THUNDER BAY – A year ago, many of us truly believed 2021 would see the end of COVID-19 and life would go back to normal.
For a time, it appeared it might happen, though experts warned cases would start to climb again when cold weather returned.
The fear of the Delta variant was largely negated when vaccinations began being administered, but the arrival of the Omicron variant has case counts at record highs and both the vaccinated and unvaccinated being infected at levels unseen during the pandemic.
Not surprisingly, COVID-19 and all of its implications once again top the city’s top stories of 2021. Here’s our top 10 of the year, as chosen by Thunder Bay Source editor and Dougall Media Director of News, Leith Dunick.
- COVID-19 is that unwanted house guest that simply won’t go away. In Thunder Bay, the virus caught hold at the Thunder Bay District Jail and in the city’s vulnerable population in February and March, with 470 cases at one point during the height of the outbreak. Vaccinations were rolled out and at one point in the summer there were no active cases. But things changed in the fall, and as 2021 gave way to 2022, there were 383 active cases and not counting – the province having decided to stop testing for all but those in the most vulnerable settings, including long-term care and the hospital.
- Brayden Bushby was sentenced to eight years in prison, found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Indigenous woman Barbara Kentner in 2017. Bushby tossed a trailer hitch from a moving vehicle at Kentner and her sister, striking Barbara Kentner, who later died as a result of her injuries.
- Just months after agreeing with developers to reopen the Hoito Restaurant, the plan came crashing down when the Finnish Labour Temple went up in smoke and flames, the 111-year-old building considered a complete write-off. Owner Brad McKinnon vowed to rebuilt the facade as close to the original as possible.
- The federal election did little to change the political landscape, both nationally and at the local level. Liberals Patty Hajdu and Marcus Powlowski were easily returned to office for another term, as part of a second straight minority government. Hajdu, who served as health minister throughout the pandemic, was moved to Indigenous services in a post-election cabinet shake-up.
- The Office of the Chief Coroner announced it would reopen the investigation into the death of Indigenous man Stacy DeBungee, who died in 2015, his body pulled from the McIntyre River. Police immediately ruled his death non-suspicious, but evidence later came forward that suggested the decision may have been made too hastily.
- The 30-year-old pilot of a small aircraft was killed in a crash landing at Thunder Bay Airport in late August. Peter Balodis was flying as a part of an aviation team fighting forest fires in Northwestern Ontario when his plane went down.
- Thunder Bay observed the first Truth and Reconciliation Day on Sept. 30, hundreds gathering to pay tribute and remembers residential school victims, hearing first-hand the stories while standing on the site of the former St. Joseph Residential School. A sacred fire was the centrepiece of the ceremony.
- Anti-lockdown activist Chris Sky was arrested by Thunder Bay Police after holding a rally at Hillcrest Park. Sky had been told by OPP not to hold a rally in the province, but defied the order following a rally at Waverly Park which he did not attend, his supporters marching up the hill to greet the controversial anti-masker.
- A Thunder Bay family narrowly escaped a tragic fate when a truck barrelled through a stop sign at Sistonens Corners, killing the transport driver and his passenger. The Highway 102 intersection has been the scene of a number of other close calls in recent months.
- A driver was charged with dangerous driving after plowing through an unoccupied tent at a homeless encampment on the site of a former gas bar at County Fair Plaza. The city earlier in the month found itself in hot water with local homeless activists after announcing it planned to fence off the area to keep campers out.
