Wednesday, September 23, 2026, Waverley Resource Library
Candidates attending: Donna Lee Morettin, Tracey MacKinnon, Brian Hamilton, Tony DiPaolo, Marco Cupelli.
Format
The question list was shared with all candidates in advance. Candidates did not know which question they would be asked. Each candidate answered one question per round, with two minutes per answer. Answers below are transcribed from the recording of the event and are presented as spoken, lightly edited for readability: obvious transcription errors are corrected, and repeated words and false starts have been removed. No words have been added and no answer has been shortened or reordered beyond that. Where a word could not be made out on the recording it is marked [unclear].
Opening statements
Donna Lee Morettin
Hi, my name is Donna Lee Morettin. I am a citizen of Thunder Bay, and I am also a citizen of McKellar Ward; I live on Robertson Street. I have two daughters and a husband, and we decided, and I say we decided, to run for this election, to make a stronger McKellar Ward. I believe in transparency, accountability, and responsibility, and I think we really need to understand what is going on and how we're going to change things. I love Thunder Bay, and I just want to make sure that we do what is best for everyone, not just McKellar Ward.
Tracey MacKinnon
Good evening. Thank you for joining us all here tonight. My name is Tracey MacKinnon. This is not my first go around; Brian's either. Nice to finally see you again, Brian. I live in McKellar Ward. I have lived in McKellar Ward for over a decade. I'm on Lincoln Street in McIvor Court. What kind of turned me to run again was a concerning incident at my building, and that just kind of [unclear] and made me want to put my name forward again. This was a vulnerable citizen, a vulnerable resident, a disabled person. It just wasn't right. Some of the groups and organizations I belong to are the Human Rights Task Force and Social Housing Human Rights. [unclear] some postcards on some of your chairs, I believe, when I came in today.
Brian Hamilton
Hello, my name is Brian Hamilton. Nice to see everybody on the traditional territory of Fort William First Nation. I just want to firstly acknowledge the contributions and investments of the four people up on stage alongside me. I just wanted to say thank you. Everyone up here is a community champion of sorts, so I just want to acknowledge the work that you're doing in the community. I've been a councillor for eight years, and I'd just like to focus, as an introduction, on my record, and part of that record is where I chose to serve. Some of the committees that I've sat on, of course, are the DSSAB committee, so I have the social services kind of background and experience. I've sat on the Community Economic Development Commission. In my mind that's the full spectrum: we're working on bringing industrial development, but we're also focused on helping the folks in the streets as well. Another committee I was really proud to sit on, of course, was the Accessibility Advisory Committee, that works on AODA and standards to make the community more accessible, more inclusive for some of the most vulnerable amongst us. So, a little bit about my record, and more to come soon.
Tony DiPaolo
Hello, everyone. My name is Tony DiPaolo. I'm a lifelong resident of Thunder Bay. I'm a father of two young boys with my life partner. I have had a business in downtown Fort William for over 30 years, investing my time and my sweat there. I love the area. I've been down there. For the last four years I've been on the Downtown Fort William Business Improvement Area association, and that's what got me started in wanting to help more. We ran into some incidents where people outside of our boundaries needed help, and they came to us and they showed appreciation and were happy with some of the work we've done, but we're limited to that boundary. So I want to continue to help McKellar Ward. McKellar Ward is in change right now, and lots of good things coming. The potential is huge. I want to help spearhead that change. I bring a common sense attitude towards things, and a different lens. I've been in the food and beverage industry for a long time, and seen all kinds of people and dealt with them all.
Marco Cupelli
Good evening, everybody. My name is Marco Cupelli. I have lived in the McKellar Ward for 25 years. I saw, nearly 25 years ago, a safer and more wholesome community, and I've seen a lot of change take place, specifically in our downtown core, in what the McKellar Ward is. I'm looking to join council to help make change: make economic change, make social change, and have our community as a whole use and utilize our downtown core a heck of a lot more, to see our citizens travel from their suburbs and utilize our city. I want to see our citizens using our city, and I want to see our money being put into the pockets of small business owners, and I want to see the opportunity for small business owners to open and to have their businesses there. I want people to be housed. I want vacant properties to be utilized, and I want people to be in the community and sharing what Thunder Bay truly is, because I don't think we've accomplished the amalgamation since 1970, and I think I'm here to bring it all together.
