THUNDER BAY – EDITORIAL – The decision to push ahead with a shelter village at Kam River Heritage Park is not the bold solution Thunder Bay needs—it’s the product of desperation, lack of vision, and chronic underinvestment in real solutions to homelessness.
Let’s be clear: Thunder Bay is in crisis. The city’s encampments are growing. Social services are stretched beyond capacity. Residents, business owners, and vulnerable individuals alike are calling—begging—for action.
But this plan, hastily approved in an 8-5 council vote, does more to check a box than it does to fix the broken system.
A Desperate Move Without a Sustainable Plan
The Kam River shelter village is being built in a floodplain, next to an active freight rail yard, with no clear operational model, no long-term funding, and no credible safety assessment completed.
It’s set to open in the fall—months too late to help during the busiest season for unsheltered homelessness.
There is no plan for what happens if it fails. No backup. No long-term strategy. Just vague reassurances that infrastructure will be “repurposed” for a park revitalization years from now.
That’s not planning; that’s spin.
Where’s the Experience? Where’s the Leadership?
Thunder Bay City Administration has never operated a shelter village. City officials have no dedicated team with experience running sanctioned encampments.
Frustrating many taxpayers is City Administration and City Council’s mindset on the rights of encampment residents.
“Encampment residents are recognized as rights holders. The Plan understands encampments as a symptom of systemic housing failures and an assertion of individuals’ right to adequate housing. This principle is put into practice by integrating encampment residentsnts into decision-making processes that affect their lives and upholding their right to shelter in the absence of truly accessible indoor sheltering options.”
What seems to have been forgotten in the rush to enhance rights are the rights of home owners, renters, building owners and business owners, who in the Downtown Fort William BIA are already struggling.
Yet those same officials are rushing into a complex social service operation without the framework or partnerships in place to guarantee safety, dignity, or success.
City Administration compared the shelter village to a commercial property. But emergency sheltering isn’t commercial—it’s social care.
It requires expertise in trauma-informed services, mental health support, addiction recovery, Indigenous cultural safety, and conflict mediation.
Without this expertise on-site from Day One, the city risks replicating the same chaos and harm it hopes to avoid.
Thunder Bay Taxpayers Deserve Accountability, Not Another Bill
This project costs $5.5 million, and while the province is chipping in just over half, Thunder Bay taxpayers are left footing the rest of the bill—along with $1.5 million in annual operating costs. And after five years? There’s no commitment from upper levels of government to continue funding. No identified legacy infrastructure use beyond vague revitalization promises.
Why are municipal taxpayers being asked to carry the weight of a national housing crisis?
Why hasn’t the city demanded stronger financial support from the federal and provincial governments? Thunder Bay taxpayers cannot continue to bear this burden alone.
We Need Systemic Change, Not Temporary Fixes
Homelessness is a complex, systemic issue—rooted in poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental health crises, and intergenerational trauma. It won’t be solved by fencing off a portion of a riverside park and calling it a village.
We need a comprehensive regional housing strategy. We need supportive housing units, not just shelter beds. We need wraparound services and properly funded mental health care.
And we need sustained advocacy at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa to make that happen.
Thunder Bay can—and must—do better. This shelter village is a short-term measure at best and a costly distraction at worst. It’s time to stop pretending otherwise.
With tent encampments growing across the city and the shelter village at Kam River Heritage Park delayed until fall, Thunder Bay’s response to homelessness is again in the spotlight. While temporary shelters and enforcement strategies may offer short-term control, they do little to address the structural causes of homelessness—and may even deepen the crisis.
To move beyond reactionary planning, Thunder Bay needs evidence-based, compassionate, and coordinated strategies that treat homelessness not as a nuisance, but as a solvable social issue rooted in housing, health care, and colonial history.
Beyond the Fence: Real Solutions for Tent Encampments and Homelessness in Thunder Bay
Let’s start with some reality here: there is no question something needs to be done to solve the problem of tent encampments. However, simply moving from a tent to a tiny shelter is not a solution.
Here are five actionable steps Thunder Bay can take:
1. Shift from Shelter-First to Housing-First
Emergency shelters are critical for survival—but they don’t end homelessness.
The Housing First model, backed by years of Canadian and international research, offers immediate access to permanent housing without requiring sobriety or participation in treatment.
Once housed, individuals receive tailored support for mental health, addictions, and life skills.
Thunder Bay can build on existing work:
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Expanding rent supplements and transitional housing programs
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Partnering with CMHA, Dilico, and Thunder Bay DSSAB to scale supportive housing
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Securing provincial and federal dollars through programs like Reaching Home and Ontario’s Homelessness Prevention Program
2. Invest in Mobile Outreach and Encampment Support Teams
Rather than criminalizing or displacing people in tent encampments, Thunder Bay should fund mobile outreach teams equipped to provide:
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Basic medical care and harm reduction supplies
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Housing navigation and identification services
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Culturally safe mental health supports
Cities like Edmonton and Hamilton have implemented similar approaches with success, leading to better outcomes for both residents and the community.
3. Support Indigenous-Led Housing and Healing Initiatives
Indigenous people make up over 75% of Thunder Bay’s homeless population—the legacy of systemic racism, colonial displacement, and intergenerational trauma. Solutions must be Indigenous-led.
That means funding programs by and for Indigenous agencies like ONWA, Matawa, and the Ontario Native Friendship Centre, including:
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Culturally appropriate housing options
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Land-based healing programs
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Indigenous-specific housing navigation workers
Reconciliation in Thunder Bay must include structural investment in Indigenous housing security.
4. Build Permanent, Affordable Housing—Not Just Temporary Sites
Thunder Bay’s real estate and rental markets are strained. With a vacancy rate hovering below 2%, and construction costs soaring, low-income renters have almost nowhere to turn. City Administration needs to get off its high horse and one-way street attitude and must work with developers and non-profits to create:
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Modular and mixed-income housing developments
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Fast-tracked zoning for affordable builds
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Incentives for landlords to rent to housing-insecure tenants with wraparound supports
The shelter village may serve as a stopgap, but Thunder Bay cannot build its future around short-term tents and trailers.
5. Create a Coordinated System with Real Accountability
Thunder Bay currently has dozens of service providers working across housing, health, and social services—but many operate in silos. City Council should establish a Homelessness Coordination Office to:
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Centralize data collection and service mapping
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Coordinate care pathways and referrals
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Track outcomes and hold agencies accountable
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Ensure people don’t fall through the cracks
Transparency and coordination are essential to ensure resources aren’t just spent—but spent effectively.
Conclusion: It’s Time to Lead with Courage, Not Crisis Management
Thunder Bay is at a crossroads. Continued piecemeal planning, reactionary enforcement, and stopgap shelter solutions will only keep the city in a cycle of crisis.
Real change requires political courage, sustained investment, and a deep commitment to justice—particularly for Indigenous residents who have been failed repeatedly by the systems meant to protect them.
Homelessness is not inevitable. With the right policies and partnerships, Thunder Bay can not only reduce homelessness—it can end it.
