Reinstate the Algoma Passenger Train
In late 2013, Transport Canada abruptly cancelled remote service funding for passenger trains in the Algoma Region, leading to the cancellation of the train that served communities and First Nations between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst.
The train’s cancellation cost the region $48 million per year in lost jobs, business and tourism. It also cut off many Indigenous communities from access to their traditional territories for harvesting and other purposes.
Since that time, the Missanabie Cree First Nation, working with other First Nations and regional municipalities, has prepared a business plan to reinstate the Mask-wa Oo-ta-ban “Bear Train”, obtained a rail operating license, and is ready to follow the example of other Indigenous-owned passenger rail operations in Canada, taking a railway that was once a tool of colonization and transforming it into an instrument of reconciliation, providing essential transportation infrastructure and supporting economic development for the First Nations through whose territories it passes.
Reinstating the train would be in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation to which Canada is committed.
The federal government recently announced a new commitment to public transport for rural and Indigenous communities, so this would be an ideal time for the federal government to reinstate funding for the Algoma passenger train service.
Let your federal election candidates know it is time to act by sending a letter today.
- Mask-wa Oo-ta-ban, the Bear Train
- Business Plan
- Algoma Central Railway Passenger Rail Service Economic Impact Assessment - BDO, 2014
- Gauthier sees railway partnerships developing with Watco - Sault Star
This campaign to fund the Bear Train and improve train services in northern Ontario is a joint effort by the Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains, Transport Action Ontario and Transport Action Canada. These are all volunteer organizations who advocate better public transport.