Candidate Questions
Question 1: Public safety affects everyone, and local business is perhaps most sensitive to crime and disorder. What strategies or funding would you create to help address safety in our downtown areas?
Tony DiPaolo
Well, downtown areas, we're looking to revitalize them, which is fantastic. They've been decaying for quite some time. Some programs that could be started or enhanced: security programs, where they could invest in additional lighting and cameras, which would help, and the city would have to fund part of that, or at least put in 50/50 for that. If we clean up the area, that initially helps and it deters crime. The Smart Growth plan, about infilling urban cores and creating housing: with people comes protection. The more people you have in the area, the more vibrant it is. It deters crime. So, programs that can continue: facade improvement programs. There's all kinds of ones that are inactive right now. We just need to continue with them. We need to clean up our streets. We need to stop the passive permission of crimes being committed, where blind eyes are being turned towards that. If we have a healthy downtown, we have a healthy city. It has been proven by studies that it reflects on the people, and people are gravitating towards downtown because there's unique shops and vibrant restaurants. We need to continue that.
Question 2: Indigenous residents of Thunder Bay are an important part of our future. They represent a major source of new entrepreneurs, business owners and workers, as well as bringing valuable cultural and social benefits to our community. How would you ensure that Thunder Bay becomes a major hub for Indigenous-led economic growth?
Marco Cupelli
Well, to an earlier question, I believe that we currently have an economic impact brought in by the Indigenous communities. I believe the question put to Mr. Hamilton was something along the lines of there's a $700 million impact to our GDP here, so I believe there currently is a strong Indigenous relationship going on with Thunder Bay. We have the Fort William First Nation here right beside us, so I would look towards bridging and building that impact, so that we continue to thrive with the relationship that we currently have. I want to look towards that relationship and continue to build upon it, and know where those partnerships are, and know how we can continue to bring some more Indigenous culture into our community. We don't have an Indigenous restaurant here yet, so I'd like to continue to promote Indigenous culture inside of our city, and allow that to thrive inside of our community.
Question 3: Many community groups have called on the City to invest in an ever increasing list of services, including new sports facilities, entertainment venues, arts and cultural opportunities. These often come with large price tags and debt obligations that the City may bear for years. What responsibility does municipal government have in improving quality of life beyond delivering basic municipal services?
Donna Lee Morettin
That's a great question, because I think we've been backed up with that for the last 25 years that I can remember. I believe municipal government has a responsibility to do more than provide basic services. Quality of life matters. Parks, recreation, libraries, arts, culture, sports, and community spaces help create a city where people want to live, work, and raise their families. But that doesn't mean the city has to say yes to every good idea. As a manager, I have a staff that come to me with the most awesome ideas. There's just some things we can't do, and I think we need to recognize that as a city. When we're considering a major new facility or program, I would want to see a clear business case. What will it cost to build? What will it cost to operate and maintain? Who will use it? What are the long-term debt implications, and are there partnerships or outside funding that can reduce the burden on taxpayers? I would also prioritize investments that serve a broad cross-section of the community and make use of facilities we already have whenever possible and wherever possible. I believe council's job is to build a better quality of life while protecting the city's financial health. We should invest in things that strengthen our community, but we also have a responsibility to today's taxpayers and to the generations who will inherit this bill.
Question 4: Many in the community believe that taxes are too high, and historically the rate of tax increases has outpaced inflation. Can you articulate a strategy for how the City should spend and invest that recognizes the increasing cost of tax as a barrier to living and doing business in Thunder Bay?
Tracey MacKinnon
[passed]
Question 5: Studies show that walkable neighbourhoods are better for small local businesses, but many new developments in Thunder Bay have favoured big box stores with large parking lots instead. Would you support redesigning City planning rules to encourage smaller, locally owned businesses over large corporate chains?
