Support efforts to ensure that Indigenous people and members of other racialized and marginalized communities have access to safe, affordable, and reliable transportation throughout the city.

Barrier: Accessible public transportation not readily available

While there exists a public transportation service for those with additional access needs in St. John’s, community members have noted barriers to accessing this service, including long wait times and difficulties in proving their disability in order to qualify. This is a priority for many of the Indigenous community members who contributed to this year’s Reconciliation Report.

Barrier: Transportation a need among those recently released from incarceration

Many individuals released from incarceration have court-ordered conditions that may require physically appearing at several locations around St. John’s. These may include healthcare appointments, required programming, court dates, and regular check-ins. Depending on one’s housing arrangements, attending all of these appointments using public transportation can be extremely difficult. Community members have expressed the difficulties of attending all of the necessary appointments and meeting all of their conditions while depending on the public transportation system. Long transit times and multiple transfers can add to the overall difficulty of reintegration after being discharged. Increased public transportation access would help these individuals reintegrate safely with the community.

PAL Airlines offers reduced tickets for residents of communities in Northern Labrador

Through the Labrador Air Access Program (LAAP), the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador offers a 50% discount on flights from eligible communities along the North Coast of Labrador to regional centres. This is an important piece of more affordable transportation for Indigenous residents in these areas. Some Indigenous community members in St. John’s have called for a similar program to support people who have relocated from rural or remote Indigenous communities. This support would be especially important for those whose relocation was not voluntary, including people removed from their home communities through the child welfare system and those required to relocate to access healthcare, such as dialysis, that is unavailable closer to home.

For Metrobus Transit:

• Begin building relationships with First Light and the urban Indigenous community to help guide planning in service delivery in future years.