Vehicle-for-hire drivers challenge relevancy of past criminal convictions to their work

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This article was published 17/06/2019 (1771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg’s efforts to improve the public image of its vehicle-for-hire industry have led to nearly two dozen drivers being suspended over the past year due to their criminal records.

However, the majority of those have been allowed back behind the wheel, after an appeal board agreed those convictions shouldn’t be a barrier to work.

About 62 per cent of drivers who were stripped of their licences to drive taxis or other personal transportation provider vehicles successfully regained permission to get back on the job after they took their cases to a citizen appeal board.

Today, two others hope to join those ranks, as they challenge the relevancy of past criminal convictions to their work as drivers.

“It ruins someone’s livelihood,” said Cameron Oberton, 64, who had been driving for more than 15 years with Holy Care Transit, which provides pre-arranged accessible transportation for people with disabilities. Oberton was suspended from his position in May because of a 2011 drug conviction — one the Manitoba Taxicab Board knew about before the former regulatory body was dissolved.

“All these years, they allowed the continuation of my employment,” he told the Free Press.

“For all these past years, I’ve been clear: there’s no further involvement in this — and I’m being penalized for the rest of my life for one foolish mistake.”

Under the city’s recent bylaw that replaced provincial regulation, drivers must submit to annual criminal record checks. They are barred from such work if they have a conviction less than 10 years old for a major driving violation, violent crime, sexual offence, drug-trafficking offence or fraud.

The municipal regulations were meant to increase safety and improve public perception of an industry that, within the past few years, has been dogged by allegations of racial profiling and sexual harassment.

“When people are providing transportation, they’re providing it to citizens who may not know the city, they may be vulnerable for a variety of reasons,” said Grant Heather, City of Winnipeg manager of vehicles for hire. “So it’s important when you have a group of people who are providing a service to citizens, it’s important to have checks in place to ensure that we’re trying to root out those who might have issues, might have criminality in the past.”

Since the bylaw came into effect last year, 21 drivers have been denied licences or licence renewals because of criminal convictions. Sixteen of those have had appeal hearings, and 13 were successful.

Oberton is one of the two awaiting appeal hearings Wednesday.

He was spared jail time after he was caught with crack cocaine in a personal vehicle in 2008. Three years later, he received a two-years-less-a-day conditional sentence for possession for the purpose of trafficking.

He said he was laid off at the time due to lack of work and acted out of “stupidity” because he needed money. Since then, he was welcomed back to his job and is a caregiver for a terminally ill roommate.

“Actually, he’s one of the best drivers I have. He thinks it’s discrimination, not right. He has to make his living,” said Jacob Ayoub, owner of Holy Care Transit.

Ayoub said he’s supporting Oberton in his appeal, but most employers likely wouldn’t go to bat for drivers barred from work because of criminal records. That’s why, Ayoub said, the city’s bylaw is too restrictive.

“It’s not clear who we could hire with a criminal record,” he said, despite their ability to do good work.

In February, all five Holy Care drivers were temporarily suspended because the company didn’t submit its required annual criminal record checks.

Heather said the city has handed out 14 tickets to dispatchers who didn’t submit criminal record checks. Each carries a fine of up to $1,000 for dispatchers; for drivers, the penalty is automatic suspension.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay