You are waiting for the bus to get home from work. A senior racialized woman is ahead of you in line, she is visibly nervous. As she gets into the bus, she doesn’t have a bus pass and is unable to communicate in English with the driver. The bus driver doesn’t make an effort to understand and rudely tells her to get off and not hold up the line.
Possible ways to respond include…
See
- Assess the situation and see if any other passenger is paying attention.
- Make eye contact and nod to the woman as a gesture of support.
Speak
- Approach the woman, and using calm words and gestures, ask her if she is okay.
- Attempt to communicate with her to understand her situation. Be patient to not make her more nervous.
- If other passengers are nearby, ask them if they understand the language the woman is speaking and if they are able to speak with her to show support. and are able to communicate with her.
Stop
- If you feel safe, make direct comments such as the following to the bus driver:
- “Please listen to what she is trying to communicate.”
- “Please stop. She may be trying to communicate that she has lost her bus pass.”
- “That is unacceptable behaviour toward elders, we do not tolerate such comments/behaviors
Support
- Stay with the woman and ask her if she needs anything. With calm words and gestures, acknowledge her feelings.
- If within your means, offer to cover her bus fare.
- If possible, suggest some resources, from this Protocol, preferably in her language of choice, she can use to recover emotionally from this incident.
