By Julie Colquhoun
Thunder Bay – CIVIC ELECTION – 2026 – When I consider an issue, I break it down in a couple of ways. What are the urgent issues that require a rapid response, and what are the urgent issues that will take a longer-term response, and what are the nice-to-have or preferred outcomes that have an immediate or longer- term timeline.
On issues related to violent crime and drug trafficking, we have a growing urgent issue that requires a rapid response, and my belief is that it requires an intergovernmental approach. Thunder Bay’s Police force and it’s various investigative, primary response and supportive units do an excellent job, however the crime severity index in Thunder Bay is among the highest in Canada and is significantly higher than the Ontario average. Although Thunder Bay’s officer-to-citizen ratio is significantly higher than the Ontario average, the per-capita measure of crime is also higher relative to the population, when compared to the rest of the province, which means more criminal incidents, and workload, per officer compared to the rest of the province. I think this needs to be looked at and advocacy to the federal and provincial governments is necessary to not only increase staffing, but also to increase capacity and expertise on specialized units who are working hard to prevent and respond to violent and drug related crime. I would be an advocate for this approach and would participate on the police service board to work with those more familiar with the on-the-ground challenges and current strategies.
In addition, the pathways into and out of Thunder Bay for firearms, drugs, human trafficking and other serious crimes needs more preventive attention. Again, that is not a comment on our current police force. This isn’t a Thunder Bay issue alone – it’s a provincial, and inter-provincial issue and while collaboration across police services is strong, I would advocate for expansion of the joint marine patrol with RCMP to include land-based partnerships with Thunder Bay Police, Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, and the RCMP, so that there is an end-to-end collaboration toward disrupting trafficking and other illegal activity. Again, I would like to better understand the partnerships and work currently being done, before advocating for more or for change, but these are the types of things that I would advocate for with a goal of enhancing prevention efforts, so that responses to crime are needed less frequently.
At a local level, we see several businesses locking their doors to prevent an increasingly casual approach to theft. Many businesses now have security, however it seems that this approach has very little impact, because people can’t be stopped while in the store, but they also can’t be stopped outside of the store. I must admit that I don’t completely understand this. I used to work the midnight shift at A&P many years ago, and we occasionally had people with sleeves full of meat pass through the check-out area, and we were able to stop them at the door, have them empty their sleeves, and call the police as necessary. I don’t know where the rule that they haven’t stolen until they leave the store came from – it seems that if they pass the cashier, they have no intention of paying and should be stopped. I see social media posts with well-intentioned vigilante-type comments that are quite concerning because those people may be putting themselves or others in harm’s way. I think getting ahead of this issue is an important one, because a community member taking on the role of security has the potential to create criminals out of well-intentioned people, or worsen the situation. Granted, I need to look further into the laws and understand why there has been the change noted above, but as a gentleman in a gas-station lineup said to me, “Thunder Bay has changed – what has happened?” And I think he nailed it – we need to address the legality of this situation and the safety of business owners and their customers.
Regarding encampments and people experiencing homelessness, these are also urgent issues, that may require a longer-term approach. While various studies have been done, I don’t know if a comprehensive set of questions were asked, and it is also not clear what the plan was to do with the information collected. Thunder Bay Social Services collaborated with Lakehead on research related to why many people experiencing homelessness have come from communities across the region, and found it was largely related to access to health care, education, employment or social services, or to be closer to family, and very few felt that they would have safe permanent housing if they returned to their home communities. Point-in-time data shows the number of people experiencing homelessness on a given day. I would propose expanding opportunities for research, working with a research team from a variety of Lakehead University’s programs, i.e. a collaborative project including social justice, sociology, social work, Indigenous learning, nursing, law, and NOSM University’s medical learners – all have a different perspective in collecting the data and being part of a solution. We need research that looks at the reasons that people are experiencing homelessness, which builds on the previous research, and I would propose that the new research would be longitudinal with potential for grant funding. The goals would be to determine the root causes now, which may include individual circumstances as well as structural causes like housing costs, poverty, service availability, discrimination, employment barriers, have an intervention plan that responds to each of the issues, advocate for provincial and other funding to support those plans, and each year, complete the same research to see whether there has been a change, and by how much. At the end of four years, and with the proper investment of financial and human resources, I believe that we will see a change.
