THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay is forging ahead with other strategies to serve children and youth.
Recently there have been calls for the city to fill the Thunder Bay child advocate position.
In a letter from President Tisha Duncan of the Regional Multicultural Youth Council (RMYC) written in February 2023 to city council, she said the hiring is long overdue.
“The RMYC believes in your words at the political table on January 26,” the letter stated.
“We are kindly asking you to fill the vacant position and bring together stakeholders to revive the Thunder Bay Children’s Coalition to engage the community in implementing the Seven Youth Inquest Recommendations.”
The 2016 inquest examined the deaths of seven youth who travelled to Thunder Bay from their home First Nations to attend school.
The jury in the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Jethro Anderson, Reggie Bushie, Robyn Harper, Kyle Morrisseau, Paul Panacheese, Curran Strang and Jordan Wabasse issued 145 recommendations eight years ago to a number of agencies – 31 directed actions that could be taken by the city.
In a statement provided on March 7, city manager Norm Gale pointed to a 2017 motion from former councillor Frank Pullia to re-establish the Children’s Coalition that was defeated.
“The needs of children were being addressed in other ways, through administration as well as community organizations, so the need of the original role was not required,” Gale added.
“The membership of the original coalition no longer had met and had not been operational since its last report in 2010. The original role arose from a community agency program that had concluded, and there was no defined role for the position at that time," he said.
“Members of our administration work with numerous groups in the city and make connections with organizations serving children and youth on a regular basis. Should there be a need for advocacy of some kind, the inter-governmental affairs committee is best suited to manage that work.”
