North Shore News – November 15, 2006:
A case potentially pitting rights of the disabled against religious beliefs will be heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after a blind man from the North Shore who uses a guide dog to get around launched a complaint against North Shore Taxi.
Bruce Gilmour filed the complaint after a cab driver from North Shore Taxi refused to let his guide dog into the cab in January of this year. Gilmour, who says it’s not the first time he’s been refused service by a taxicab, is complaining that North Shore taxi discriminated against him on the basis of physical disability.
But the taxi driver, Behzad Saidy, is arguing his Muslim religious beliefs will not allow him to take dogs in his taxi, because Muslims can’t associate with dogs.
According to documents filed with the Human Rights Tribunal, North Shore Taxi said about half of their drivers are “unable to take animals in their taxis due to medical or religious reasons.”
Ok, this is a new one on me. Muslims can’t associate with dogs?
Enough already, just like the taxi drivers in Minneapolis who wouldn’t take passengers who consumed alcohol or possessed alcohol! This is why religion cannot dictate public policy…
Where in the Koran does it say you cannot have a dog in a taxi? This guy just hates blind people!
There is a wide gulf between what one may do in private and what one may do in public. In the privacy of your own home, you may gnash and wail all you like about the sins of someone using a guide dog. When you get behind that Taxi’s steering wheel, prepare to accept the public and their use of guide dogs, or women without bhurkas or head scarves, or carrying alcohol, or carrying bibles, or carrying a pound of bacon, or … .
Shouldn’t this be [isn’t it?] park of the licensing process?
To qualify for the taxi license you would have to agree to certain regulations regarding who you could refuse service to, and on what grounds you could refuse service?
Isn’t that what the last bit in the article is trying to say:
Under legislation, however, cab drivers must be willing to take certified assistance dogs.
The taxi company tries to work-around that by sending another cab if the first won’t do it?
I say make that man eat a bag of pork rinds.
this is why all religion should be banned from society, religion only generates hate.
This has been happening in Minnesota for months. They also refuse to take any passengers with alcohol or any trans-vestite/sexuals. Religious reasons are cited for their racism/discrimination.
If the complainant has to wait for a non-muslim cab driver on Vancouver’s North Shore, he may as well move…
#1 – No, just not with higher forms of life.
This link may add to the understanding of the Islamic perspective on dogs. One of the other links off this page, on the subject of sacrifice, provides more insight, in a shake your head, “what century is this again?” sort of way.
http://www.islamicconcern.com/dogs.asp
Confusing freedom to worship with inflicting your religious preferences on those who would prefer that you keep them to yourself, has simply gotten out of hand. We should be able to live and function freely in America without joining, as Rosanne Barr put it, the Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program.
Marx called religion the opiate of the masses. He was wrong. It’s the methamphetamine-PCP cocktail of the mindless.
Too bad we can’t refocus drug-war Prohibition enforcers on religion instead of on mild social intoxicants like pot. They might actually do society some good instead of harm that way.
If you guys wanna trash religious beliefs, you know I’m in…
But if these cabbies do what I did, and I bet they do, then shut up (I say this with all due respect).
Cabbies don’t have “jobs”. The cab company isn’t a public service. It’s a car rental agency. The cabbie comes in to the cab rental service and rents a car, during which time he may elect to transport passengers or, if he’s an idiot, he can use the cab to help his buddy move or he may go to the park and sleep in the cab or he may just park it in his garage for 12 hours… It makes no difference.
Driving a cab is one of the 5 most dangerous jobs you can have. You have no idea who your passengers and you spend a great deal of time (especially after dark) dealing with criminals, drug addicts and dealers, prostitutes, drunks, rednecks, and drunken redneck prostitutes who sell drugs, are addicted to drugs, and engage in criminal acts.
The cab company is under no obligation to rent their cars to anyone so if this is a problem, the cab company (who actually makes no money off fares) could just not rent to offending drivers, but if the driver is paying the lease on a cab, then he’s the captain and can refuse service to anyone, anywhere, at any time, for any reason, no matter how stupid that reason is.
Totally unrelated side note: Let me say, I would always rather take a drug dealer on his rounds than to haul an intoxicated redneck. Dealers want no attention and they know a cabbie’s dispatcher knows who is in the cab and where the cab is. They get in, tell you their route, typically already know the cost, pay up front, add a reasonable tip, and stay quiet. They even insist on you parking far away from thier stops so as to ensure that you have no contact with what they are doing. No muss, no fuss. — On the other hand, rednecks full of beer are beligerant assholes looking for a fight. I needed a crew (a call to the cops, who, by the way, answered ALWAYS in very fast time) at least one time every week. I never called cops on a drug run as there was never any need, but drunken rednecks were a coin toss as to whether I’d need the police or not. Fortunately for me, I’m kind of a bad ass 🙂 so I could usually keep a situation under control for the few minutes it would take the cops to arrive.
