THUNDER BAY – An incident of violence near the Water Street Transit terminal has garnered massive online commentary. The incident was written about by former Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day on his Facebook. The incident has generated comment from Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs.
The Thunder Bay Police Service is conducting an investigation into an assault of a male that occurred around 9:45 p.m. on July 11, 2018 in the area of the Water Street bus terminal.The 52 year old male victim was transported to hospital for medical attention. Investigators with the Criminal Investigation Branch are speaking to witness and following up this investigation.
Mayor Keith Hobbs made the following statement on behalf of City Council and Administration:
“We are deeply saddened by an incident of violence that occurred Wednesday evening in the Water Street area. We have reported the incident and follow up social media posts to Thunder Bay Police Service and commend those people who intervened and helped.
As a City, we condemn hate-motivated crimes and discriminatory attitudes. We encourage everyone to report hate crimes and stand up to racism. Violence, hate crimes, discriminatory attitudes, and actions are unacceptable in our community. We are better than this.”
Talking with NetNewsLedger the Mayor states that he has spent upwards of forty percent of his time working on the Indigenous file. The City of Thunder Bay, Hobbs says can point to the friendship agreement with North Caribou Lake First Nation and Fort William First Nation, the recently declared accord which has representatives from 11 major organizations signed a Thunder Bay Anti-Racism & Inclusion Accord today at City Hall, and announced a Coalition that will commit to establish goals and report on successes by working together to address racism and discrimination in the community.
Hobbs states that what is needed is funding toward solving these issues from the federal and provincial governments and that much of the issues have been downloaded to the municipal government without any additional resources made available to assist the city.
Reporting Incidents
Report crimes in progress to Police at 911.
Report information on hate crimes to Crimestoppers to 1-800-222-TIPS.
If you experience or witness racism, report it at 211 or www.lspc.ca/incidentreport
