- After multiple closures throughout the month, police finally made arrests in an ongoing series of threats made against Hammarskjold High School. Emilie Jade Pakrashi, 18, and a 14-year-old boy who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were taken into custody in the case, which paralyzed the school community for months. Both face charges of public mischief.
- Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro made a plea to both the provincial and federal governments to come to the table to help with the city’s growing gang problem. Thunder Bay in recent years has become fertile turf for a lucrative drug trade and Mauro said if senior levels of government can’t help, the city might have to cut services elsewhere to reallocated resources to do it themselves.
- The Conservative government made it official and committed to replace the overcrowded Thunder Bay District Jail, first promised by the previous Liberal government. The new 325-bed facility will replace the 147-bed jail and also combines the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre.
- A 52-year-old man, Andrew Ayre, died of his injuries and police treated his death as a homicide. Police responded on April 25 to an incident on the corner of Victoria Avenue and North Street, where they found a man in distress on the sidewalk. David Vernon Gergorovich, 32, and Jason Raven, 23, face second-degree murder and robbery charges.
- Hundreds of students walked out of class to protest Premier Doug Ford’s cuts and changes to the education system. Class-size increases and mandatory e-learning courses, the banning of cell phones in classroom and the new math and sex-education curricula were among the issues students were fighting against.
- The Thunder Bay Police Services Board regained its right to vote after completing governance and cultural sensitivity training. It had been taken away from the board for about four months, following the release of Senator Murray Sinclair’s Ontario Provincial Police Commission report that found the board failed to address the concerns of the Indigenous community.
- Peter Collins was re-elected to a third consecutive term as chief of Fort William First Nation. Collins defeated challenger Bonnie Pelletier to win the election, saying the next four years could provide a challenging road ahead.
- About 250 evacuees from Kashechewan First Nation arrived in Thunder Bay after flooding concerns in their community, located on the James Bay coast. The reserve has been prone to flooding nearly every spring due to the break-up of ice on the Albany River.
- City council heard a zoning bylaw request that, if approved, would nearly triple the size of a supportive housing complex for youth on Junot Avenue.
- The demolition of the former Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute began, the tear-down making way for a new elementary school to take over the Northwood site. The school had been open for 52 years and was slated for closure because of dwindling enrolment.
Between now and Jan. 1, tbnewswatch.com will be presenting our annual Year in Review feature, with a look back at the top news stories each month throughout 2019. We'll culminate with our top 10 news stories of the decade on New Year's Day.
