THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay–Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski has asked the provincial government to direct a significant chunk of new federal guns and gangs funding to Thunder Bay, arguing the city’s high rates of violent crime make that an imperative.
Powlowski outlined his case in a letter addressed to Ontario’s solicitor general, Michael Kerzner, copying his federal colleague public safety minister Marco Mendicino.
The federal government announced $120 million in new guns and gangs funding for Ontario earlier this year, covering the period from 2024 to 2029.
It's a renewal of a federal crime prevention program that offered $65 million to Ontario from 2018 to 2023.
The fact that the Thunder Bay Police Service did not receive any funding through that previous round prompted consternation from local police and political leaders.
Those leaders pointed to the fact that Thunder Bay has frequently had among the highest, and sometimes the single highest, rates of homicide and violent crime across the country in recent years.
“I am concerned that Thunder Bay will not receive the necessary infusion of federal money from the [program] to address the city’s escalating crime problem,” Powlowski wrote. “Since 2018 the Thunder Bay Police Service faced a worsening epidemic of violent crime, driven by escalating rates of opioid addiction and gang violence, resulting in Thunder Bay’s reputation as Canada’s ‘murder capital.’”
Powlowski said those disturbing statistics had been illustrated most clearly in a brazen daytime shootout at a Westfort apartment complex earlier this year.
The Liberal MP called it important for the city to not again be left out of the funding.
“I am concerned that Thunder Bay will not receive the necessary infusion of federal money… to address the city’s escalating crime problem,” he stated.
“Although I do not think it is fruitful at this time to examine why the TBPS did not directly (or indirectly) receive any of the initial Guns and Gangs funding, the TBPS needs new resources to address Thunder Bay’s violent crime rate.”
In the letter, Powlowski also expressed confidence the TBPS is “dedicated to reform” after findings of systemic racism against Indigenous people and numerous inadequate investigations of Indigenous deaths.
“The Thunder Bay Police Services Board appointed former RCMP superintendent Darcy Fleury (himself Métis) as the new chief of the TBPS—the first chief appointed from outside the ranks of the TBPS since 1995,” he wrote.
“I welcome the appointment of Chief Fleury, and believe he deserves every possible chance to succeed in his role including the necessary infusion of resources to fully restore the public trust.”
