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Greyhound’s exit will put abused women at greater risk, advocates warn

By: Maggie Macintosh

Greyhound Canada’s decision to abandon service on the Prairies will make it even more difficult for northern Manitoba women and their children to escape domestic abuse and access shelters, advocates warn.

“We’re putting women and children in danger with the absence of safe and reliable transit,” said Dawna Pritchard, executive director at Aurora House in The Pas, one of the only women’s shelters in the northern part of the province.

Greyhound announced Monday that it is ending service in the fall between British Columbia and northwestern Ontario. 

Not only do women and children fleeing violence often rely on Greyhound routes to escape to Aurora House and shelters in southern Manitoba, but Pritchard said many also travel on the bus line’s routes to seek safety in other communities, get to hospitals and counselling appointments and, later, attend court hearings.

Transportation options for women in such circumstances are already scarce, she said, adding shelters simply don’t have room in their budgets to cover expensive taxi slips.

The result will be women in desperate situations making high-risk decisions, such as hitching rides.

“So we’re looking at that same kind of worrisome issue that arises with the Highway of Tears in B.C., where there is inadequate transportation,” she said. “So you’re putting women and children at risk.”

In a statement released Tuesday, the Native Women’s Association of Canada said the organization is “deeply concerned” for Indigenous women in rural communities and northern regions because of Greyhound’s decision.

Fewer transportation options will worsen the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, NWAC wrote.

“The lack of safe transportation in and out of communities creates more vulnerability for Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people by encouraging travellers to resort to less safe means of transportation such as hitchhiking or walking unsafe highways,” the statement said. 

Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett could not be reached for comment and her office did not provide a response to the statement.

Some women won’t be able to leave at all, said Kaitlin Bardswich, communications and development co-ordinator at Women’s Shelters Canada.

Bardswich noted the rates of domestic violence are higher in the North and territories in Canada while services are usually located in urban areas. According to the WSC, the average area served by rural shelters is equivalent — in square kilometres — to Belgium in size.

“Transportation is already a huge issue with rural shelters. With this, it’s going to become an even bigger issue,” she said.

“One of the factors that causes women to stay in abusive situations is the idea that they can’t leave, whether that’s financial or physical,” she said, adding that fewer ways to leave town means women and children’s lives are “in jeopardy.”

Laura Matychuk, who chairs the board that oversees Genesis House women’s shelter in Winkler, said the route cuts make dangerous situations even worse.

“We’re just taking options away from people, and it’s people who need to get out of dangerous circumstances,” she said.

Bardswich said WSC hopes governments will provide more funding — specifically for transportation — to women’s shelters now that Greyhound is abandoning Western Canada.

Greyhound’s decision surprised union and workers

By: Larry Kusch

Greyhound didn’t demand concessions from its employees in the days and weeks leading to its decision to shut freight and passenger service in Western Canada — nor did it offer hints of its intentions, the union representing 440 affected workers says.

Eric Carr, president and business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1374, said he learned of the transportation giant’s intentions late Sunday evening. Affected employees include about 75 bus drivers, mechanics, pickup and delivery drivers and freight handlers in Winnipeg and Thompson.

Carr said in an interview from Calgary Tuesday there was a feeling among workers that Greyhound may one day scale back service, concentrating on lucrative regional routes that include Winnipeg to Thompson, Calgary to Edmonton and Vancouver to Kelowna.

Canadian employees suspected that routes with “big dead areas” such as Winnipeg to Thunder Bay and Thunder Bay to White River, Ont., could be on the chopping block, he said.

“We felt that those kinds of spots would be gone, but nobody was feeling that the entire region (from Sudbury to the West Coast) would be shut down,” Carr said.

He said when he asked company officials late Sunday why they didn’t meet with the union to discuss its collective agreement or hours of work, he was told that Greyhound felt that the economic challenges of operating in Western Canada were insurmountable.

“They never came to the union to have any discussions prior to making this announcement on Monday,” he said.

Carr said he was told the only way the company could see itself operating in Western Canada in the future is if it was subsidized to the same extent as Via Rail.

Greyhound didn’t hint that it was holding out for such subsidies when it announced Monday that it was discontinuing service in the West as of Oct. 31. Stuart Kendrick, Greyhound Canada’s senior vice-president, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The Manitoba government made it clear on Monday that it would not consider any corporate handouts. Instead, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said he hoped new or existing carriers, including ones operated by First Nations, would fill the service gap.

Carr said he has received assurances that Greyhound will continue to fund Canadian employees’ defined benefits pension plan. He said that will be a relief to the soon-to-be-laid-off workers, many of whom have 20-30 years service with the company.

He said Texas-based Greyhound has always treated its Canadian operations like “a poor cousin.” At one time, he noted, there were 1,500 Greyhound workers in Western Canada.

Carr said the union believes there is a viable intercity bus business in Western Canada and that there are opportunities for new service providers to emerge.

Greyhound first threatened to withdraw its services from Manitoba in 2009. The province agreed to millions of dollars in subsidies over the next few years to maintain the service. In 2012, Manitoba eased its regulatory grip on the company, allowing it to drop unprofitable lines. Greyhound was also able to withdraw service on any route in Manitoba after giving 90 days notice.

Meanwhile, Greyhound’s departure this fall raises the question of what will become of its 30,000-square-foot facility at the Richardson International Airport, constructed at a cost of $7 million a decade ago. Greyhound had signed a 40-year lease on the building.

Michael Badejo, a spokesman for the Winnipeg Airports Authority, said the WAA expects to discuss the matter soon with Greyhound.

“They’re still abiding by their agreement and we’ll have additional discussions with them in the coming days before their action comes into effect in the fall,” Badejo said in an email. He said the airports authority is unable to share details of the lease agreement with Greyhound “at the moment.”

A spokeswoman for Greyhound said in an email that the company has requested a meeting with the WAA to discuss options regarding the lease. “Greyhound intends to fulfil all its responsibilities while it pursues available options,” which could include arranging for a sublease, the spokeswoman said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Larry Kusch
Legislature reporter

Larry Kusch didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until he attended a high school newspaper editor’s workshop in Regina in the summer of 1969 and listened to a university student speak glowingly about the journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa.

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Maggie Macintosh
Reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Winnipeg Free Press. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

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