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Northern Canada is sure to be where the impact is felt most deeply, said Sheila North, grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and candidate for chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

“I think this is abandoning the North,” she said, citing a high demand in the region for transportation services — “especially for those that live in poverty, but also who have medical needs that need to get down to the south for resources that are not accessible in the North.”

Darlene Okemaysim-Sicotte, the co-chair of Saskatchewan-based Women Walking Together, described Greyhound’s decision as triggering a “northern crisis.”

“It’s going to affect a lot of people (who will be) very, very isolated, especially the vulnerable people who have to deal with poverty and mental health and physical health issues that need treatment,” Okemaysim-Sicotte said.

She cited testimony already given at the ongoing national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, where witnesses have talked at length about a chronic lack of transportation in more remote regions of the country. Without Greyhound, fleeing domestic violence will be all but impossible for a lot of women, she warned.

Kendrick said the move is going to cost some 415 jobs and impact an estimated two million consumers.

The company is blaming a 41 per cent decline in ridership since 2010, persistent competition from subsidized national and inter-regional passenger transportation services, the growth of new low-cost airlines, regulatory constraints and the continued growth of car ownership.