Taxi safety survey finds most Yukon women unsure of where to report violence or harassment

A new survey from the Yukon Women's Coalition finds that most victims of sexual or verbal harassment in a Whitehorse cab don't know how or where to report it.

That's one of many major revelations from the first survey on taxi safety conducted in the territory. 

"People don't think that their information will be either kept safe or responded to appropriately," says Aja Mason, the executive director of the Yukon Status of Women Council. 

"They don't believe that any meaningful change will come out of reporting." 

The survey, released online, asked respondents to answer a mix of multiple selection and open-ended questions about their experiences in Whitehorse cabs. The coalition also collected data including the age, ethnicity and gender identity of their respondents — but did not record their names so the survey could stay anonymous. 

Over 170 people responded, a "really large" sample size for the Yukon, according to Mason. The vast majority, 160, of those respondents identified as women. 

Fifty-five per cent of respondents did not know they could file reports to Whitehorse bylaw services if they were subjected to violence or harassment in a taxi. 

Another 14 per cent say they knew they could report it to bylaw, but didn't want to because they "didn't feel it was reportable," or "nothing is ever done." 

These numbers, the report says, show that the city needs to take more action to "raise public awareness of the role Bylaw Services" play in enforcing the taxi industry. 

Another major finding from the survey is that Indigenous respondents reported proportionally higher rates of violence, harassment or encounters that made them feel more unsafe than their non-Indigenous counterparts, Mason says.

Indigenous women reported being harassed at almost three times the rate of non-Indigenous respondents — 39 per cent for Indigenous women compared to 13 per cent for non-Indigenous. 

Half of all Indigenous respondents say harassment or violence was targeted —  almost five times that of all other survey respondents. 

Indigenous women also reported more cases of sexual assault or harassment in taxis. Thirty-one per cent of all Indigenous respondents say they had been sexually harassed, compared to 14 per cent of non-Indigenous respondents. 

Fourteen per cent of Indigenous respondents reported being sexually touched or assaulted by a taxi driver compared to five per cent of non-Indigenous respondents.