NIPIGON, Ont. – Opposition to the recommended closure of three Superior North EMS bases in the North Shore and Greenstone areas remains fierce, with a protest at the Nipigon River Bridge over the weekend highlighting ongoing concerns.
More than 50 people, including several leaders from district communities, demonstrated at the landmark Saturday, warning station closures could leave both residents and travellers along the Trans Canada Highway waiting longer for ambulance service.
“This is a matter of life and death for people – we cannot allow this to go forward,” said Claudette Trottier, Beardmore ward councillor with the Municipality of Greenstone.
The newly minted 2021-2030 master plan for Superior North EMS proposes consolidating four district stations into two (Terrace Bay/Schreiber and Nipigon/Red Rock), and closing the 12-hour Beardmore base entirely.
Municipalities and First Nations in the region have strongly condemned the plan for months over the proposed closures and a lack of consultation.
That didn’t stop Thunder Bay’s city council from voting to receive the plan in January – though that doesn’t guarantee its recommendations will be implemented. An initial report on next steps for implementation is expected in April.
While Superior North EMS serves 14 municipalities and residents of unorganized areas and First Nations throughout the District of Thunder Bay, the City of Thunder Bay operates the service. Other local governments have no official input into the agency's operation, the master plan points out.
Operations are funded 50 per cent by the province, and 50 per cent by the municipalities.
The recommended station closures are part of a larger strategy in the plan to optimize resources in the face of potentially massive demand growth, mostly in Thunder Bay.
Calls for service could increase by more than 50 per cent by 2030 due to an aging population and increasing willingness to call 9-1-1, the document warns.
It also anticipates financial pressures from provincial belt tightening in the wake of large pandemic deficits.
The plan, created by Performance Concepts Consulting, suggests reallocating some resources from less populous areas to deal with the local surge in demand, among other strategies.
That approach could be deadly, leaders in several communities have warned.
The removal of the Beardmore station would leave residents facing two-hour waits to reach a hospital, Trottier estimated, with a 170-kilometre round trip from the nearest EMS base.
“We’re looking at the possibility of losing 60 per cent of our coverage between Marathon, Dorion, and Greenstone – going from five ambulances down to two ambulances,” said Terrace Bay mayor Jody Davis on Saturday.
“All the residents in the communities and First Nations, and also the travelling public… their safety is now endangered by the proposed lack of ambulance service.”
The City of Thunder Bay should work with district communities to find alternative solutions before making any decisions to close bases, Trottier argued.
“We need them to take a little bit more time to work with our communities, to see if we can’t get some funding from the federal government, and see where else money can be saved,” she said. “But just don’t cut us off without consultation.”
Performance Concepts Consulting president Todd MacDonald stood by the plan’s recommendations when presenting to Thunder Bay’s city council in January, saying the process deliberately relied on data over consultation.
The Beardmore EMS station’s “system busyness” – the amount of time resources are actively deployed – is around three per cent, he pointed out. In Thunder Bay, busyness is in the mid-thirties, and has spiked above 50 per cent as recently as 2015.
Beardmore residents also wouldn’t be abandoned entirely, he noted: the master plan suggests leaving behind a paramedic with a non-ambulance vehicle who could be based out of the local clinic.
"The expansion in the clinic setting would allow the paramedic stationed there to do more community-based paramedicine and deliver higher value in the community,” he said.
The recommendation is typical of the plan, which argues the health system is too reliant on ambulance service, and should turn more to alternative models of care like community paramedicine.
The City of Thunder Bay did not initially plan for consultation with communities in the district when it hired Performance Concepts Consulting to create the plan.
Mayor Bill Mauro brought forward a motion to belatedly conduct consultation in August, when the process was already well underway.
“I found out the consultant was not required in the original contract administration struck to consult with the communities on the North Shore,” he said Tuesday. “When I found out about that, I didn’t think it was appropriate.”
Meetings were subsequently held with community leaders, but several have expressed dissatisfaction with that process, saying it consisted more of a review than a meaningful attempt to gather input.
Three Beardmore-area First Nations – Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek (Lake Nipigon Ojibway), Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (Sandpoint First Nation), and Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek (Rocky Bay First Nation) – slammed the belated attempts as insufficient.
“Presenting an already prepared report and recommendations at one meeting with multiple First Nations… is not consultation,” they wrote to Thunder Bay’s city council. “If you had met with us, we would have informed you about the importance of the Beardmore EMS Station to our respective memberships, and that saving lives should be a more important principle than saving money.”
Recent conversations with mayors and chiefs along the North Shore revealed ongoing dissatisfaction, Mauro said.
“I have heard that some would like to be further consulted,” he said, but added there was little more he could do.
“I’ve done my best to direct our administration to ensure that consultation occurred with these communities.”
For Davis, the process has left a bitter taste.
“It really bothers us – we’re a democracy, we’re municipalities, we work with each other,” he said at the protest. “This was done without any consultation of any of the communities or local First Nations. We have [had] no participation, but we pay the same levy, based on assessment and population, as the residents of Thunder Bay.”
Thunder Bay’s now retired general manager of emergency services Mark Smith told councillors in January that major structural issues like station closures would likely not be included in an initial implementation report expected to come before council in April.
City manager Norm Gale confirmed a report was still expected next month, but declined to comment on whether closures would be addressed.
He also declined comment on whether the city had reached out to district communities that expressed concerns.
Trottier remains hopeful there will be time to find alternative solutions.
“What else can be done, what other options are there for us other than closing our ambulance base?” Trottier asked. “Because that’s not acceptable. It’s an essential service, and as Canadians and Ontarians, we deserve that life-saving service in our community.”
