Share on Facebook
Share on X
Share by Email
Share on Google Classroom
Haitian taxi drivers in Montreal fought a long battle to gain acceptance in the city’s taxi industry in the 1970s and 1980s. They denounced the racism that prevailed in this industry and demanded their right to work as taxi drivers. Ultimately, their struggle succeeded: some taxi companies were forced to pay fines, and in the course of the 1980s, these drivers began to have an easier time working in the industry. (See Anti-Black Racism in Canada.)
Background
Over the 1970s, the number of Haitian taxi drivers in Montreal increased substantially. As of 1974, there were just a few dozen, but by 1978, there were 300 to 400. As of 1982, there were 800 to 1200 Haitian taxi drivers in the city — about 10% of all taxi drivers in Montreal. This growing presence of so many Black drivers created some uneasiness in the taxi industry and among the public in Quebec.
The early 1980s were a time of economic crisis in Montreal, with high unemployment. Competition in the taxi industry was very intense. Under these difficult circumstances, immigrants were accused of being “job stealers”.
Discrimination Against Black Taxi Drivers
Discrimination against Haitian taxi drivers in Montreal began in the late 1970s. An article published in Le Journal de Montreal (see Quebecor Inc) in 1977 reported that one taxi company, Expo de Montréal, refused to hire some 30 drivers of Haitian origin, because they were Black. (See Black Canadians.)
At the same time, members of the public began filing complaints against Haitian taxi drivers with Transport Canada. As a result, many Haitian taxi drivers were banned from Montreal’s airport in Dorval. In June 1982, a company called SOS Taxi fired about 20 of these drivers, citing customers’ dissatisfaction about there being too many Black drivers and the refusal of some White drivers to work with Black colleagues, whom they considered responsible for the taxi industry’s economic woes.
Haitian Taxi Drivers Fight Back
To integrate Montreal’s taxi industry, the Haitian drivers had to fight back. In 1982, they founded the Association haïtienne des travailleurs de taxi (Haitian association of taxi workers).
In March 1983, the Association published its objectives: to defend its members’ interests, educate the public, persuade the government to take appropriate steps, and try to mitigate the problems arising between drivers of differing origins.
To integrate the taxi industry, the Association fought on several fronts. It held demonstrations and conducted picketing campaigns. In July 1982, the Human Rights Commission opened an inquiry and held public hearings at which Haitian taxi drivers testified, with help in preparing and filing their briefs from the Ligue des droits et libertés (a Quebec human-rights organization). The extensive report that the Commission published in 1984 painted a devastating picture of the systemic discrimination in the taxi industry.
The drivers’ struggle was backed by other community organizations. The Bureau de la Communauté Chrétienne des Haïtiens de Montréal (BCCHM), the Montreal Regional Committee of the Congress of Black Women of Canada, the Maison d’Haïti and the Comité de promotion des minorités all joined the campaign to fight the racism in the taxi industry.
This struggle achieved a degree of success. In December 1984, two taxi companies were sentenced to pay a maximum fine of $500 plus $2500 in expenses. In March 1985, an oversight committee was established to fight racism in the taxi industry. This committee was supported by the Department of Transport and Department of Industry and Commerce, as well as by the Montreal Taxi Bureau, the BCCHM, the Ligue des droits et libertés and taxi drivers’ associations. But the fight against racism in the taxi industry continued until the end of the 1980s.
