Taxi drivers' criminal record checks will soon be mandatory, sources say
CBC News | Posted: November 14, 2014 10:00 PM | Last Updated: November 15, 2014
Quebec is poised to announce that all taxi drivers in the province will need to undergo a criminal background check before they are allowed to obtain a taxi permit.
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The government is expected to make the announcement Sunday, according to Radio-Canada sources.
Drivers will need to obtain a copy of their records from police, or possibly from the taxi bureau, at their own expense.
According to Radio-Canada, a new provincial committee will be responsible for reviewing the records.
That committee will consider the number of offences and severity of the crimes, the context in which they were committed and the steps taken since, including requests for pardons.
In Montreal, permits will be issued by the taxi bureau. Outside the city, the SAAQ will be responsible.
The move comes as pressure mounts to crack down in the wake of a string of reports of sexual assaults by drivers.
In July, CBC Montreal reported the story of one woman who said she was assaulted by a cab driver after hailing a taxi on the street.
A month later, Montreal police issued an appeal for information after four women reported they had been sexually assaulted by a taxi driver in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
Police said Friday that investigation is still ongoing and no arrests have been made.
In October, police said they investigated 17 cases of sexual assaults in taxis in 2014, a small number, they said, given the number of taxis in service in the Montreal area.
Footing the bill
Kamal Sabbah, an administrator at Montreal's association of taxi owners, says he supports the measure.
"The idea is excellent. It’s going to be very beneficial for the taxi business. We want people to know that the drivers are good people — they have a good background check, that they are not criminals. This is something the client needs to be able to trust the business," Sabbah said.
But he's concerned about putting the onus on taxi drivers to pay for their own background checks.
"The only problem we have here is the cost...The taxi industry is in very bad shape right now, and we keep on adding charges on the driver."
Taxi driver Jordonne Evans agrees.
"I don't see why I should have to pay for it. If the government requires a background check, it should be the government that pays for it," Evans said.
Mandatory in other cities
In most major cities across Canada, taxi drivers are required to pass a criminal background check, but in Montreal and across Quebec, there is no enforcement of safeguards that could stop passengers from hopping into a cab with a convicted felon.
Quebec law states that taxi permits will not be issued to anyone who’s been "convicted, in the last five years, of an indictable or criminal offence connected with the aptitudes and conduct required to carry on the occupation of taxi driver.”
However, the law hasn’t been enforced because of a squabble over whose responsibility it is to check.
Last fall, Quebec's Ministry of Transport said it was planning to require those applying for a taxi driver's permit to submit a $70 criminal background check by Montreal police.
At the time, the ministry said it was still in the process of deciding which crimes would warrant a taxi driver's license being rejected.
In September, Quebec's transportation ministry said enforcing criminal background checks for taxi drivers is at the top of its priority list, but would not say when new measures would be in place.
Currently, the only taxi drivers who must submit to a criminal background check are those working with vulnerable populations including children and the elderly.