LOSS OF STC HITS HARD
Complaint filed over closure
A Regina woman has filed a human rights complaint against the provincial government, alleging the closure of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company discriminates against her and other indigenous women.
The lack of affordable public transportation between towns and cities puts indigenous women at greater risk of being murdered than other people, Connie Deiter said in an interview. She points to studies of British Columbia’s Highway of Tears, where a lack of public transportation leading to hitchhiking has been linked to the murder or disappearance of 50 indigenous girls and women between Prince George and Prince Rupert since 1970.
“Because there’s such a high risk for us hitchhiking, it impacts us at a greater degree than other women,” Deiter said. “The closure will have devastating consequences for those who have been taking the bus and live in poverty, can’t afford a vehicle and have no access to services. We live in a climate where the weather will kill you. People will die as a consequence of closing STC,” Deiter wrote in a recent letter to the editor of the Regina Leader-Post.
Indigenous women are more likely to live in poverty than the rest of the female population and RCMP statistics have shown they face higher rates of murder by strangers than non-native women, she said.
Deiter has a home about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina but works in the city. She travelled to Regina by STC several times and noticed at least one or two other indigenous women on the buses each time, she said.
Jo-Anne Dusel, executive director of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Shelters, said a Statistics Canada report released this week shows indigenous woman are six times more likely to experience violence than non-indigenous women and three times more likely to experience partner violence.
“The fact is many indigenous women live on reserves in rural areas where access to transportation is limited at best and STC is a lifeline for people who need to flee a dangerous situation,” Dusel said.
“I’m hearing from people that there is increased hitchhiking occurring already in northern Saskatchewan since STC closed at the end of May.”
During her 20 years working at a Moose Jaw shelter, “many, many, many women came to us on the bus service,” Dusel said.
Complaints to the Saskatchewan Human Right Commission are checked to ensure they fall within the protected grounds. The commission’s website outlines a process that attempts to find resolution through mediation and settlement. If that doesn’t work, staff investigate the facts and the chief commissioner decides whether the case should be dismissed, sent to a hearing or dealt with in another way.
Hearings in Court of Queen’s Bench result in binding decisions.
A Saskatchewan government spokesperson said no one will comment on the matter while it is before the commission.