Brian Hamilton
I think that large corporate chains are doing an incredible amount of work before they set up shop here in Thunder Bay. They are looking at capacity and long-term kind of planning. I think they're ultimately a different ecosystem than the small downtown businesses. Just being a small business owner for 20 years downtown, we had our own niche area. To Marco's earlier point about sweeping the sidewalks, that actually is what made our neighbourhood special. We took care of it. We took care of the seniors. We made it walkable. There's all kinds of little ways that we fix up our neighbourhood to have that value proposition. We need big box stores too. We need employers. We also need people from northern communities and outlying municipalities to come to Thunder Bay to shop and get stuff. We have a new hospital about to open. That's actually, in my view, we landed that here. I know we're competing with [unclear], at least initially. At least those folks are going to be able to come here to Thunder Bay to do their shopping and to do their stuff. And if you go to, like, the Wholesale Club, you could find lots of folks that are coming from northern and remote communities coming to do their shopping. So we need those big box stores, but it is about balance. Ultimately, I don't think it's a tug of war. I don't think it's a push and pull. I think the value add with the small businesses is you get a certain environment and an ecosystem for a particular type of product. The funny thing is, too, we shop at local stores, say Maier Hardware, for example. You actually get cheaper, better products and better service at a shop like Maier Hardware. So I think folks that are discerning, that are looking for that value add, are going to ultimately gravitate to the downtown cores. So I don't think it's a tug of war. I don't think it's a push and pull. I think we need a mix of both. But I think ultimately, economic development, bringing more people into the community, means we will have to see a little bit of change on the big box landscape. We are going to need some bigger shops, because we have a larger population to draw from.
Question 6: Would you support a mayor using strong mayor powers, authority that lets a mayor push through certain decisions without needing full Council approval? And if so, under what conditions?
Tracey MacKinnon
I knew I was going to get this question. Absolutely not. And I thought, and I thought, and I thought on this. I can't foresee or predict any reason why [unclear], he or she, would have to use those powers. That's [unclear] abuse of authority.
Question 7: Some see a tension between supporting downtown revitalization and championing local business on the one hand, while at the same time encouraging the growth of big box stores and suburban sprawl. How would you address those concerns, and where do you think City resources should be focused when planning for growth?
Donna Lee Morettin
That's a big question, and I understand the concern. Thunder Bay needs economic growth, but we also need to be thoughtful about where that growth happens and what it's going to cost the community. I don't think we should set up downtown and suburban businesses as if one has to lose for the other one to succeed. We need a strong downtown. We need healthy neighbourhoods. We need commercial areas and well-planned development throughout the city. When making growth decisions, I would look first at the infrastructure we already have, where we can add housing and businesses within existing neighbourhoods, that can make better use of roads, water, sewer, and other infrastructure we've already paid for. At the same time, new development has to pay its fair share of the infrastructure and services it requires. I would also focus city investment on creating places where people want to spend time: safe streets, sidewalks, parks, public places, transit, and a vibrant downtown. Growth should strengthen the whole city, not simply expand its footprint. My goal is to invest in the communities we already have while making sure new development is financially and environmentally sustainable for the long term.
Question 8: Thunder Bay Police have been vocal that we cannot police our way out of crime and social disorder. Rather, we need upstream investments, community building initiatives and pro-social infrastructure, like libraries, to address the root causes. Can you describe in some detail what that looks like to you, and your vision for proactive upstream investments that the municipality can undertake?
