Thunder Bay officials use municipal conference to lobby for police, mental health funding

Funding for mental health, addictions and policing were at the top of the agenda for the City of Thunder Bay as officials met with provincial government representatives at this week's Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa. 

The annual event attracts more than 2,000 municipal leaders and provides them with the opportunity to meet directly with Ontario ministries to discuss local issues.  

Mayor Bill Mauro, Intergovernmental Affairs Committee chair Coun. Brian McKinnon and city manager Norm Gale held a news conference Wednesday morning to recap the event.

Mauro said officials met with Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo to continue discussions that date back to 2019 about the dire need for more services in the city. 

St. Joseph's Care Group submitted a proposal to the province in March 2021 for a 40-bed crisis centre, including 20 crisis beds and 20 mental health beds.

This spring, the associate minister announced funding for 34 treatment beds for the city. 

"I thanked the minister for his announcement, because it certainly is a help," Mauro said. 

"However… we pressed the case to the minister that the agencies felt that the city and the district still needed substantially more when it came to mental health and addictions." 

Improved funding for those solutions could also ease the burden on police, he added.

"The vast majority of the calls that the police are responding to… are non-criminal in nature."

Officials also used their first meeting with new Solicitor General Michael Kerzner to press for more funding for police to deal with guns and gangs, Mauro said; they also pushed for a forensic pathology unit.

"The point that I made there was the police would like to have it; the city would like to see it established in Thunder Bay, but that it was a recommendation in the OIPRD (Office of the Independent Police Review Director) report that came down," he said.

"And you know that the OIPRD and the OCPC (Ontario Civilian Police Commission) are both independent agencies of the province of Ontario. And the fact that the OIPRD had recommended that Thunder Bay [establish] a forensic pathology unit in our city was important and I think consequential for the minister to know."

Other topics raised during meetings at AMO included infrastructure projects and environmental initiatives, McKinnon said.

The city also asked the province for more tools to help collect uncollected fines under the Provincial Offences Act Part 1, Gale added. 

"These are largely driving infractions that are uncollected," he said. 

"The City of Thunder Bay has $37 million that are uncollected ... A good portion of that is not collectible for a lot of reasons, but a really large portion is collectible ...  And that will help with our revenue."

This week's AMO conference marked the first time in three years the event had taken place in person. 

Meeting face to face after a lengthy break was a welcome return to a format that allows for more informal networking and lobbying to happen, Mauro said.

"A lot can happen in the hallways of these conferences, that doesn't necessarily happen in the face-to-face meetings."