Accessing public transit is a human right
To the Expositor:
This is in response to statements made by Central Manitoulin Mayor Richard Stephens regarding United Manitoulin Island Transit Co-operative Inc. (UMIT) in the February 22, 2023 Manitoulin Expositor article ‘Central Manitoulin is hopeful ministry will cover UMIT costs.’ First, UMIT is appreciative that the municipality of Central Manitoulin stepped forward at the outset to sponsor UMIT’s provision of transit services to Manitoulin.
The February 22 article attempts to portray UMIT as a thieving, irresponsible and lackadaisical entity. In fact, the opposite is true—UMIT had a hard-working, diplomatic executive director, who provided a customer-friendly voice to public inquiries. UMIT has a volunteer board consisting of both Anishinaabe and non-Anishinaabe members. UMIT has a website which provides information to the public about the transit services. UMIT has a working agreement with a bus company.
UMIT is a co-operative entity. It is also bi-cultural in an island society that is sometimes torn apart by racism and discrimination against the Other. UMIT’s operating principles are grounded in Anishinaabe customs of hearing and listening to members, and of decision-making by consensus. Robert’s Rules of Order are a zhaaganaash creation that has no place in inter-cultural co-operation. To suggest that UMIT is irresponsible because UMIT does not use the white man’s systems of governance, is egregious in the extreme.
However, natural phenomena and other events confronted UMIT right from the beginning. Recall that during the time of the UMIT bus launch, the entire world was in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. People were instructed to remain at home, wear masks, use hand sanitizer, and limit their contact with the public. Public events were cancelled. Service agencies closed their physical doors while at the same time continuing to provide services. No wonder then, that bus ridership was not what it could have been or should have been. Other transit organizations in Canada faced deficits of their own in recovering from the pandemic, in the millions of dollars.
Manitoulin Island is on the 1850 Robinson Huron Treaty Territory. A treaty is an international legally binding agreement made between sovereign nations. The Robinson Huron Treaty was made between the Anishinaabek of this region and the British Crown. As a result of that agreement, $4 per year per person is paid to treaty beneficiaries. These days $4 per year per person barely covers the cost of a cup of coffee, never mind the value of the lands taken, the value of the resources extracted, and the value of other peoples using our waters (Lake Huron).
I do not want to criticize a small government for not being able to make a decision about creating a new landfill site, or about getting mired in arguments about a lilac bush. But all small governments are confronting harsh realities like the high cost of food, the lack of affordable housing, and low-income, on-the-ground, community people not having access to public transit. UMIT provides a transit service in a rural area. In Ontario, accessing a public transit service is a human right.
One image remains clear to me about UMIT’s provision of service—that is of the bus driver opening the rear door of the bus to extract a wheelchair for a passenger. Another image is of the UMIT bus travelling north on Highway 6 after having brought students back to Wiikwemkoong from their college in M’Chigeeng.
I am a senior, living on modest means, on an Indian reserve. I am prepared to pay $4 per month for the remainder of my natural life to pay down the deficit alleged to have been incurred by UMIT providing a needed public service.
Mii sa iw.
Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat, president UMIT
Click here for February 22 article
https://www.manitoulin.com/central-manitoulin-is-hopeful-ministry-will-cover-umit-costs/