Marco Cupelli
Just outside of the library earlier, I found myself in a conversation with the security guard, Mills [as transcribed]. He and I were talking, and he happened to remind me about the small community police buildings that used to be around the city. Specifically, one of them used to be up above the Pattinson Park area [as transcribed]. I remember seeing it as a kid. Having this kind of presence in our community makes our children feel safer, makes us feel safer, and changes some of the demographics that are hanging out and spending time in some of our neighbourhoods. I recently purchased a property on that same street, and I've taken a lot of care of it. I feel as though the way Thunder Bay itself can help change some of these neighbourhoods is by improving maintenance, taking care of some of these neighbourhoods, and showing up to incentivize landlords to help take care of their buildings, because for me, in front of my property, I sweep my sidewalks. It's not about sweeping; it's about the level of care that I think we as a city need to put in, and our landlords need to put in, because it changes the demographics. So, to be specific about policing, I think that as a city we can aid in relieving police officers, aid in relieving police from taking so many phone calls because of some of the issues that we see around us, if, as a city, we were to invest in maintaining some of the areas a little bit more. I recently paid to take care of an entire back lane block because there was drug use and other kinds of issues going on in that block. I took care of it myself because I don't want to see those kinds of things. We need that level of care inside of our council, inside of our city, and we need that implemented to help create safety and help limit how many phone calls and how overwhelmed our police are. I think that could be a proactive effect on the city.
Question 9: Thunder Bay has a widely publicized infrastructure gap of over $30 million annually, meaning that every year we fall $30 million more behind in maintaining our assets. How would you seek to close that gap and ensure the community has well maintained, high quality infrastructure?
Tony DiPaolo
Well, I think the city is on its way there right now. They're looking at a maintenance schedule, and we need to make sure that we maintain what we have, which costs way less than doing emergency services. I was in condominium management. They would have a reserve fund, and everything was done to engineer specs, where they knew the time of fault, and things were ready to be prepared prior to breakdown. This saved plenty. The city is moving ahead with that same kind of concept, and it will slowly close the gap, hopefully, and we also just need to make sure we're wiser on spending, and therefore it'll slowly close. We can't get rid of emergency services and stuff like that. We need to continue to just be prudent with our money.
Question 10: The CEDC reports that Indigenous economic activity contributes almost $700 million to our local GDP and has $1.55 billion in economic impact. At the same time, our city often has a reputation for racism and discrimination. How would you support Indigenous residents and attract Indigenous businesses to Thunder Bay?
Brian Hamilton
Some of the same attracting points for Indigenous businesses are some of the same stuff as for businesses in general. So the business environment for Indigenous businesses is a very equal playing field with the regular ones. I'd like to just point to some of the specific programs and organizations. We don't need, as a city, to tell Indigenous businesses what to do or what they want. They're a very self-determined group. In fact, there are organizations nationally and locally; there's the Indigenous Business Professional Association [as transcribed], and these organizations advocate on their members' behalf, and they are pushing forward programs that could be adopted by the city, by partners, by levels of government. So I think the modern landscape right now for Indigenous business is self-determinative, and of course we've got to be supportive of all businesses, and especially look at ways that we could support Indigenous partners. One of the reasons for that, as well, is because Indigenous partners bring something that we really, really need in the north here, and that's the labour force of tomorrow, that's a workforce, and that's buy-in from northern communities, northern community members, to actually take part in economic development in a large-scale way. That's actually critical. Another way that we're doing it: the CEDC also has entrepreneurship grants for young Indigenous entrepreneurs. I had to write it down because it's a little... it's [unclear]. It's an interesting name, but it actually supports young Indigenous entrepreneurs and small business folks entering the system. When it comes to racism, this continues to be a problem. As a matter of fact, I think throughout any election cycle you're going to see a division in the community where folks are naturally looking for answers to complex problems, and I think that's an issue. But I think the hard work is ultimately when we get beyond the election, when we roll up the sleeves, working with partners and actually getting out there, getting into community, and getting things done.
Question 11: The Smart Growth Action Plan and other City documents actively promote infill and densification as part of the growth strategy. Do you believe the City is on the right track with its approach, and how would you like to see development occur in Thunder Bay?
Tracey MacKinnon
I was having a conversation on my way in; smart growth would be something like our discussion earlier. Just using what we have: renovating, remodelling, repurposing, recycling. You want to get into another R. We need more housing; I'll just use that one for an example. We have the green space, which we don't want to touch. We have infrastructure that's not being used. We have so much to offer that we have to use it in the right way instead of the wrong way.
