Who Drives a Taxi in Canada?
4. CMA profile
Table 7 shows that among seven of the eight selected Canadian CMAs, Hamilton being the exception, immigrants account for at least 60% of all taxi drivers. In Toronto and Vancouver, more than 80% of taxi drivers are immigrants. Outside of these eight CMAs, immigrant taxi drivers only account for a small share of taxi drivers (17.5%). In most CMAs, a vast majority of taxi drivers are established immigrants, but in Calgary, which is a popular destination of new immigrants in recent years, immigrant taxi drivers who arrived after 1995 account for a much larger percentage (43.9%) than in the main immigrant receiving CMAs, Toronto (28.3%) and Montreal (16.3%).
| CMA | Total Number | Total in Canada | Total Immigrants | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian born (%) | Immigrants (%) | Established immigrants (%) | Recent immigrants (%) | Very recent immigrants (%) | ||
| Total in Canada | 50,110 | 49.9 | 50.1 | 73 | 15.9 | 10.7 |
| Montreal | 7,185 | 40.4 | 59.6 | 83.9 | 9.5 | 6.8 |
| Ottawa-Gatineau | 2,010 | 36.8 | 63.2 | 82.3 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| Toronto | 11,265 | 17.6 | 82.5 | 71.7 | 16.8 | 11.5 |
| Hamilton | 1,115 | 53.4 | 46.6 | 66.3 | 22.1 | 11.5 |
| Winnipeg | 1,070 | 37.4 | 62.6 | 68.7 | 16.4 | 14.9 |
| Calgary | 2,105 | 32.1 | 67.9 | 56.3 | 25.8 | 18.1 |
| Edmonton | 2,120 | 35.6 | 64.4 | 74.7 | 16.5 | 8.8 |
| Vancouver | 3,530 | 19.3 | 80.7 | 70.2 | 18.6 | 11.4 |
| Other (other CMAs and non-CMAs) | 19,705 | 82.5 | 17.5 | 73.2 | 16.1 | 10.9 |
Source: 2006 Census.
The concentration of immigrants from different source countries in the taxi driving occupation varies among CMAs. In Montreal, a majority of immigrant taxi drivers are from countries where French is widely spoken. For example, one third of immigrant taxi drivers in Montreal were born in Haiti, 18.7% and 5.6% were born in Lebanon and Algeria, respectively.
In Vancouver, immigrants from India are the predominant force in the taxi driving occupation. Taxi drivers born in India contribute 63.3% of immigrant taxi drivers and 51.1% of all taxi drivers in the CMA. The situation in Winnipeg is similar to Vancouver. Taxi drivers who were born in India account for 73.9% of immigrant taxi drivers and 46.3% of all taxi drivers in the CMA.
In Calgary, Toronto and Hamilton, India is also the top source country of immigrant taxi drivers, but the percentages are much lower. Immigrants from Pakistan also contribute a significant portion. Taxi drivers from these two countries together account for 64.3%, 44.8% and 39.5% of the immigrant taxi drivers in these three CMAs respectively, or 43.7%, 37.0% and 18.4% of all taxi drivers.
In Ottawa-Gatineau, the top source country of immigrant taxi drivers is different from the aforementioned CMAs. Immigrants born in Lebanon contribute the most, accounting for 33.1% of the immigrant taxi drivers; immigrants born in India, Iran and Ethiopia rank second, third and fourth, accounting for 13.4%, 5.5% and 4.7% respectively.
In Edmonton, the source countries of immigrant taxi drivers are more diversified. Immigrants from India contribute the largest share, but only account for 27.1% of immigrant taxi drivers, while immigrants born in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Somalia also account for significant portions, for 11.0%, 9.9% and 8.8% respectively.
| Country | Total | Montreal | Ottawa-Gatineau | Toronto | Hamilton | Winnipeg | Calgary | Edmonton | Vancouver | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 25,125 | 4,280 | 1,270 | 9,290 | 520 | 670 | 1,430 | 1,365 | 2,850 | 3,450 |
| India | 24.8 | 1.2 | 13.4 | 23.4 | 21.2 | 73.9 | 39.5 | 27.1 | 63.3 | 14.1 |
| Pakistan | 11.8 | 0.6 | F | 21.4 | 18.3 | x | 24.8 | 4.0 | 7.5 | 5.7 |
| Lebanon | 7.1 | 18.7 | 33.1 | 2.3 | F | F | x | 9.9 | F | 4.6 |
| Haiti | 5.8 | 33.5 | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F |
| Iran | 4.1 | 6.4 | 5.5 | 4.0 | F | F | F | 2.9 | 5.3 | 3.3 |
| United Kingdom | 3.3 | F | F | 2.4 | 7.7 | F | 1.4 | x | 2.5 | 12.8 |
| Somalia, Republic of | 3.1 | F | 2.8 | 3.9 | F | F | 1.7 | 8.8 | F | 5.4 |
| Ethiopia | 3.0 | F | 4.7 | 4.3 | F | F | 4.5 | 11.0 | F | 1.3 |
| Bangladesh | 2.0 | F | 1.6 | 3.8 | x | F | F | F | 2.5 | F |
| Greece | 1.7 | 3.7 | F | 2.0 | F | F | F | F | F | x |
| Eritrea | 1.5 | F | 3.1 | 1.5 | F | F | 1.7 | 5.1 | F | 2.3 |
| Afghanistan | 1.4 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 2.2 | F | F | F | 0.7 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Italy | 1.4 | 4.3 | F | 0.8 | F | F | F | F | F | 1.4 |
| Sri Lanka | 1.3 | 0.2 | F | 3.0 | F | F | F | F | F | F |
| Jamaica | 1.2 | F | F | 2.7 | F | F | F | F | F | x |
| Algeria | 1.2 | 5.6 | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | 0.9 |
| Poland | 1.1 | F | F | 0.7 | F | F | 3.1 | 6.6 | F | 1.2 |
| Morocco | 1.0 | 4.4 | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | x |
| China, People's Republic of | 1.0 | F | 1.6 | 1.2 | F | F | 3.1 | F | 1.6 | F |
| Iraq | 1.0 | F | 2.0 | 0.3 | 6.7 | F | F | F | F | 2.5 |
| Other | 21.2 | 18.9 | 27.6 | 19.9 | 26.0 | 7.5 | 14.3 | 19.8 | 11.9 | 38.7 |
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