By Jamie Nichols
Candidate for Councillor At-Large
Thunder Bay – Civic Politics – I want people to feel comfortable walking in their neighbourhoods, waiting for a bus, going to work, and letting their children spend time in public spaces. Too many people in Thunder Bay do not feel that way today.
I do not have a slogan that will solve violent crime, homelessness, addiction, and mental-health crises. These issues are deeply connected, and no councillor can fix them alone. What I can offer is a clear approach: violence needs policing, health crises need health care, and young people need support before they reach a crisis.
Police should focus on violent crime, illegal firearms, drug trafficking, and immediate threats to public safety. Council cannot direct investigations or decide where officers are deployed. It can set the overall police budget, require clear public reporting, and ask whether additional funding is making people safer.
Thunder Bay already spends approximately $64.8 million on policing. The 2026 budget also includes roughly $2.2 million for identifiable safety initiatives, including additional constables, temporary special constables, a social navigator, the Mobile Safety Program, and the Community Safety Ambassador Program.
I support the special-constable initiative. It appears to be a practical way to handle certain calls while allowing police officers to concentrate on work that requires their training and authority. However, I still want to know how well it is working. Were the special constables properly trained, supported, and equipped? Were their responsibilities clear? What barriers did they encounter? Did police, City departments, and community agencies work well together?
I would ask similar questions about positions or programs that have been eliminated. Were they effective? Why were they removed? What replaced the work they had been doing? I would not call for something to be restored without understanding it, but I would not assume that eliminating it left no gap.
I am not a police officer, a health professional, or an addictions expert. I will not pretend to be one. As a councillor I would seek insight from people working in those fields. The City should fund the services it controls, while the province and federal government must be pressed to meet their responsibilities for health care, treatment, housing, justice, and illegal firearms. I would not support a new municipal spending commitment without understanding its cost, funding source, and expected result.
I would also listen to local businesses. Owners and employees often experience theft, vandalism, public drug use, and threatening behaviour directly. They can help identify recurring problems and tell us whether conditions are improving. They should never be expected to replace police officers, health workers, or social-service agencies.
Youth programs would be a particular priority for me. Helping young people develop their physical health, mental health, relationships, and opportunities can prevent harm years before it becomes a police call. Those benefits may be difficult to measure immediately, but that does not make them less real, less important or less effective.
One term of council will not solve all of these concerns. I would consider it progress if fewer people were being harmed, emergency responses improved, more people reached treatment and housing, fewer problems repeatedly returned to police, and, critically, residents felt safer in their daily lives.
The latest Police Service survey found that only 51% of residents felt safe. It also found that residents see police, addiction services, affordable housing, and mental-health care as closely connected parts of community safety. I agree. Our measurements must include both the documented level of harm and the lived experience of residents.
I am running because I bring a practical approach to difficult decisions: I do the reading, seek out the knowledge and experience needed to understand an issue, ask direct questions, and follow the evidence. I will support programs that are working, push for change when they are not, and look beyond immediate costs to the long-term effects on our community. I will make informed decisions, explain the votes I cast, and remain accountable for them.
After four years, I do not expect every problem to be solved. I do expect us to have moved the needle—and to have the evidence, and the lived experience of residents, to show it.
Website: https://campaign.rnccoffee.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamieForThunderBay
Email: nichols@campaign.rnccoffee.ca
Jamie Nichols
Candidate for Councillor At-Large
Question Asked:
Public safety remains one of the most serious concerns facing Thunder Bay residents. A 2026 Thunder Bay Police Service citizen survey found only 51 per cent of respondents said they felt safe in the city. Disorder and substance use were each identified as concerns by 87 per cent of respondents, while homelessness and encampments were cited by 77 per cent. Residents also placed strong emphasis on solving violent crime and illegal-firearms offences, neighbourhood patrols and reliable response to 911 calls.
Over the past year, Thunder Bay has experienced a number of serious incidents, including shootings, homicides, stabbings, major drug seizures and weapons investigations. At the same time, police and community organizations have repeatedly pointed out that enforcement alone cannot address the conditions driving public disorder, addiction, homelessness and mental-health crises.
At-large councillors represent the entire city and have a direct role in approving budgets, setting municipal priorities, voting on policing and social-service investments, and pressing other levels of government for support.
Question:
If elected as an at-large councillor, what specific measures would you support to make Thunder Bay measurably safer across all neighbourhoods? Please explain how you would vote and advocate on issues including violent crime and illegal firearms, drug trafficking, downtown and neighbourhood disorder, homelessness, addiction and mental-health response, police staffing and 911 response times, youth prevention programs and community-based safety initiatives.
What should the City fund directly, what should be the responsibility of Thunder Bay Police, and what support would you seek from the provincial and federal governments? Finally, what measurable results should residents use after four years to judge whether your approach has worked?
Please identify what your proposals would cost, how they would be funded, and what they would change from the city’s current approach.
