About the Homicides Project
History of the Project
The Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides project has its origin in research that Charles Rathbone (a San Francisco taxi owner/driver) carried out over a number of years up to the end
of 1997 using news reports and other sources to identify cases of taxi drivers murdered on the job and to gather information about them. Mr. Rathbone created a database of
several hundred cases including about 60 from Canada.
Terry Smythe, founder and long-time moderator of TAXI-L, posted the names of the victims from Mr. Rathbone's database on the TAXI-L web site as the "In Memoriam" list.
Later, Mr. Smythe systematically mined several years of TAXI-L discussion archives for references to cases from January 1, 1998 to 2003. Nearly all the cases posted to TAXI-L
up to 2003 were supplied by Mr. Smythe himself as part of his efforts to harvest significant taxi-related news items from the Web. He used this ongoing update to the In
Memoriam list to calculate a rough murder rate for taxi drivers, with the proviso that the rate covers only reported cases. The fact is that many homicides escape reporting by
the major news media. In 2003 Mr. Smythe turned over maintenance of the lists to Mr. Rathbone, who amalgamated them into one list on the renamed Taxi-Library.org site.
The Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides project is based on these earlier research efforts and seeks to gather information on all job-related Canadian taxi driver homicides.
As with the Rathbone and Smythe projects, the purpose is
- to commemorate the victims, who are all too frequently lost from view;
- to help document the seriousness of the problem of violence to taxi drivers; and
- to examine details of cases to see if they suggest means of avoiding similar tragedies in the future.
The URL for the In Taxi-Library Memoriam list is:
www.Taxi-Library.org/murdrate.htm
Names of Killers
Names of killers and suspects are deliberately omitted from these pages. Our intended focus is the victims of violence. Identifying killers is like inviting them to the
funeral.
Criteria for Inclusion
As the Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides list has grown over the years it has occasionally been difficult to decide whether or not to include certain cases. After some thought it
has seemed most helpful for research purposes, and for the purpose of commemorating drivers killed in the line of duty, to adopt two broad criteria for including homicides:
- (1) The victim was on duty as a taxi driver at the time of the homicide, or
- (2) The victim's occupation put him or her in harm's way.
The case notes will hopefully provide researchers with essential details, or at least leads to additional information. Researchers will then be able to select those cases that
fit their own purposes and requirements.
Homicide Categories
Within the two broad criteria noted under
Criteria for Inclusion, above, the cases have been grouped into five categories (A to E):
- Category A: Random. This is the largest category (147 out of 164 deaths). The drivers in this category have apparently been the random victims of opportunistic
crime -- robberies, sexual assault, or attacks arising from some other impersonal motive.
- Category B: Personal. The victims in this category were targeted for personal motives, such as revenge. Six cases fall into this category:
Thualfikar Alattiya
Alireza Ebrahimian
Donald Lanthier
Mohammadullah Saighani
Gurmeet Singh Waraich
Brian Russell Wheldon
- Category C: Indirect. The drivers in this category were victims of other crimes; for example, they were killed because they witnessed a crime. Three cases fall into
this category:
Lucien Lambert
Keith Edward McCallum
Mohamad (Mo) Nakib-Arbaji
Yves Pigeon
- Category D: Other. Victims who were killed while actually or technically on duty but for some reason don't seem to fall into categories (A), (B) or (C):
Richard Coté
(killed in drug dispute).
Augustin Gagnier
(killed after intervening in a street fight)
Fred Genesee
(murdered by drinking companions).
Leo Henningham
(killed in a fight with another driver).
Jacques Labossière
(killed in drug dispute).
Hugh J. Scott
(killed in a fight).
- Category E: Unknown. Not enough information is yet available to determine that homicide is occupational, or to place it in categories A to D. One case falls into
this category:
Michel Boulianne
It has seemed preferable to include all cases that fit into the two broad criteria rather than to risk excluding cases that deserve mention.
Differing criteria employed by Statistics Canada's Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics and by the Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides list have resulted in some discrepancies in
the cases covered (see
Canadian Centre for Jusice Statistics.)
Acknowledgements
An endeavour like the Canadian Homicides Project relies on the varied contributions of many individuals and organizations. The following list is a partial acknowledgement of
these contributions.
The list contains names of libraries whose resources we consulted along the way and found especially helpful.
But in most cases where we have listed libraries and other insitutions, the real thanks should go to individuals within these organizations who took the time to answer queries
on specific cases or (where confidentiality restrictions applied) to provide helpful background or benchmark information on taxi driver homicides in general.
However, recognizing that some people are sensitive about having their names and workplaces publicised on a web page, we will not list these individuals here until we have been
given specific permission to do so. Names will be added as permission is granted.
Needless to say, none of the organizations or individuals here is rsponsible for the content of this site or for opinions expressed in any of its pages.
- Kimberly Berry, Halifax
- Canadian Institute for Justice Statistics
- Manitoba Legislative Library, Winnipeg
- Charles Rathbone, San Francisco
- Fredericton Public Library
- Greater Victoria Public Library
- Kitchener Public Library
- Maple Ridge Times
- Pembroke Public Library
- Red River College Library, Winnipeg
- Terry Smythe, Winnipeg.
- Société historique de la Côte Nord, Baie Comeau
- Terry Smythe, Winnipeg.
- Thunder Bay Public Library: Brodie Reference Library
- University of Alberta Libraries, Edmonton
- University of Manitoba Libraries, Winnipeg
- University of Saskatchewan Libraries, Saskatoon
- University of Winnipeg Library
- Windsor Public Library
- Winnipeg Public Library
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