Question 12: Thunder Bay Public Library has adopted a social procurement policy which sets spending targets for purchasing from local businesses and Indigenous-owned businesses. The Chamber of Commerce is now advocating a similar buy-local policy for the City. Would you support the City adopting buy-local programs that aim to support local businesses, even if it may mean paying higher prices?
Donna Lee Morettin
Yes, I support the city finding more ways to buy local and support Thunder Bay businesses, including Indigenous-owned businesses. When the city spends taxpayer dollars, we should recognize the economic benefit of keeping as much of that money as possible in our local community, but I also believe we have to be responsible with taxpayers' money. I would not support automatically paying substantially more simply because a supplier is local. Instead, I would support a transparent buy-local or social procurement policy that gives qualified local businesses a fair opportunity to compete, while establishing reasonable limits on price differences and maintaining quality and accountability. We should also make city procurement easier for small businesses to understand and to participate in. Sometimes the biggest barrier isn't price, it's the complexity of the process. My goal is simple: keep more public dollars circulating in Thunder Bay, create opportunities for local businesses, and still make sure taxpayers receive good value.
Question 13: There have been criticisms of many new subdivisions as being effectively gated communities, consisting of high-end homes with little affordable housing. Do you perceive this as a problem, and how would you address those concerned about those types of new developments?
Marco Cupelli
I think at the end of the day, we can't stop these types of developments. Why? Because somebody bought that land. Why? Because that particular builder-developer decided to build higher-end homes. Why? Because somebody can afford those types of homes. So we shouldn't scrutinize success. I believe success exists all around us. There's probably a bunch of successful people in this room right now. If you so choose to build a higher-end home, then by all means build a higher-end home. I would prefer if some of these neighbourhoods were developed in ways that maybe looked towards more affordable housing. We don't always have to build high-end homes for the high-succeeding people who can afford some of these homes; we could build subdivisions that have more moderately or modestly built homes to make them more affordable for people. I also think that with some of these subdivisions, or gated communities, which we have none of, being built, it actually puts a heavy burden on the city to end up adding more infrastructure into our system, which ends up adding more snowplow costs and more maintenance costs, which ends up resulting in higher taxes for the people that end up living in these neighbourhoods. As we know, some of the taxes are ridiculous in these neighbourhoods. So I would like to bring back the attention to the Smart Growth Action Plan and the attention to densifying our downtown cores and densifying some of our internal neighbourhoods, as opposed to expanding this city. We need to go vertical. We need to develop some of these neighbourhoods, and we need to bring attention into our inner city, as opposed to developing out of the city. It's too much cost on the city. Mr. DiGregorio [as transcribed] happened to build his own water and sewage system himself, because the city wouldn't do it. So there are people who are willing to do these things, and if they are so willing to do these things, I don't think it should be judged by people. If they're successful people, I'd love to be around successful people, and I'm happy to see successful people continue to succeed in this city. That's what we want for all of our citizens.
Question 14: The City has adopted a target-based approach to tax increases. The aim is for the rate of tax increases to roughly match the pace of inflation. Do you agree with this approach, and under what circumstances should Council approve higher tax rates?
Tony DiPaolo
I think everybody pretty much feels the same. When you see your tax bill, you're not going, "I'm happy it's here." Nobody likes taxes, but it's a fact of life. We also enjoy the services we get. That's why we pay these taxes. I agree with the target-based approach. It brings financial discipline to the city, but we shouldn't be just managing tax hikes. We should be working on growth, economic growth, and the Smart Growth plan has that. And we need to keep doing that. We need to, just as they said, cut the red tape, get shovels in the ground, get people building, get people living. If we increase the tax base, it's the most sustainable way for us to move forward. The plan is to renovate commercial spaces, bring in industry; those bring in a lot of taxes. In my business, they say sales cure all, and taxes are the city's sales. So we need to keep moving forward with that. The only time that we should go past the tax hikes is in extreme circumstances where we need to fix life safety systems, or to make sure, if we need to match dollar for dollar for federal funding; these are the only times that the city should move forward and tax hike too much.