Another side note: Never carried a gun in the cab. Many cabbies do.
Had a few cases of this in the UK.
And, rightly in my opinion, there are anti discrimination laws in place that make it law that accommodation has to be made for blind people and thier dogs. In restaurants, theatres, places of work and taxis.
As a result several taxi drivers have been sacked and fined for just this.
Couple of points:
Was the cab company applicant asked if he/she could work with animals on the job? If not, then ask and hire a few animal friendly cabbies.
The rider has an obligation to tell the cab company he/she needs a “disability” friendly cab. And cannot expect every cab to fits their needs.
For those disabled that know, its like showing up at a hotel without a reservation and asking for a handicapped room. You cannot expect 100% of the rooms to fit your needs. Planning is expected.
I had enough of this crap. It’s high time the Pope called for another crusade. Raise the banners and swords and let us smite the evil vermin. Either that or I need to switch back to decaf. 😉
Also. The average dog is cleaner than most cabs, hospitals, restaurants, government building, movie theatres and all public rest rooms. I don’t have to hang an air freshener on my Golden. No one has ever thrown up or had sex on him, rested their sweaty buttocks on him on a hot August afternoon, he doesn’t get sneezed on by countless people daily and I have never seen a chewing gum or a boogers stuck to any part of him. The cleanest cab on the planet is a CDC worse case scenario compared to the average pet.
#16 – Couple of points:
Was the cab company applicant asked if he/she could work with animals on the job? If not, then ask and hire a few animal friendly cabbies.
The rider has an obligation to tell the cab company he/she needs a “disability” friendly cab. And cannot expect every cab to fits their needs.
I am writing about my experience with an American company, so…
There is no such thing as an applicant. You go to the municipal building, pay the fee for a hack license, then go to Cab Company A (which is just like Hertz, Avis, or Budget, only with cabs and a dispatcher who “offers” you fares as they call in) and take the car. It’s about as secure as the North Dakota/Canada border.
I never met a cabbie “in my experience” who would not allow a guide dog. I, personally, refused some animals on occassion, but never a guide animal, a crated animal, or any small controlled animals. In fact, unlike many hacks, I offered to do a lot of extra little things and extended a lot of courtesy to passengers (except drunk rednecks) because it yielded better tips and many passengers began requesting me personally – so I made out pretty well.
Why does BC have a Human Rights Tribunal?
Muslims can’t associate with dogs? Dogs are wonderful. Dogs are man’s best friends. To hell with the Muslims- I’ll take the dogs. I’m serious- if I’m driving down the street and must swerve to avoid one of a pair of obstacles, I’ll hit the damn Muslim and spare the pooch.
Can’t associate with dogs but will ride a camel with 3 humps that spits every other second.
HIPPOCRITES
They should go back to where they came from and drive there f^cking cab there if they don’t want to be part of the society they immigrated too.
14 Let me say, I would always rather take a drug dealer on his rounds than to haul an intoxicated redneck.
Makes sense. 🙂
Interesting metaphor about cab companies being like Hertz or Avis. i wasn’t aware it worked like that.
Let’s try and keep the discussion civil. Saying you’d run over an anonymous Muslim rahter than the dog is ridiculous.
This is about jerks using religious excuses for whatever reason. The real issue here is that they are getting away with it.
#24 – It probably doesn’t work that way every place, but it does in many places and it did where I drove…
Before everyone get’s all worked up, please read the link from post 12. This guy is just exploiting his own religion to stir it up a bit. Then read post 14, cause he’s dead on about cabbies. They rent a car and then drive whomever they want around.
The only issue with cabbies and their fares is when they are the only allowed transportation in a particular place… namely airports. Airports usually have only one cab / limo company, and their fares are set by zone, not by meter fare.
And fix the damned kind-a-Captcha! I’m going to post it on every article until you do! And then I’m going to email it to you Johnny boy! And then I’m going to write the editor of Ziff-Davis! And then, your city councilor, your congressman, your senator and your damned president !!!!!
Thanks!
28. I think all you have to do is make sure your OS accepts cookies. One of my computers does this, (the one which has cookies turned off) the others do not.
I have helped get a cab driver convicted for doing this under the guide dogs act of Alberta. From what I know of Canadian Human Rights law and precedent this guy doesn’t have a “prayer”.
One thing’s for sure — refusing to associate with what many Americans consider to be “man’s best friend” is really bad P.R. for these Muslims. I think they should really recheck their Koran to see if there’s another way to interpret this prohibition. Other religions like Christianity have frequently reinterpreted their own scriptures to fit in better with the surrounding culture, so maybe Muslims could find a way to make some sort of similar accommodation.
If you elect me the Grand Wizard of Islam, I promise to make this my very first fatwa. And don’t forget that my opponent is a dirty rotten bastard.