Next | Previous | Contents | Taxi-L Home
|
|
| Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides, 1917-2007 |
|
Next | Previous | Contents | Taxi-L Home |
|
|
5C. Data Sources: British Columbia
Contents
British Columbia Workers Compensation Board The British Columbia Workers Compensation Board collects and reports data on work-related death and injury claims. Since in British Columbia taxi drivers are considered employees for WCB purposes, the Board is a good source of information on taxi driver injuries and fatalities. The Board accepted 12 claims for taxi driver deaths between 1978 (the earliest year recorded) and 2000. Nine were for homicides, the years of claim being 1978, 1979, 1984 (2 deaths), 1988 (2 deaths), 1992, 1996 and 1999. All the deaths seem to be accounted for in the Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides list. The death of Rocky Frie in November 1987 was represented by one of the 1988 claims. The WCB figures for 1978 to 2000 tally with the Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides list with two exceptions -- Jim Burton and Alan Martin-MacDonald. Prior to 1978, taxi drivers were lumped together with other related occupations, such as ambulance, hearse and pilot car drivers. Fatality claims were reported for this group in the following years between 1955 and 1977: 1955, 1956, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1973 (2), 1975, 1976 and 1977. Occupational Mortality in British Columbia, 1950 to 1978 Richard P. Gallagher and others. Occupational Mortality in British Columbia, 1950 to 1978 (Statistics Canada, April, 1986, catalogue number 84-544). Decedents aged 19 years or younger were excluded from these studies, along with a small number of death records excluded due to invalid age or sex data. Any taxi driver homicides represented by these records would have been eliminated from the study, but the likelihood of such homicides is probably small. The studies cover both work-related and non-work-related homicides. The 1950 to 1978 report analyzed 457,083 BC death records by occupation and cause of death. A total of 8 taxi driver deaths due to homicides was recorded -- 1 for the period 1950-59, 4 for 1960-69 and 3 for 1970 to 1978. Five of the eight deaths are presumably:
leaving three unidentified. A newspaper report on Thomas Man Tang's murder (Vancouver Sun, March 31, 1978) said that Mr. Tang's death was the first taxi driver murder in five years (i.e., since the death of Muk Chee Tam). Occupational Mortality in British Columbia, 1950 to 1984 Richard P. Gallagher and others. Occupational Mortality in British Columbia, 1950 to 1984 (Cancer Control Agency of British Columbia and Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia, 1989). The 1950 to 1984 report was based on an analysis of 536,636 BC death records (though data for only the 320,423 male deaths were published). A total of 11 male taxi driver homicides was recorded for the whole period, meaning 3 deaths for the period 1979 to 1984. These are presumably:
Dr. Nhu Le of the B.C. Cancer Agency reports that two female drivers were murdered between 1979 and 1984, but these would seem not to be occupational homicides. Nashter Dhahan, 25, was a homemaker and part-time cab driver. She was found strangled to death in a Vancouver parking lot on February 9, 1980. The case remains unsolved. Police suppressed details of the crime because of similarities to other murders of Vancouver women. Kathleen Joan Helm, another young woman, had driven for Bonny's Taxi in Burnaby for at least two years. She suffered some bad experiences during the night shift and when six drunken men stole her purse she decided to quit on July 9, 1984. Thirteen days later she disappeared. Her nude body was found on Cates Park Beach in North Vancouver on July 22, her face mutilated. Police suppressed details of the crime. Ms Helm had worked as a military transport driver and hoped to become a semi-trailer driver. She was survived by her mother, three sisters and a brother. Occupational Mortality in British Columbia, 1985 to 1994 Nhu D. Le and others. Occupational Mortality in British Columbia, 1985-1994 (BC Cancer Agency and Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia, 2000). Taxi drivers are lumped in with truck drivers and bus drivers. A total of 22 homicides for all three groups was recorded. Data for female deaths was not reported. The missing data were supplied by Dr. Nhu Le. A total of seven taxi driver homicides (all male) was recorded for this period, of whom four are accounted for in the Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides list:
Of the three remaining, at least two and possibly all three were not occupational homicides. Henry Janzen and Lynn Anderson were murdered in their homes in 1988 and 1994 respectively (below). This leaves one homicide unaccounted for. Henry Janzen, 28, a Matsqui taxi driver, was murdered by a 17-year-old ward of B.C. Social Services who lived in Janzen's house. Janzen was shot in the back of the head as he lay on a couch. His body was then taken to a vacant house, splashed with gasoline and set on fire. The killer first claimed to have shot Janzen in self defense but after the murder he wrote a note to his girlfriend saying he acted because Janzen had made insulting remarks about her. The man was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for ten years. Lynn Anderson, 32, a Prince George taxi driver, was killed in his home by a 19-year-old burglar on July 28, 1994. The killer was out on parole when he broke into Mr. Anderson's house. He hit his sleeping victim nine times with a hammer. Anderson regained consciousness but before he could escape the killer stabbed him 29 times. Then, while the killer was washing and changing his clothes a friend of Anderson's dropped in. The killer calmly told him he that he could find Anderson downstairs and then escaped with a knife. He next tried to abduct two women in separate incidents. Both escaped but one suffered a deep cut to her hand. The killer was convicted of murder and sentenced to life with no possibility of parole for 20 years.
|