Councillors to consider fining taxi, ride-hailing company drivers who don’t report suspected exploitation crimes

Taxi and ride-hailing services drivers could soon be facing fines if they believe they’ve had victims of human trafficking or sexual exploitation as passengers and failed to alert police.

The city’s public works committee will discuss a recommendation by civic staff next week to amend the Vehicle for Hire bylaw to create a new $500 fine that could be imposed in such situations.

Joy Smith, founder of the foundation in her name that fights human trafficking in Canada and provides support to survivors, said she believes the fine will have an impact.

“I welcome this, I think it’s wonderful,” Smith said Thursday. “We train drivers for what to look for. They need to report. They are on the front lines — they have to report. They could save a life.”

Smith, a former Manitoba MLA and federal MP, noted someone reported to her foundation recently that they “watched cabs dropping off girls constantly” at a nearby residence.

“We called the police and a trafficking ring was shut down,” she said.

“But the taxi drivers should have been the ones who reported it to police, not us… as long as they report it, they’ve done their job. They could be wrong, but often they are not.”

Public works committee chair Coun. Janice Lukes said the former Progressive Conservative government passed the Child Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking Act in 2022, making it a requirement for drivers to report such suspicions.

Lukes (Waverley West) said it would be a long process through the courts if a driver was charged for not reporting an incident.

“But, if a bylaw officer, for example, received a recording with a person saying ‘I’m being trafficked, get me help,’ and the driver didn’t report it, the bylaw officer could issue a fine,” she said.

“I personally find the fine too low, because human trafficking is a heinous crime, but we will talk about it at the public works meeting.”

In a statement, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the government is committed to battling human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Wiebe said the Vehicles for Hire Act gives municipalities the power to create bylaws for the operation of the service in their communities and the province is “always happy to see municipalities exercising their authority to create bylaws that are tailored to the needs of their respective communities.”

Another amendment would impose a fine on a taxi driver who activates the meter before the passenger enters the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Grant Heather, manager of the city’s vehicle for hire unit, said 2025 is shaping up to be a record year for hired drivers.

“We had 10.3 million vehicle for hire trips last year and we fully anticipate we will have 12 million trips this year,” Heather said. “That’s a huge number for a city the size of Winnipeg. That means on average there are 35,000 trips taken every day of the year.

“We are blown away by these results.”

Heather said ride-hailing services accounted for 69.3 per cent of the trips taken up to the end of September.

When the vehicle for hire unit was created by the city in 2018, 4.3 million trips were recorded. While the numbers dipped during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, they have steadily been rising since then.

More people travelling to and from the airport, the increasing cost of vehicle ownership and the ease of being driven to sport and concert events are some of the reasons for the increase, he said.

“People are changing their behaviour,” he said.

Heather said there are currently 600 licensed cabs in the city, 1,958 taxi-driver licences issued and 2,984 ride-hailing services drivers registered.

But he said while most taxi operators work full time, many people drive for ride-hailing companies do so when it’s convenient for them.

“It’s the gig economy,” Heather said. “They could be adding supplementary income or (it’s) students wanting to pay some bills.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca