THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay's at-large councillors held a meeting at city hall in lieu of a regular council meeting.
All at-large councillors were in attendance, with Rajni Agarwal chairing the meeting. Mark Bentz, Shelby Ch'ng, Kasey Etreni, and Trevor Giertuga were also in chambers to speak with the constituents on issues affecting the city's at-large wards.
There were only seven speaking items on the agenda - the first few breezed by with minimal questions from those in attendance.
The topics of asset management, the turf facility and unsheltered homelessness update yielded many comments from the few residents in chambers.
One constituent asked if councillors were fatigued from discussing the proposed turf facility over the years.
While none of the councillors said outright they were fatigued, Bentz said he was disappointed that more stones were not turned over in the process before the ratification vote.
Residents also raised various complaints and concerns about potholes and other construction projects across the city.
Etreni pointed out that the city's website has a specific link that details the projects scheduled or ongoing across Thunder Bay.
In responding to one resident's complaint about potholes, Ch'ng asked that administration find out how potholes are filled and what materials help extend the lifespan of the repair. Another resident asked how sidewalk repairs are prioritized across the city as well.
When the agenda item for unsheltered homelessness came up, there were many concerns brought forward by residents.
Ch'ng reiterated that the city takes a human rights approach and that a report from city administration is due by the June 24 meeting.
One resident called the human rights approach "manipulative."
Agarwal noted residents' frustrations and asked administration to follow up with an update regarding the city's panhandling by-law.
Giertuga has been vocal about the city's stance on taking the human rights approach. He spoke to Dougall Media after the meeting about his views.
"You know, so we talk about human rights, but what about the human rights of the 100,000 plus people that aren't homeless who have to, you know, I'm sorry, but see people urinate and defecate [through] their windows in the river?"
He spoke about a couple from Nipigon who have housing available to them during the winter and come to Thunder Bay in the summer to live in encampments.
"We have shelter, we have toilets, we have hand washing stations. We have perhaps showers but we can't be just allowing people to go back and forth everywhere," Giertuga said.
"That one encampment on Riverview. That person has been offered numerous times alternative accommodations and turned it down and harasses the people as they walk by . . . So, I mean, we're talking human rights, we need to talk human rights for everybody and we have to stop saying we can't do this because of the Waterloo decision.
"The Waterloo decision says we can't evict people - it doesn't speak to designated campsites or camping sites. We need to stop hiding behind that and start saying we can and we will, and we need to do something to address this issue that's community-wide," he said.
Ch'ng confirmed she is still very much in favour of the human rights approach.
"In my interpretation of it, if we go against that, we set ourselves up not only for lawsuits but, so much loss in terms of our credibility. I certainly don't want to pay millions of dollars in lawsuits because we forcibly remove people.
Ch'ng acknowledged that residents are frustrated and said administration may bring forward solutions at the meeting on June 24.
"What can we do as a council? We have very limited resources available to us, but what I'd like to see is to put a unified approach forward - to have a designated encampment as that stop gap. And a designated encampment, in my opinion, is not a forever solution - it's until we get affordable housing on the market.
"I'm here to represent everybody, not just taxpayers, not just people who voted for me, but those people who are living in encampments as well, and someone needs to speak for them and have their voice heard."
Ch'ng believes there will be a lot of discussion on the subject but didn't offer a possible timeline until the report from city administration becomes available.
