IQALUIT - Many times Khaled Alwindy said he has maintained his composure as drunken passengers in his cab have accused him of being a terrorist or told him to go back to where he came from.

Bearing three small, healing wounds on his forehead from an assault by a passenger on the night of March 31, cab driver Khaled Alwindy reported an attack against him to police. Charges are pending. Tired of what he considers racially-motivated abuse, Alwindy said he's planning to leave Iqaluit. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

When the situation escalates, as it did a few weeks ago, Alwindy, a 33-year-old originally from Libya, turns to the police. But he feels they aren't doing enough.

On March 31, a Saturday night, he picked up a male passenger in his 40s and a female passenger in her 20s outside the Legion - on this occasion both were sober, he said.

The young woman quickly complained of the smell of marijuana in his taxi, he recalled. He said he explained to her that he can't kick out passengers who get in his car reeking of pot.

At that point he said she unleashed a verbal barrage.

"You're a ****ing immigrant. I didn't tell you to kick them (customers) out," is what he remembers the female passenger saying.

He said he turned his car around and told his customers, "You need to take another cab. Get out of my car."

The male passenger, who had been quiet, then, while still seated behind him, began shouting racist remarks and struck him five times in the head, he said.

Alwindy managed to get out of his vehicle. His passengers also made their exit and left the scene, he said.

He went to the RCMP detachment and filed a complaint, and said a woman offered to be his witness.

RCMP Cpl. Randy Slawson said Thursday that an assault charge would definitely be laid as police officers have identified the accused.

Alwindy said he thinks his assailant should be charged with a hate crime.

"The RCMP's still taking it easy," he said. "Sometimes I (feel) I'm just wasting my time and nothing's going to happen."

Slawson reviewed the Criminal Code and explained that hate crimes involve inciting hatred against a group.

Because the incident in question was essentially a private (although allegedly hostile) conversation that took place inside a cab, a hate crime charge wouldn't apply, he said.

Alwindy, swearing that he's a law-abiding citizen who doesn't drink or smoke, said he has reported two other incidents to the police over the past year and a half - one where his vehicle was vandalized by an intoxicated man wielding a knife and one where an inebriated passenger grabbed his steering wheel and forced his car into a ditch. No charges were laid in either of those incidents, which Alwindy said came as a great disappointment. He said he doesn't feel protected enough by the authorities.

In addition to the verbal and physical abuse from passengers, he said it's commonplace for taxi customers to take off without paying their $5 fare.

It results in losses of $15 on an average shift, but can be as high as $50 per night, he said. Failure to pay is such a regular occurrence that cab drivers rarely notify the police of the crime, he said.

Craig Dunphy, Alwindy's boss at the cab company, said he's aware that his drivers from overseas often face more harrassment from customers. Regardless of where he's from, Dunphy said he considers Alwindy to be "a good guy."

But after much reflection, Alwindy has decided to leave Iqaluit by October.

"It's too much for me," he said. "I can't be happy."