THUNDER BAY – Ashley Nurmela McKellar Ward campaign got started off on the right foot, when outgoing Coun. Paul Pugh gave his potential replacement two big thumbs up.
Nurmela, one of four candidates in the McKellar race, said she really wants to make a difference in her adopted hometown, an hour away from where she grew up in Nipigon.
A Thunder Bay resident for the past 19 years and a First Nation, Metis and Inuit liaison officer at Lakehead Public Schools, Nurmela said it’s time council got a little younger, a little hipper and a little less out of touch with the real problems Thunder Bay is facing.
“I don’t feel like they have my voice when they’re advocating for change. So I wanted to be that for our youth, in our community,” said Nurmela, a mother of four who lists camping, fishing and advocating for change among her passions.
Nurmela, who championed and founded the Stand Up in Unity Against Racism campaign at Confederation College, said actions, not words, matter most.
Along those lines, Nurmela said the city needs to do a better job when it makes commitments to the local Indigenous population in both the city and neighbouring communities like Fort William First Nation.
“The unity in community is my slogan, and that’s exactly what I intend to bring,” Nurmela said, adding she wants everybody to be able to access the same level of service, care and enjoy the same sense of security in their homes and neighbourhoods.
Not surprisingly, community safety is among her top ward issues.
Gang activity has to be addressed, she said, and neighbourhoods cleaned up.
“We have children that are walking down MacKenzie Street ... past dirty needles on the ground. We have kids being propositioned by people to come with them to take candy or to help find their puppies. There are so many things that our kids are facing today that we didn’t have to face when we were kids,” Nurmela said.
“When I was a kid, I had Block Parents all over the place. There were signs in the window and you knew those people were safe. If you needed help, you went there. I won’t let my kids go to places like that anymore.”
Stronger families and stronger neighbourhoods can make a difference, she said.
The municipal election is on Oct. 22.