Question 15: Small businesses employ about two thirds of the Canadian workforce and are a critical part of our neighbourhoods and communities. How would you use City resources to support the local small business community?
Brian Hamilton
It's a great question, and a lot of this work is actually happening right now. One of the things that the CEDC and others are doing, and the BIAs are pushing for, is making sure that there's no vacant buildings downtown, making sure that there's no vacancies that ultimately could cause not only missed opportunities but could actually attract disruptive behaviour as well. One of the big ways that we're doing that right now at City Council, or what we've done in the past, I'm a candidate now, is adopt the Community Ambassadors program. That's a way that we're going to be having social worker type folks going around and having that active presence. One of the things that we have to do too, and Marco, I'm sorry to call you out on this, but you do a great job as a small business owner, and we did it too in the Bay and Algoma district many years ago, is we just keep our neighbourhood swept and safe and beautiful. And Tony, not to call you out too, but you're talking about security programs. This stuff is really, really important, and not only is it meaningful to sideline crime, but it's actually a meaningful way to get together around commonalities and common interests with your fellow neighbours. So, I'm kind of missing a little bit; I can't remember. How do we support small businesses? Small businesses are under attack right now. Currently, the high cost of business, the high cost of labour, the high cost of food, the high cost of fuel: small businesses need to be supported. So ultimately, as a city, I think we need to work a little bit harder as customers to actually get down and support our businesses. It becomes very, very easy to support big box stores. Ultimately, folks have to be willing to take a little time, park, and patronize the businesses that make Main Street and Thunder Bay so unique and wonderful. Another word I heard tonight was arts and culture. One of the things that we need to do in this next term of council is activate the new downtowns that we built and created for the public.
Question 16: Thunder Bay is projected to have a labour shortage in the near future, and many businesses complain about getting the skilled labour they need to grow. What is your plan to attract the labour force we need to Thunder Bay?
Tracey MacKinnon
Thunder Bay was founded on many different nationalities: Italian, Hungarian, European, Middle European, Eastern, Greek. We need to just enhance them with our Indigenous partners. We just need to accept each other and work with each other. We have so many [unclear] in Thunder Bay, and Thunder Bay is a beautiful city to live in. We just need to, I don't know what word I'm looking for, just live in harmony and live in peace. I know where I live. It's not peaceful. I heard earlier about sweeping a couple of times, and I've been sweeping our roundabout, our front entryway, just because there's so much garbage, because of the housing issues we have, or the lack of housing we have. We need to work together, come together, find some solutions, some creative solutions, if that's what it is, and help make Thunder Bay a better place to live for everyone, from one to 91 to 101.
Question 17: Many parents struggle to secure spots in child care facilities, which prevents them from returning to the workforce. Would you endorse an increase in the City's child care programs, and how would you deal with the cost of raising a child for Thunder Bay parents?
Donna Lee Morettin
Well, this subject is near and dear to me, and I think this question is absolutely yes. I would support expanding access to child care in Thunder Bay, because families cannot fully participate in our workforce if they can't find child care. But I also believe we need to be clear about the city's role. Child care is primarily the province's responsibility, so council needs to be a strong advocate for Thunder Bay families while working with the province and local providers to increase spaces. I would support identifying opportunities to use city facilities and partnerships to help create additional child care capacity, particularly where there are gaps in our neighbourhoods. And affordability goes beyond child care. Families are dealing with the cost of housing, groceries, transportation, and recreation. As a councillor, I would look at every municipal decision through a family lens. Does this make it easier or harder for working families to live and raise their children here? We need Thunder Bay to be a place where families can afford to stay, work, and build a future.
Question 18: Affordable housing is increasingly out of reach for many of Thunder Bay's workers. What specific tools would you use as a councillor to increase the supply of affordable rental and ownership housing?
