THUNDER BAY – City councillor Aldo Ruberto wants to see Thunder Bay do more to tackle what he describes as a growing problem: “trap houses” that feed the city’s drug trade and threaten neighbourhoods’ quality of life. The councillor says a new municipal nuisance bylaw could be part of the solution.
Many other solutions need to come from higher levels of government, Ruberto stressed, such as more police funding for guns and gangs, and stiffer criminal penalties for drug dealers. But in the meantime, he says, a nuisance bylaw could help arm law and bylaw enforcement with greater tools to tackle local hubs of illegal drug activity.
“It’s definitely a big problem,” he says. “We have gangs up here from Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton who are increasing the violent crimes and murders that obviously affect our reputation across the country. People are getting drugs that are laced with fentanyl, causing overdoses like crazy. There’s more people dying than people realize in this city from drug overdoses.”
Ruberto said a large amount of those drugs are making their way through “trap houses” in Thunder Bay neighbourhoods, but believes police are often held back from addressing the issue.
“Right now, it’s very tough for the police to build up a case,” he said. “You have to get the evidence, you have to watch a place – it takes up a lot of time, a lot of resources. The law is so strict in terms of getting a conviction against them, and the police have to go through so many hoops. The drug dealers are using the laws against us.”
Municipal nuisance bylaws could provide a legal basis to address some of the same problems, Ruberto said.
Nuisance provisions currently exist in the city’s property standards bylaw, but the at-large councillor wants to see those developed further as a dedicated bylaw, with harsher penalties for repeated violations.
“If the neighbours are watching the amount of traffic that’s going on, if the police are called ten, twenty times, if there’s garbage all over the place coming from people that attend a certain house, if there’s a vulgar smell, or the place looks like a dump – If things like that are going on, and it’s having an effect on the quality of life of the neighbourhood, we have to address it.”
If Ruberto’s motion passes at Monday’s council meeting, city administration will be directed to provide council with a report on the idea by the end of September. That will include looking at similar initiatives in other communities, and examining potential cost implications.
Ruberto believes his motion will find support around the council table, saying he’s confident it will resonate with constituents throughout the city.
“Society’s on my side, I can tell you that one hundred per cent,” he said. “I get calls all the time about drug houses, drugs – nuisance behaviour. It’s a problem.”
