THUNDER BAY – Eight years ago, Tracey MacKinnon was living on the streets, looking for a place to sleep and a job to lift her fortunes.
But she didn’t let hard times get her down.
She got back on her feet and today is a volunteer and an advocate for the poor.
Encouraged by Northwood Coun. Shelby Ch’ng, who met her at a recent award ceremony, now MacKinnon can add at-large candidate to her resume.
The 46-year-old mother-of-four and grandmother of one is one of 26 people seeking one of five seats in the crowded at-large race and said if she’s elected, she’ll work to try to combat some of the city’s social ills, including poverty and homelessness.
“I live in Fort William. I see it every day, walking to and from city hall,” she said.
A former employee at Shelter House, who once called the facility home, MacKinnon said it opened her eyes to the issues facing Thunder Bay, particularly its Indigenous residents.
“People who are staying there are residential school survivors, ‘60s Scoop survivors. It’s everywhere. You have to deal with it. You can’t keep shoving it under the carpet.”
It starts with giving them back their knowledge, culture, language and traditions.
MacKinnon believes her voice is just the type of voice that’s been missing from city hall for years, adding she’s in her second year on the board of the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative.
“For the first year I sat quiet,” MacKinnon said. “But now in my second year I’m not going to be so quiet. I’m going to advocate for those who can’t, who don’t have a voice, who need to be heard and keep falling through these cracks.
“It’s got to stop happening.”
The situation says it looks bad on Thunder Bay.
“We need to look at that and find the root cause and find what’s underneath and fix it. We can’t (keep) putting a Band-Aid on it. We’ve got to get to the root cause,” MacKinnon said.
She also wants to find ways to engage the community politically, so more than 50 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots come Election Day.
“That says a lot. We need to get the other 50 per cent out.”