Marco Cupelli
The conversation of affordable housing is a difficult one to have, because affordable, in terms of the way different people think, has a very different number to what is affordable. Statistically speaking, we talk a lot about affordable housing here in Thunder Bay, but we happen to be in the top five most affordable cities in all of Canada. So what does that say about the Thunder Bay workers? It might say that they don't have enough income coming in. They might not have the right job opportunities coming in. So the people of Thunder Bay who happen to graduate from LU, who could be in a larger city centre and be able to attain a job that might give them $80,000 per year: it isn't happening right now, because we have engineers currently working at Home Depot and Walmart, but yet we are one of the top five most affordable cities in Thunder Bay. So looking to implement and engage with different investors and business opportunities for people to have more job opportunities inside of the city may be a way to help curb some of the affordable housing that we see inside of the city. But also, I do see within the city, working in property management specifically, my company was one of the first to actually be awarded the housing grant, the ADU grant. I worked alongside the city, and I see that there are a lot of ways that the city has been awarded funds federally to create better housing opportunities. There are requirements with those grants to create affordable housing, which happens to be one-bedroom units. So I see that there are a lot of opportunities that the city is currently working on. But one of the ways that I would also like to curb it is bringing in business and more job opportunities for our people, because I don't want people graduating and leaving Thunder Bay.
Question 19: The City's temporary shelter village and encampment response plan are intended to address homelessness in Thunder Bay. Do you support the current approach, and what long-term strategy would you pursue to help address this crisis?
Tony DiPaolo
While the village is here, it's been voted on and passed, and we have to support it. But do I have my doubts of its effectiveness? I do. The data is clear that transitioning out of this pod-type building is very, very low. So to dedicate millions of dollars for an 80-unit pod village, when there's 10 times that people on the streets, how much are we helping? We need to stop the flow of people into being unhoused. We need to keep going with youth programs, youth diversions. We need to work on eviction prevention. Because the transition is so low, we need to stop the flow in, because it's not matching the flow out. We need to also make sure that if the metrics aren't there and it is not successful, we need to make sure it remains temporary. We can't be continually dedicating money towards this, and it's not fair to the people of Thunder Bay. The city has stepped outside its purview on this, and it's here now. We need to support it. We need to work with it. I hope very well that the team has figured out a way to transition people into permanent housing. Permanent housing is the only way. We need to advocate constantly to the province for psychiatric beds, for addiction beds. This needs to move forward. We need to curb what's going on.
Question 20: City Council appoints the majority of the Police Service Board, and councillors actively serve on the Police Board as well. There have been concerns raised in the community about police accountability and public trust. Many Indigenous community leaders have been advocating for systemic change for years. What governance or operational changes would you advocate for at the Police Service Board to address both crime reduction and increasing public trust in our local police service?
Brian Hamilton
First of all, shout out to Thunder Bay Police Service for the amazing and tough job that they have. I know that there have been challenges in the past, historically, and I know that the chief, to his credit, has been working to remedy a lot of that. But it's a great question, and one of the things instantly that I would advocate for is a victim services mandate. A lot of folks, businesses, folks that are victimized, there's no real feedback loop, and I'm not sure if there's any formality. I know what happened with bylaw, at least initially, when we did the reformation of the new bylaw division, and I was getting phone calls back from bylaw based on complaints that I was making. That felt really good. A lot of businesses and homeowners and folks that are victimized by crime are not hearing back, and I think there's a communication breakdown there. I think that's a real tangible, practical way that you could actually encourage more trust in the police. Another way is actually to, and I know this is a tough lift, we may need to build a new police station, and the reason why I'm saying that is because there's a lot about a good design. The current police building is very institutional in its design. The plans for the police building, we looked at some of them over the last terms of council, very preliminary drawings, but they were inviting spaces. They were community spaces, and those are the spaces that we need to have our frontline officers in. Right now, it's very institutional. It's very cold in that space, and it's not very welcoming and inviting. So those are two: one is practical, we could do it right away, and the other one is a little bit more long term. It requires a bit of a wider plan. I will have to say, though, that the police, through the downtown support program that they have right now, they're moving in a direction that I'm happy with. They're leading with compassion. They're trying to get folks into services, but ultimately there is the crime and enforcement piece that comes after that. I do like that approach. Lead with compassion, but when you have to, you have to be there to enforce the laws and the bylaws.