THUNDER BAY — Members of the public are getting a chance to weigh in on the City of Thunder Bay's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city has launched an internal review of its emergency response, looking at the measures it implemented, the process and the procedures it adopted.
But a key component of the review involves gathering external feedback from the community through an online survey and in-person focus group sessions.
Fire Chief Greg Hankkio sits on the city's pandemic debrief committee.
"As we followed government mandates which impacted our programs and services, we were guided by our established emergency plans. It's important we now review our actions to strengthen successful processes and identify lessons to be applied in future emergency management plans," Hankkio said in a statement Monday.
He said it's important to hear from residents because "they were the ones directly impacted by our response."
The city has hired Emergency Management Group, a consulting firm, to conduct the review.
The company will collect the feedback from the public, stakeholders and the internal review to prepare a report with recommendations to city administration.
The online survey is available until Oct. 31 at www.thunderbay.ca/GetInvolved.
It includes 10 questions related to how well the public felt it was informed about access to city programs and services during COVID restrictions, and to what extent those restrictions affected them.
Public focus groups will meet on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26.
Registration for the focus groups is also available on the same website.
