The Dangerous Intersection of Bias and Enforcement on Our Transit Lines
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
An analysis of how racial profiling and a lack of disability awareness in transit enforcement create systemic barriers for the city's most vulnerable.
OPINION: The promise of a city is its mobility, but for many, the transit system is a site of potential trauma. When racial profiling intersects with a failure to recognize invisible disabilities, a simple transit error can transform into a violent encounter.
As CBC Toronto first reported, a Newmarket mother alleges that her 21-year-old Black son, who lives with auditory processing and verbal comprehension disabilities, was subjected to excessive force by York Region Transit fare inspectors on July 30. The mother asserts her son made an honest mistake by forgetting to tap his Presto card in Newmarket after previously tapping at Union Station and during a GO bus transfer.
The encounter escalated when her son attempted to walk away—a reaction she describes as an automatic response to authority figures common for those with his disabilities. She alleges that one of three inspectors began shouting, while others intervened to grab his arm. The young man was reportedly handcuffed and thrown to the ground, resulting in scrapes and bruises. Because he was handcuffed, he could not use his phone to prove he had tapped his card, which the mother notes likely fell within the Ontario One Fare Program's transfer limit.
The young man ultimately received tickets for failure to pay a fare and failure to show identification. His mother maintains the encounter would not have unfolded the same way had the passenger been white.
Richard Montoya, York Region’s director of transit operations, stated the region takes these allegations seriously and is cooperating with an investigation by the York police’s professional standards bureau. However, this incident highlights a broader systemic failure. As reported by CBC Toronto, the province has moved to increase first-time fare evasion fines on GO Transit and UP Express by over 450 percent, while the solicitor general indicated special constables will be granted more power to arrest individuals for illegal drug use on transit.
Harini Sivalingam, director of the equality program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), warns that these significant powers are not accompanied by sufficient independent oversight. Sivalingam argues for the creation of a provincewide independent civilian body to oversee transit officers. The Red Coalition has also joined the family in calling for an independent review of the incident.
Until there is independent, civilian-led accountability, the transit system will continue to weaponize enforcement against the most vulnerable.