Thunder Bay representatives have started the long journey to Gifu City, Japan.
City officials including Mayor Keith Hobbs and Red River Ward Coun. Brian McKinnon and other Thunder Bay representatives boarded their plane early Sunday morning for the first leg of their more than 13-hour journey to Japan. The delegates are going as part of the Our Sister Cities program in order to create better partnerships between Thunder Bay and Gifu City.
The 11 representatives were a bit doughy eyed but eager to start the trip.
City Clerk John Hannam made the long journey about five years ago when Gifu became a member of Thunder Bay’s Sister City program. He said officials in Japan will cover most of the cost.
He estimated the cost would be around $10,000 to cover travel costs for city officials and the rest of the delegates will pay out of pocket for themselves.
Hannam said the Sister Cities program has provided a lot of good opportunities for Thunder Bay. He said one example of how the program helps is the Sister City in Duluth, Min. Having that city in the program has helped businesses there purchase goods from companies in Thunder Bay
“We’ve had a six-to-one return in what we’ve invested into the Sister Cities program over the last five years,” Hannam said. “That’s with all Sister Cities not just Gifu City. Five years ago when we visited our Sister City in Keelung, Taiwan the opportunities that came out of that was that Confederation College could host groups of students in their aviation program. We’ve also had student and teacher exchanges in Seinäjoki, Finland.”
The mayor joked he was tired already but he said he’s frequently traveled back to his home country of England so he was used to long journeys. Hobbs said he was excited to have the opportunity to head to Japan and represent the city.
His goal while in Gifu City was to ensure the Japanese knew what a great city Thunder Bay is.
“I`ll tell them about the opportunities there are here,” Hobbs said. “We have industrial lands and we’re trying to get more students over to Lakehead University and Confederation College so we`ll really push to do that. We`ll try to turn this into an economic piece.”
Hobbs admitted he was critical of the Sister Cities program at first until he learned more about it. For every dollar spent, Thunder Bay brings in $18 in economic development, he said.
While the trip does have business matters on the agenda, Hobbs said it might end up being a bit of a holiday as well.
“We work pretty hard,” he said. “I worked 110 hours a week last year. But it isn’t holiday; it is about diplomacy, economic development and culture. It’s up to us to turn it into something positive and I’m sure we’re going to do that.”
Officials with Fort William First Nation also accompanied city delegates on the trip. It was the first time that members of the Fort William First Nation community was invited to join in.
The community’s Economic Developer Ed Collins said it’s all about solidarity and being a team.
He said he and FWFN Chief Peter Collins plan to share their culture with the Japanese and help to learn from one and other.
“I’m really looking forward to the culture,” Collins said. “I really like all sorts of things. I like watching the dancing. I’m very excited and honoured the city of Thunder Bay asked myself and Chief Collins to attend this gathering. It shows teamwork. It shows that two nationalities can work together to accomplish one goal.”
Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute Director of Business Direction Scott Gillis said establishing contacts in Gifu City was a foot in the door for future business ventures in Japan and in other Asian countries.
“One of the things I’ve learned just from doing some research is that developing business in Japan takes a while,” Gillis said. “This is our first stab at it but I do think there’s some good opportunities to collaborate even on the research side. If anything this is allows us to give some good exposure on what we’re doing here in Thunder Bay around health innovation.”
He said he planned to visit the university to learn more about the research being done there.
The delegates will arrive back home next Sunday.
