Tunnel bus passenger says he was discriminated against and abandoned at border

A Brampton, Ont., man says he was discriminated against by a driver of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Bus and abandoned at a border crossing, but after a Transit Windsor investigation, a city spokesperson says the allegations are unfounded. 

Kaanayo Nwachukwu says he "was dumped in the middle of nowhere" after taking the tunnel bus across the border and visiting the customs office in Canada.

"The only… crime I committed was being Black."

Nwachukwu says he got late notice of his son's graduation date and so rushed back from a business trip in Atlanta to attend the ceremony on June 26. 

He says the driver of a bus he took from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport suggested he use the tunnel bus to get across the border to Windsor to pick up his rental car and complete his trip to St. Thomas.

When he first boarded the tunnel bus, he says he asked to pay with a $50 US bill but the driver, who was white, informed him he had to use exact change to board the bus. 

"The way he answered me, it was like we were already having a problem before," Nwachukwu said.

During the exchange, Nwachukwu says the driver also repeatedly said something to the effect of "Who knows what the customs are gonna hold you for?" 

"I said, 'Sir, I am a Canadian citizen, I am not a criminal, I have never committed crimes before, so I don't know why you are thinking this.'"

Nwachukwu says the driver raised his voice and "practically" kicked him off the bus.

He then had to wait an hour for the bus to return during which time he got change to pay for the bus. He says when he boarded he noticed it was the same driver.

Once they arrived at the customs facility on the other side of the tunnel Nwachukwu says he held the door for people to go ahead of him, including the driver.

He says he cleared customs last but when he and Dewayne Boyd, who was right in front of him in line came out, the bus was gone with no announcement.

"I was completely disoriented. I didn't know Windsor," he said.

"We looked around [and] we couldn't find the bus.

"He didn't leave the other white people in the bus behind. He left only the two Black people in his bus behind." 

A couple of days later, as Nwachukwu returned to Detroit to fly back to Atlanta, he encountered the same tunnel bus driver on the way back and asked if there had been a mistake or some sort of miscommunication. He says the driver told him there was a rule that he could only wait for three minutes at the border. 

He also says that he told the driver he didn't understand why it was only the Black passengers that were left behind and at that point the driver told him to 'just walk out and go."

"He told me 'just walk out and go'."

Nwachukwu told the CBC he was only in the customs office for about five minutes or so.

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While a spokesperson for Transit Windsor said the outcome of its investigation was that the complaint was "unfounded," the agency did not directly address whether it was referring Nwachukwu's allegations of racial discrimination.

Tyson Cragg, the executive director of Transit Windsor, says the tunnel bus runs on a fixed route on a schedule and does not take passenger counts.

"Because Transit Windsor has no control or influence over the processing of passengers by [Canada Border Services Agency], once the bus has waited out its time, it departs on its regular route," Cragg wrote in a statement to CBC News.

"A passenger who is left behind due to a delay in CBSA processing would have to take the next bus or find alternative arrangements."

Different experiences

Nwachukwu says Boyd helped him out by paying for an Uber to get him to the airport, where he was picking up a rental car.

Boyd says he didn't have any sort of negative interaction with the driver before arriving at the border. 

"[Nwachuku] wanted to say that the guy acted this way toward him particularly because he was Black," Boyd told the CBC.

"I was telling [Nwachukwu], hey brah. We go through this practically every day of our lives here, particularly in America." 

Boyd said his experiences in Canada have been much different. 

"From our perspective, being in the Detroit area and Windsor just across the river, it's just a world of difference in that kind of attitude.

"I said 'maybe the driver is just having a bad day.'"

Nwachukwu says Transit Windsor never responded to an email he sent asking for an investigation.

"I just don't know why he would treat me that way," Nwachukwu said.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.