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Union president hopeful with update on timeline for construction on new jail

The president of the union representing workers at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre says despite delays, things are moving forward regarding the construction of the new jail.
Shawn Btradshaw
Shawn Bradshaw, president of OPSEU Local 708.

THUNDER BAY -  The president of OPSEU Local 708 says he is remaining hopeful now that a date for a request for proposal has been set for the new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex.

Infrastructure Ontario has set the timeline for the proposal to be issued next winter, according to a recently updated report. 

Shawn Bradshaw is president of the union representing workers at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre and says despite COVID-19 delaying some progress regarding construction on the new jail, things are moving forward.

“We are progressing through a series of virtual meetings and so forth to get the project back on track so we are hopeful,” Bradshaw said reacting to the report’s updated timeline.

In 2017, the provincial Liberals then in power announced the nearly century-old district jail and correctional centre would be combined into a new 325-bed facility. The Conservatives re-committed to the facility after they were elected in 2018. 

The project has a price tag listed as $200 million to $499 million, according to the report.

But COVID-19 hasn’t been the only factor delaying construction on the new jail, Bradshaw said.

“(The) Liberals were going full steam than the Conservatives took over and that is to be expected when you start talking about the money we are looking at but it’s really encouraging with everything going on in the world they haven’t decided there is no more money for this,” he said.

“We would have liked a new institution five years ago but better late than never.”

Bradshaw says the district jail and correctional centre have been able to keep overcrowding issues under control with COVID-19 restrictions in place to a certain degree, but despite best efforts, both facilities expect to face similar issues if the timeline for the new jail is pushed again.

“If it gets pushed, you will see Kenora (jail) and Thunder Bay crumble, Fort Frances too,” he said. “With capacity issues even though we have brought numbers down with intake units and COVID-19, but when that starts to subside and less offenders are getting out and we are housing more guys again it will continue to rise.”

And with overcrowding issues comes more violence, Bradshaw says.

“Once we are into the massive overcrowding…the buildings will crumble and we will be right back to riots every other week.”



Karen Edwards

About the Author: Karen Edwards

Karen Edwards reports on court and crime under the Local Journalism initiative, which is funded by the Government of Canada.
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