Taxi passenger gets apology from Unicity after driver's racist, anti-Semitic comments

A Winnipeg taxi company has apologized for comments made by one of its drivers about Indigenous and Jewish people to a passenger last month.

Ron East said he was travelling to the Winnipeg airport in a Unicity Tax cab around 5 a.m. on Feb. 4. When the cab drove by the former Kapyong Barracks site on Kenaston Boulevard — which is slated to become an urban reserve under an agreement with seven First Nations — he and the driver began talking about the demolition taking place.

"The driver started to talk to me about the fact that actually, the neighbourhood there — Tuxedo, Whyte Ridge, [and] Linden Woods — is populated by Jewish people who really don't like Native people coming into the neighbourhood, walking around with empty alcohol bottles, because it will depreciate the value of their properties," East said in a phone interview with CBC.

The driver went on to say, "And Jewish people, you know how much they like their property and their money," East said.

East, who is a member of Winnipeg's Jewish community, said he was shocked by the exchange.

"I was taken aback by his comments.… I tried to explain to him a little bit about what an urban reserve would be, but he was insistent."

Complaint filed with Unicity

After arriving at the airport, East said he immediately tried to contact Unicity Taxi and reached out to the Jewish advocacy group B'nai B'rith to see how he should proceed.

"It took me several days to actually get somebody from Unicity to actually respond to my complaints," said East.

East said he eventually spoke with a general manager, explaining that he wanted to see the company take responsibility for the incident and acknowledge the severity of the remarks.

East asked that the driver be suspended and forced to take cultural-sensitivity training. East also asked for the driver to be fined, with funds donated to Main Street Project homeless shelter and outreach program, "because of his comments about First Nations people … which is completely outrageous," East said.

East also asked that the company and its board make donations to the First Nations-run Bear Clan citizen patrol group and to a Holocaust education fund.

East said the company sent him a letter earlier this week saying it had taken action on all of his requests, including making donations to each of the charities he listed.

"Unicity shareholders are [a] diverse, multi-racial, multi-faith group who reject all forms of discrimination, hatred, prejudice, and racism," said the letter from Unicity, which East shared with CBC.

"Be assured that the words spoken by the operator … are not those of Unicity. The impact on you is acknowledged and Unicity apologizes," it read.

"Unicity thanks you for bringing this incident to its attention and will address cultural sensitivity issues with the owners and their employees."

Paul Sandhu, an acting manager with Unicity, told CBC the complaint was about a specific driver, not about the dispatch company.

He said Unicity responded in what it considers an appropriate manner given the circumstances.

Driver sent personal apology

The driver of the cab also sent East a letter apologizing for his comments, East said.

"He sent me a very personal apology letter expressing his … remorse for what he said," East told CBC.

"Considering the religion that his background is from — he said it's a religion of tolerance and acceptance, and he felt devastated that that's what happened, and apologized and reassured me that this will never happen again in his career."

Despite the fact it took a month to hear back, East said he's happy with how the situation was handled.

"Once I told them what I expected, there was no hesitation by them to do exactly what I expected," he said.

"At the end of the day, they did absolutely the right thing, and I commend them for that."

East hasn't used the taxi service since the incident but said he now feels he would be open to giving the company another chance.