Does Thunder Bay International Airport need a new name? Joe Fiorito thinks so

It's time Thunder Bay International Airport had a new name, honouring one of the many great leaders from northwestern Ontario, argues author and journalist Joe Fiorito, who grew up in the city.

Fiorito recently made his case in a Toronto Star column saying Canada's sesquicentennial next year is the perfect opportunity to replace the airport's bland name with that of a person who made a mark on the city and the country.

"There's a way that we have to mark who we are and who we want to be and the naming of our places and institutions is a way to do that," he said. 

Superior Morning7:51Joe Fiorito - Thunder Bay Airport

Does the Thunder Bay International Airport need a better name? Writer and former Westfort resident Joe Fiority thinks so

In a conversation with CBC's Superior Morning, Fiorito made five suggestions for potential namesakes. Here's what he had to say about each of them:

• 1. C.D. Howe

​"He was a giant among us. During the war he was the Minister of Everything. He's the guy who really, in fact, tabled the legislation that created the CBC. He's the guy who designed and built many of the elevators that used to dot the waterfront. He was the first Member of Parliament for the newly created riding of Port Arthur."

• 2. The Laskin brothers, Bora and Saul

​"Saul was the first mayor of the amalgamated cities and Bora was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and he was in the saddle when the constitution was repatriated. Talk about firsts, talk about importance, I just think they're towering figures."

• 3. Mary J.L. Black

"My personal favourite. The first woman to head the Ontario Library Association. Here's her quote, the most important quote that I know of:

'The role of the library is to carry the right book to the right reader at the least cost; to make people happy; to give them a touch of home they never get; to provide a social centre; to make people more efficient in their various lines of work; to teach people how to read for the simple joy of it; to show that books are not ends in themselves but only an instrument to create the highest type of humanity, possibly a new nationality, a new Canadian or possibly, again, the so-called ideal state of a society in which the bonds of nationality are destroyed.'

I would really like the idea of flying towards that."

• 4. Fats Delvecchio​

"The list of famous people from Thunder Bay is long and it's replete with hockey players but the greatest amongst these was Fats Delvecchio — three Stanley Cups, 1,549 games, 1281 points, more points in the playoffs."

• 5. Norval Morrisseau

​"His body of work is unparalleled. I know of nothing like it in the world. He is a force unto himself. In the case of Thunder Bay, particularly when it comes to Native people, he is symbolic in ways we all should know and this would give us a way to recognize that. He was known as Copper Thunderbird. Imagine flying into Copper Thunderbird airport."

Morrisseau is Fiorito's preferred choice because "it would be a symbol for all of the people who come from the north into the regional centre, it would be symbolic in Thunder Bay itself, given the difficult history my hometown has regarding issues of race."

Fiorito said the Chamber of Commerce, municipal leaders or a private group would need to take up the cause of renaming the airport quickly in order to have it done for the national celebrations in 2017.

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