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Bill Aims to Bring Stiffer Sentences to Transit Assaulters

Savagely beaten in 2006 while driving a bus in Coquitlam, Rene Bourdin welcomes the idea.

Jeremy Nuttall 2 Oct 2014TheTyee.ca

Jeremy J. Nuttall is The Tyee's Parliament Hill reporter in Ottawa. Find his previous stories here.

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When nurses at the hospital took the clothes off of Rene Bourdin, they found his body covered with the tread pattern of running shoes, including on his head, from when he was stomped by his attacker over 50 cents.

In 2006, Bourdin was brought in after he was found unconscious at the back of the bus he'd been driving in Coquitlam.

The bus had slammed into another car after he'd been sucker punched behind the wheel.

Beaten so savagely, Bourdin doesn't know how he ended up bleeding from the ears and nose, motionless in the back of the #153 bus with broken bones and kidneys that stopped working.

He'd even been bitten during the assault.

"I woke up in the emergency room, my vision was totally blurred, I had a headache," he said, adding his sisters and mother were by his side.

"I could tell they were my family by the voice, but I couldn't make out their faces, just the silhouettes. Of course, I was wondering where the heck I was."

The 38-year transit veteran doesn't remember how the attack began, though he was learned in court it apparently stemmed from a dispute over the young man being 50 cents short on bus fare.

"I can only go by what I've been told," he said in a slow, but articulate manner. "I have no recollection of what happened."

Years later, he still takes anti-depressants and has trouble walking on top of other health issues from the assault.

The attack cut short the career he enjoyed for almost four decades.

Months after the assault, in a ruling that outraged transit workers, his attacker was found not guilty of causing bodily harm and sentenced to one day in jail, time served and probation for a less severe charge of common assault.

A search of the provincial court services website shows a man with the same name and born in the same year as Bourdin's attacker has been in court since the assault for numerous other crimes, including drug trafficking.

Taxi drivers killed more than police

According to Conservative Senator Bob Runciman, sentences for such attacks are not stiff enough. Earlier this week, his bill, having passed the Senate, was introduced to the House of Commons for discussion.

Bill S-221 aims to protect not only bus drivers, but taxi drivers, ferry employees, train workers and others.

Such legislation has been called for by British Columbia's transit operators for some time, but data from Runciman's office shows that with over 2,000 transit employees a year across Canada assaulted, it's more than just a B.C. issue.

These attacks don't "just jeopardize the safety of the driver, but other people on that highway or street and pedestrians as well," Runciman said.

The bill's passage would affect sentencing, where a judge would be able to apply a harder punishment if the perpetrator attacked a transit operator. This is similar to Canada's hate crime legislation.

According to Runciman, taxi drivers and others were added to the bill because of high rates of assault to those working in the transit industry in general, not just driving buses.

"The homicide rates for taxi drivers are higher than they are for police officers," he said. "It's a dangerous occupation."

He said much of the reason assaults on drivers take place is a lack of care for people with "psychiatric challenges," but said drunks and other trouble makers are also an issue.

With the new legislation being applied during sentencing, a judge has a tool to use on a case-by-case basis rather than a blanket minimum.

Larger campaign aims to stop assaults

TransLink Transit Police chief officer Neil Dubord said the legislation will help as part of a more encompassing approach to stopping assaults on transit operators.

So far this year, there have been 70 criminal code assaults on drivers in Vancouver; according to Dubord, that number is actually down from previous years.

"This has been on everyone's radar for at least a half a dozen years," he said.

He said drivers need to be trained in knowing what situations they should steer clear of, combined with skills to deflate volatile situations through language.

Dubord said campaigns similar to one used on constructions sites, which feature children with the message "our dad/mom works here" in an attempt to get people to slow down, were also considered to put a more human face on transit workers.

For Bourdin's part, he said such attacks reflect increasing aggression he experienced in his four decades behind the wheel. During his career, he was spat on, had coffee thrown on him, and sworn at many times.

He blames drugs, unemployment and people seeing drivers as merely an "extension of the steering wheel" for the rise in assaults since he started driving in the 1970s.

For Bourdin, Runciman's bill is a welcome piece of legislation.

"It's a step in the right direction," he said. "It's probably never going to be strong enough, but it's better than what we have now."  [Tyee]

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