Fort William First Nation petitions for reopening of bridge

Fort William First Nation leaders hope an online petition will put some pressure on CN Rail to reopen the James Street swing bridge.

The First Nation's communications officer, Kristy King, said the petition will show the railway how many people are affected by the closure. "Just to draw some awareness that we do need immediate steps for the repair of the bridge from CN," she said.

The First Nation is asking Thunder Bay residents to support the campaign. "We kind of just want people to come together," said King. "I think it will hopefully just show the levels of government, and also CN, how many people are affected by this and how many people do support the bridge to be reopened."

King said she hopes at least 1,000 people sign the petition to start with.

Parties still talking, but not negotiating

King, and Thunder Bay city manager Tim Commisso, both said Monday that the two communities continue to work together on the bridge issue.

Commisso said discussions with the railway are ongoing — he spoke to a CN vice president on Friday — but so far, he said, there's nothing new. "They're more updates on the process," he said. "We're not in a negotiating stage, I would say."

Commisso said any new proposal from the railway still needs to be presented to the city in writing.  "If they want a change, if they want something different than the 1906 agreement .... they need to bring that to the city."

Should that happen, he said the incoming city council would ultimately be responsible for any decision regarding the bridge, but he and the city solicitor also have to be "comfortable" with the agreement.

CN spokesperson Lindsay Fedchyshyn told CBC News in an email on Monday that "there is nothing new to report other than we remain in discussion with the various parties."

The bridge has been closed since the end of October of last year.