THUNDER BAY - Here are the top stories from September 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.
- Police were called to a North Algoma Street residence where the body of a 59-year-old man was located. Police, who put out a call to the public for witnesses, identified the victim as David Hugh Sweeney. No suspects have yet to be arrested in the case.
- Justice Patrick Smith announced he was stepping down from his role as the interim dean at Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin School of Law to return to the bench on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Smith later became the subject of a Canadian Judicial Council review panel investigating whether taking the job in the first place disqualified him to sit as a judge. The review panel later announced it did not.
- A man’s body was pulled from the Kaministiquia River, sparking police to turn to the public to help identify the body, sending out pictures of the clothing the man was wearing at the time of his death. Nine days later he was identified as 42-year-old Geoffrey Francis, who had ties to both Thunder Bay and Kenora. The investigation is ongoing.
- After serving for all of 2018 in the role in an interim capacity, Moira McPherson was officially named president of Lakehead University, succeeding Brian Stevenson, who stepped down at the end of 2017. McPherson has a long history with the university as the school’s vice-president academic and provost.
- Brayden Bushby’s second-degree murder case opened in court. Bushby was charged in connection with the death of Barbara Kentner, who died months after being struck by a trailer hitch thrown from a passing vehicle while walking on the south side of the city with her sister.
- Thunder Bay Police acting Chief Sylvie Hauth told city council she is concerned at an influx of gang members from southern Ontario bringing criminal activity and violence to the city. Hauth said police have increased patrols and plan to be more visible in high-risk areas. Her presentation noted 52 suspected gang members have been arrested in the past year, resulting in the seizure of $1 million in cash and close to an equal amount of drugs.
- Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute welcomed former Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute students to their new home with open arms. The two schools amalgamated following Churchill’s closure. Westgate’s population jumped to 1,130, with 130 staff.
- A third-party management order remained in place at Hogarth Riverview Manor, the Ministry of Health dictating the facility must sustain compliance. The ministry has yet to give a date indicating when the order, given to St. Joseph’s Care Group, which operates Hogarth Riverview Manor, would be rescinded. The ministry noted improvements have been made, but Extendicare will continue to monitor the situation until all outstanding compliance orders are met.
- Dozens of students marched out of class in protest of the Ontario government’s plan to revert to the 1998 sexual education curriculum, removing discussions about consent from the classroom. Students also feared LGBTQ and Indigenous issues would also be lost if the province has its way.
- MP Don Rusnak, citing family commitments, decided to step away from his parliamentary secretary role to the minister of Indigenous Services. The first-term politician said the intense travel schedule was proving too much and keeping him away from his young family for too long.
