THUNDER BAY -- Ontario’s lieutenant-governor says modern society can learn from Thunder Bay’s half-century amalgamation success.
Elizabeth Dowdeswell made the comment on New Year’s Day, helping the city launch a year-long celebration, 50 years after Port Arthur and Fort William came together as one.
“In these divided and polarized times, we might well look back to when the people of Fort William and Port Arthur came together to form a new city,” the Queen’s representative told an estimated crowd of about 300 people on Wednesday morning at the O’Kelly VC Armoury.
“As in many places, I’m sure that amalgamation was far from universally praised at the time. But I think it’s fair to say that in the time since, the people of this community have worked very hard to develop a positive sense of civic identity.”
Dowdeswell said as the city begins a new year, a new decade and a second 50-year journey, she hopes the people of Thunder Bay are thinking more about how to work together to shape a new destiny for the community and its people.
The country, and in fact the world, is navigating its way through confusing political times, with both sides of the political spectrum accusing the other of trying to ruin society.
It can be frightening, Dowdeswell suggested.
“This is a time, when as you look around the world, something that’s very precious to all of us, our democracy, is under threat in many places. You can tell that when you see cracks in the institutions that support it,” she said, following a nine-minute address to the gathered crowd.
“The judiciary, civil societies, our institutions of governance, all of those kinds of things – so I think it’s a time when milestones like this cause us to reflect on where we’ve been and how far we’ve come and think a little bit about how we can do better into the future. That’s what turning a new leaf is, whether it’s a new year or, in this case, a new decade.”
Mayor Bill Mauro said he’s old enough to remember when amalgamation became a reality, after getting the go-ahead in 1969 under the City of the Lakehead Act, a move first proposed as early as 1910. Eleven years earlier, in 1958, voters in Fort William turned down the idea, despite their neighbours to the north narrowly agreeing to it by a 5,468 to 5,331 count.
While it hasn’t been smooth sailing the entire way, with many residents still clinging to territorial boundaries, it’s worked out pretty much as planned and Mauro said he’s looking forward to seeing what the next 50 years has to offer.
“I think that Thunder Bay, for much of its history, has been a well-kept secret. And I think over the next 50 years you’re going to see more people discover us. You’re going to see more people understand and appreciated what Thunder Bay is and what it has to offer them, from a place to raise a family to a place to earn a living and have a great quality of life,” said Mauro, who joined Dowdeswell and Fort William First Nation Coun. Michelle Solomon on stage for Wednesday’s ceremony, which also included a free community pancake breakfast.
“I think the secret’s out. People are aware of us and I think the next 50 are going to be even better than the previous 50.”
