Consider needs of First Nations

Partnership is vital: advocate

Saskatchewan needed innovative ways to continue providing rural bus service instead of gutting it altogether, says an advocate for a B.C. First Nation that fought for 10 years to get transportation along a route where women have been murdered.

Dawn George, a councillor and health and wellness co-ordinator for the Takla Lake First Nation, said B.C. started bus service to communities along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears, by forming partnerships with First Nations.

“There’s a lot of challenges that First Nations people need to overcome in the entire country and I believe that it’s the people who are in government and have that political position who should also consider First Nation needs.”

Communities must be included in the development, implementation and delivery of services and even share in some of the costs to feel empowered, she said.

The Saskatchewan government’s decision to stop subsidizing rural bus service across the province will affect the health of many rural citizens — who are sometimes poor — in multiple ways because they will not have access to fresh food, doctors’ visits and connection with loved ones, she said.

The government announced in its budget last week that the Saskatchewan Transportation Company will cease operating on May 31 because ridership has declined and the province would have to pump $85 million into the service over the next five years to keep it running.

In B.C., First Nations pushed Victoria to fund transportation along Highway 16, which stretches between Prince George and Prince Rupert and where 18 women have disappeared or have been murdered since the 1970s.

The B.C. government came up with a transportation plan last year, but only after a decade of advocacy and a 2012 report from a missing women inquiry that had commissioner Wally Oppal recommending bus service along the 700-kilometre corridor.

Service is being rolled out in various communities and started in January with a 30-minute, six-daysa-week shuttle along a small section of the highway, from Moricetown and Smithers.

The province has said further route expansion announcements are planned for the coming months. It’s also offering vehicle grants and training for bus drivers between their villages and major communities along the highway.

George said the province has agreed to pay 70 per cent of the $193,000 cost while the Takla First Nation will pitch in the rest, she said, adding the bus is expected to arrive in the next couple of months.

She said the service will include a weekly five-hour trip to Prince George.