THUNDER BAY – Ontario’s solicitor general says a contractor has been chosen to complete expansion infrastructure projects at both the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre and the Kenora Jail.
Sylvia Jones on Thursday announced Bird Construction Inc. is expected to complete the work at the two facilities.
Highlights include an Indigenous bail and remand program to decrease the need for pre-trial custody of Indigenous people, a Indigenous restorative justice program to strengthen cultural identity and reduce future involvement with the judicial system and a justice centre in Kenora to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the local justice system.
The project will also provide $675,000 to Kenora’s mobile crisis and outreach team, $979,911 to Thunder Bay’s joint mobile crisis response project and $979,911 to Thunder Bay’s Project River Safety and Health Initiative.
An additional $800,000 will be spent to support a one-year pilot project with the Kenora Chiefs Advisory Street Patrol, a program designed to ensure the needs of at-risk Indigenous people in the community are being met in a respectful culturally appropriate manner.
“Our government continues to take action to enhance the safety of frontline staff while working to improve programming for inmates, including supports specifically tailored to Indigenous individuals,” Jones said in a release.
“We remain committed to working with frontline staff and our justice partners to strengthen our corrections system and public safety in the North.”
The projects were announced last October and construction is set to begin next month and be completed by the spring of 2022. They’re part of the province’s $500-million plan to transform correctional services across Ontario.
The province has promised to build a new facility to replace Thunder Bay’s aging district jail, but no timeline has yet been put in place to begin that project.
Nishbawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said the projects are a step in the right direction.
“These are much-needed improvements and we acknowledge the Solicitor General’s commitment to improving living conditions and providing more culturally relevant and inclusive supports for inmates,” Fiddler said in the release.
“It is vital that Indigenous inmates remain connected to their culture as Ontario works to provide long-term solutions for these facilities. This modular infrastructure will help alleviate pressures from overcrowding and we welcome these interim improvements for the safety of inmates in Kenora and Thunder Bay."
