THUNDER BAY – There’s still no firm timeline in place to start construction on a replacement facility for the Thunder Bay District Jail.
It remains entrenched in Stage 1 of a six-step build process, where it’s been for nearly three years.
Asked when the facility, first promised by the previous Liberal government and later re-promised by the current Conservative government, Solicitor General Sylvie Jones on Thursday was unable to provide a date.
“The Thunder Bay complex is in ongoing planning. We have not put out a request for proposal yet. We are working with infrastructure Ontario on that piece and as the bids are prepared and reviewed, then we will have a much better timeline in terms of when we can expect the build and ultimately be expected to open it,” Jones said.
The solicitor general was making an announcement, via Zoom, regarding expansions at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre and the Kenora Jail.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler stressed in a statement that those fixes are only temporary, while clearly stressing the importance of a new facility.
“We know that these facilities are very old. They are unsafe and inside many of those cells, they are inhumane. They are even more unsafe during the pandemic," Fiddler said.
A request for qualifications, the first step in the build process, was issued on March 26, 2018 for the proposed 325-bed facility, which would replace both the jail and the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre.
