NOVEMBER: Labour peace restored, Yik Yak threats and a snowbrush bandit

10. The student unions at both Lakehead University and Confederation College were at odds with Thunder Bay Transit, publicly announcing the transit authority was proposing a significant increase to their universal bus pass. Students had been paying $95 as a mandatory part of student fees and the student unions claimed transit was seeking to nearly double the rate. A one-year compromise was reached in December.

9. Labour peace was restored to the city’s public elementary schools after the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario reached a tentative agreement with the province. The union had implemented a work-to-rule campaign and withdrew from extracurricular activities.

8. A pending $29 million lawsuit against the Thunder Bay Police Service and Thunder Bay Police Services Board was brought to an end. Former constable Toni Grann had filed the lawsuit in 2013, which also named former chief Bob Herman, Insp. Sylvie Hauth, Insp. Philip Levesque and Staff Sgt. Susan Kaucharik, one year after being not guilty on 11 counts including breach of trust from her time serving as constable responsible for the sex offender registrar and administrator.

7. A series of convenience store robberies garnered national headlines after the suspect used a unique weapon, brandishing a snowbrush. The suspect hit Mac’s locations on Balsam Street and Cumberland Street in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, making off with small amounts of cash. Nobody was injured in either robbery.

6. The longtime mayor of O’Connor Township passed away. Ron Nelson died on Nov. 7 at the age of 61 from an apparent heart attack. Nelson was in the middle of his seventh term at helm of the township after being acclaimed in 2014. He was first elected as councillor in 1991 and was elected reeve in 1994. He was a past president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association.

5. On Nov. 17 city council voted unanimously to order the emergency operations committee to organize a way to house 20 families, around 100 people, of Syrian refugees to prepare for their potential arrival. The decision was made at the request of the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, anticipating the federal government fast-tracking refugees by the end of the year. City leaders are still waiting for information on how the federal government will assist with costs. Syrian refugees aren’t expected to arrive in Thunder Bay until 2016.

4. The coroner’s inquest into the deaths of seven students from remote First Nations communities attending high school in Thunder Bay between 2000 and 2011 continued throughout November. During the month, the inquest heard heartbreaking testimony from numerous friends and family members of the students, as well as investigators and school personnel, as each case was individually examined. Proceedings are expected to continue through the first few months of 2016.


3. An 18-year-old man was arrested and charged with mischief after an anonymous threat against Lakehead University was posted on the controversial social media application Yik Yak. The incident mirrored a similar threat made before a fatal shooting at a school in Oregon. There was a visible police presence on campus before the man, a student from southern Ontario, was arrested late in the morning.

2. For the first time, Statistics Canada included Aboriginal victim data in their annual homicide report. That report, which was released on Nov. 25, found Thunder Bay had seven Aboriginal homicide victims in 2014, the second-highest total in the country trailing only Winnipeg and more than Toronto, Vancouver and Regina combined.

1. When prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau walked with members of his new cabinet to Rideau Hall to be sworn in on Nov. 4, he was accompanied by a recognizable local face. Newly elected Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu was announced as the minister of the status of women, the first time the city had a voice at the federal cabinet table in more than a decade.