THUNDER BAY -- Your first chance to weigh in on the future of Thunder Bay city council launches early next week.
The council composition committee gathered on Tuesday and agreed to launch the Public Engagement Survey on January 15th, which will be made available through the Get Involved Thunder Bay page for three weeks.
Committee member Heather McLeod feels the survey is a good start.
“We as a committee have talked a few times about how do we get to everybody and how we convince them to see themselves as part of this decision. How it will impact how we support and are supported by our elected members. You have some sense of who does and who doesn't answer surveys typically, and there are some specific groups we're concerned about making sure we engage," McLeod said.
When talking further about potential barriers to the survey, McLeod said: “One could be access, like if you don't have a computer or you don't have wi-fi.
“If you're a younger person, like my kids, this is a really important decision for you right? It’s been quite a while since the last time we made changes. Whatever changes we might make you're going to be living with. And right now, where do you go for information? TikTok five second videos, probably not a 10-question survey.”
Committee Chair Rebecca Johnson said that hard copies of the survey will also be available beginning on January 15th.
“We are also going to have various locations in the city, like the libraries and maybe some other locations in the community, where you will be able to pick up a hard copy of the survey,” Johnson said.
“But it's not just going to be the survey results that we're going on because the conversations we have around this subject are important. The more we can spark those conversations and broaden who we have them with, the better the information will bring to our decisions.”
The Committee is also tasked with looking at the composition of the ward system and potential changes to ward boundaries.
When the municipality of Thunder Bay was created in 1970, it began with a mayor and 12 councillors elected evenly across four wards.
That expanded to seven wards in 1976 until 1985 when the city adopted its current hybrid system that elects a mayor, seven ward councillors, and five at-large councillors.
A push for a plebiscite back in October 2021 by former At-Large Councillor Peng You that would have asked citizens if they support cutting council from 13 to 9 seats and ditching the ward system never proceeded.
A final report from the Committee on the composition of council is slated for completion in advance of the 2026 municipal election.
The committee has six members, including McLeod and Johnson, Vice-Chair Cody Fraser, Riley Burton, Wayne Bahlieda, and Carlos Santander-Maturana.
The committee will next meet on Tuesday, February 6th.
