the law, giving discretion as grounds for the refusal. Taxi Drivers have seen this first hand over the years. Suspects of assaults/robberies/fare-evasion against taxi drivers have been apprehended and the Police let them go giving lame excuses such as ...
      • Jails are full:- This one is a beauty. One is tempted to ask the cop if he would use the same excuse if someone assaulted him (the police officer)!
      • The Crown will not lay charges (this is up to the Crown Prosecutor to decide).
      • You decide do you really want to lay charges? You will have to take a day off work and come to court etc. etc. Giving the cab driver the guilt trip.
      • You (the cab driver) may end up getting charged instead! This one is used when the suspect is female, the cop says that the driver could get charged with "sexual assault", "unlawful confinement" etc.
      Charter breach?!
    • Other service provicers will refuse service. Accountants will not accept new clients, Doctors will not take new patients. etc etc etc ... the list is endless.
  • There is no complimentary fine to the customer when s/he refuses or violates the taxi drivers rights.

The Taxi Driver has no benefit from the Taxi Bill of Rights! Lets look at this more carefully.

The taxi driver is not equal to the customer with reference to this law. All the rights are in favor of the customer. The enforcement that is provided is also only in favor of the customer. The rights that are claimed to be taxi driver's rights are available to people of all walks of life in Canada.

    As a Taxi Driver you must obey all laws and have the right to refuse to transport a passenger:
    These are the rights of the Taxi Driver under this new Taxi Bill of Rights. One would think that customer should also be told that s/he should obey some law.
  • To avoid contravening a law or condition of licence
  • To protect your, or any passenger’s, health or safety
  • If the passenger is acting in an offensive manner
  • If the passenger refuses to provide a deposit, if requested
So it would be fair to assume that the above are cutting-edge new laws to benefit Taxi Drivers in BC Only. The taxi drivers in other Provinces of Canada, or countries cannot avail of the above mentioned laws! Well done Kevin Falcon!

There is a trip refusal penalty to the driver, however there is no taxi refusal penalty to the customer. To analyse this further, once a person takes a taxi and s/he does not pay, there is no enforcement by or complaint process to enforce an equal law towards this offender.

    We have asked the BC Ministry of Transportation to give us:-
  • A "legal analysis" of the Taxi Bill of Rights with respect to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.
  • Documentation showing a roadmap towards the creation of the Taxi Bill of Rights.
    • A fair process, correspondence with the players involved.
    • Minutes to the meetings that were conducted with these organizations (players).
    • Communications, legal analysis etc.
    • To date no response has been received from the BC Ministry of Transportation, we are hoping that this has been a democratic process and that the Ministry will make public the records, assuming that they exist.

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