I suspect the research findings may include things like: cost of housing, trauma and abuse and shelter capacity, mental health disorders, mental health and addiction, other health related issues that prevent a person from working, or a complex history where living in an encampment may provide a sense of autonomy, safety, community, or choice within circumstances where other options may not feel accessible or appropriate, and a shelter village will not be a solution for all. We need to understand the issues to address the problem. Cost of housing but working – lets continue to prioritize lower rent in safe spaces; cost of housing and no job – shelter village is a great start, along with supportive services to help with clothes and the process of finding a job (solve the issue of having no fixed address or phone number on an application – perhaps the city has a human resource option for hiring a percentage of people interested and able to work, to help them get started and able to move into affordable housing); work with shelters to support capacity needed and with RFDC-like organizations to create a repository of gently used ‘new-home’ supplies to assist people who are connected with housing, but have no furniture or kitchen supplies etc. This also impacts a land-fill issue and ensures that people have a fair start at a new path; mental health disorders – when the LPH and similar institutions closed several years ago, the province assured us that funding would be allocated to community-based services and resources, so that those who were longer-term, or short-term residents at the LPH would not be unsupported. It appears that much of that funding has dwindled or been redirected – or people have fallen through the cracks, many with no family or support networks to ensure engagement with services. We need to advocate for the existing services to be better supported, so that they can in turn support those who may be struggling. I was visiting someone in hospital a year or so ago, and learned that there are patients in hospital, who because of a lack of a residential type of care program, occupy an acute care bed (which opens another area of concern), but for the person, they are in a bed that is intended for short-term use, not long term with any type of meaningful quality of life, recreation, engagement – this is not a comment on the care given to the patients it is a comment on the resourcing and the capacity issues we see across the board – it contributes to the acute-care access issues for the hospital, and it is not a system that supports individuals who may thrive in a home where supportive care can be provided.
Mental health and addiction also requires a deeper dive. Addiction is not a ‘choice’. Initial substance use may have been, but it may have overlaid with depression, PTSD, or other mental health issues. Some are young people who have support, come from loving families, some whose parents are working professionals in our community-who are desperate to help their children; they are not simply people with substance use disorders who have made bad choices. Others may have complicated histories related to having been prescribed something for a legitimate medical reason, or a history of trauma and abuse where substances were an escape. The stories are varied and cannot be lumped together in a way that stigmatizes those facing addiction as people who simply made bad choices. Thunder Bay has some of the highest rates of substance use and overdose in Canada, yet we do not have capacity at our treatment centers for those who are seeking help. A two-year wait is just not acceptable, and it shouldn’t solely be on the shoulders of local foundations like the DEK Foundation and others, to advocate for funding to build a local in-patient treatment centre – it should be a collaborative effort in the interest of our city.
People living in encampments may choose to remain there for a variety of reasons, and to find a sustainable solution, we need to understand why they’ve chosen the location they have – i.e. on bike and walking paths near waterways in residential areas. With that understanding we can negotiate alternative locations that would open the paths and make people feel safe to use them, while finding a location that has sustainability and has a long-term impact.
This information around people experiencing homelessness or in encampments could be captured in a longitudinal research project, with opportunities for grant funding, and very low cost to the city. It would provide the data we need to implement a sustainable action plan with predetermined measurable outcomes assessed at varying stages throughout the project, and to recognize what is achievable locally, as well as identifying where strong advocacy with regional communities and the province is needed. I believe that we could see positive results in four years.
Thank you,
Julie Colquhoun
