1. Police chief J.P. Levesque was vindicated when charges of obstruction of justice and breach of trust were dismissed following a lengthy trial at the Thunder Bay Courthouse. Levesque was under fire for speaking about forthcoming extortion charges being considered against then Thunder Bay mayor Keith Hobbs. Levesque returned to work four days later.
2. Faced with ongoing overcrowding made worse by a virulent flu season, officials at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre were forced to seek alternatives to house patients to put an end to a surge capacity crisis at the hospital. They eventually worked out a deal with the St. Joseph’s Care Group to use unused space at Hogarth Riverview Manor.
3. Shelter House’s Street Outreach Program was halted when the van used to deliver services to the city’s homeless and vulnerable populations broke down. With no back-up in place, Shelter House had no choice but to suspend operations temporarily until a new vehicle could be secured. Roots to Harvest later stepped up with a vehicle loan to restart the program.
4. Northwestern Ontario candidates Derek Parks and Greg Rickford both expressed shock at allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against now-former Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown. Brown was forced to resign, though denied any wrongdoing, after two women came forward and made the accusations, alleged to have occurred when they were teenagers and Brown was a sitting Member of Parliament.
5. Long-time NDP politician John Rafferty dropped out of the provincial race in Thunder Bay-Atikokan, announcing he was starting treatment for a serious medical condition. Rafferty twice before had sought the seat provincially, but finished runner-up to Liberal Bill Mauro on both occasions.
6. Controversial senator Lynne Beyak of Dryden was removed from the Conservative caucus by party leader Andrew Scheer, after letters he had deemed racist were not removed from Beyak’s website. Beyak later denied Scheer asked her to remove the letters, but nonetheless was left with no choice but to sit as an independent in the Senate.
7. College president Jim Madder announced he would step down by year’s end, after nearly seven years at the helm. Madder, who most recently had guided the Thunder Bay school through a faculty strike, called it a difficult decision, but one timed to allow his replacement to be involved with the start of the school’s next strategic plan.
8. Sears shut its doors in Thunder Bay one final time, following in the footsteps of the company’s stores across Canada. Employees past and present gathered for a final photograph outside the Intercity Shopping Centre store, following weeks of clearance sales after the company declared bankruptcy.
9. Workers at the Port Arthur Health Centre voted to approve strike action, threatening to walk off the job if a contract agreement couldn’t be reached. About 65 workers were affected by the vote, which ultimately did lead to them walking off the job in April.
10. Acclaimed author Margaret Atwood made a standing-room only appearance at Thunder Bay’s Chapters outlet, spending the evening discussing her work, in particular The Handmaid’s Tale.
