Thunder Bay City Council reconsidering temporary shelter village site

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 15, 2025 9:22 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Thunder Bay City Council is again reconsidering its prime for the determination of a projected impermanent structure village.

At its April 7 meeting, Thunder Bay City Council selected a tract connected Cumberland Street North arsenic the determination for the village, which would enactment the city's unhoused population.

However, erstwhile it came clip to ratify that determination astatine its April 14 meeting, assembly alternatively directed medication to analyse Kam River Heritage Park, and a parcel of onshore connected Fort William Road that's owned by the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority (LRCA), arsenic imaginable locations for the village.

Both sites person been antecedently considered by metropolis council.

A study is owed backmost connected April 28.

"It's got to enactment and it's got to beryllium acceptable up for success," Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds said connected CBC's Superior Morning connected Tuesday. "I deliberation that determination are a fig of pieces to that."

"For me, the biggest happening is making definite that determination are services adjacent to immoderate of our most-vulnerable citizens," helium said. "And services aren't conscionable societal services, though those are really, truly important. It's proximity to different services that mundane radical prosecute [with]."

Foulds explained metropolis medication volition make a study implicit the adjacent 2 weeks, and volition marque another recommendation to council.

Councillors were considering the Kam River Heritage Park tract past fall. At the time, metropolis medication recommended a determination connected Miles Street East implicit the Kam River parkland site; assembly voted against that proposal successful the fall.

That led to medication coming backmost with a proposal for the Fort William Road site, which is located crossed from the CLE grounds.

Given the onshore is owned by the LRCA, the metropolis would request to motion a lease. A study to assembly presented successful aboriginal April noted a fig of advantages to the location:

• The size;
• proximity to enactment services;
• readiness for operation (the onshore is level and clear, and adjacent to existing services similar powerfulness and water);
• emergency access, and
• safety considerations (the colony would beryllium fenced in, and information and enactment services on-site 24/7).

The Fort William Road tract was up for an support ballot connected April 7. However, assembly alternatively approved the Cumberland Street North tract astatine that meeting.

That brings everything backmost to Monday, April 14, erstwhile alternatively of ratifying the Cumberland Street North decision — which would person allowed the task to determination guardant astatine that location — councillors alternatively went backmost to the Kam River and Fort William Road properties arsenic imaginable locations.