Here are the top stories from August 2018, as selected by tbnewswatch.com editor Leith Dunick. We'll be rolling out our look back at the year gone throughout the rest of December, culminating with our most read stories of the year on Jan. 1.
- Striking employees at the Port Arthur Health Centre, buoyed by a visit from Unifor national president Jerry Dias, blocked multiple entrances to the north-side clinic. Police were on scene and the threat of charges was made against local union leaders. The court later issued an injunction after the workers erected a fence around the perimeter of the building, ordering it removed and demanding picketers not block access to the facility.
- Police investigated the murder of 31-year-old Amelia Corrie Sainnawap, after finding her body in a laneway in the 100 block of Cumming Street. Thunder Bay Police have yet to arrest anyone in the killing, making a plea to the public for help to find her killer or killers. The death is not believed to be related to the July 31 death of David Hugh Sweeney, whose body was found at a North Algoma Street home.
- The threat of violence continued in the Windsor Street area, which was cordoned off by police as they investigated after a man wanted on southern Ontario warrants was spotted and fled into a residence in nearby housing complex. Traffic was rerouted from the area and police held the scene overnight until the 36-year-old Toronto-areas suspect surrendered and a semi-automatic weapon was seized.
- Lakehead Public Schools’ director of education Ian MacRae slammed the province for its controversial decision to return to the 1998 sex-education curriculum, a move many saw as counter-productive for students. Consent and gender identity were at the heart of the decision, MacRae saying the 20-year-old curriculum does not reflect the reality facing today’s students.
- A man with previous convictions for child-pornography offences was arrested after being found with a young girl. Michael Daniel Bewcyk was caught with a nine-year-old. The 70-year-old was later charged with child-abduction offence and remains in prison awaiting court proceedings.
- Police investigated a report of shots fired at a Windsor Street residence, indicating they were on the hunt for three individuals possibly linked to out-of-town organized crime and drug trafficking.
- City council voted in favour of repairing the Chapples Stadium pitch, awarding a $1.1-million contract to fix the field, the home of the Thunder Bay Chill. The Premier Development League club has called Fort William Stadium home for several seasons and won’t be able to return to their original field until 2020.
- The province announced it was postponing the planned temporary overdose-prevention site at the Norwest Community Health Centre while the Conservative governments conducts a review of harm-reduction practices to determine if similar sites have merit.
- Former Nishnawbe Aski Nation deputy grand chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum lobbed accusations of harassment and intimidation at former grand chief Stan Beardy, claiming seven people had come forward with statements against him.
- City council voted to give Tourism Thunder Bay 50 per cent of the newly created municipal accommodation tax being levied on local hotels and motels, but doing so meant shifting the department under the umbrella of the Community Economic Development Corporation.
