Andre G

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Compassion for homeless underway 'with few resources'

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I sympathize with those affected by homelessness and commend the compassionate efforts of Vanessa Bowles and others. However, the notion that we must either tolerate encampments and their associated issues or be seen as uncaring is a false dichotomy. Nobody is saying we shouldn't put resources towards helping people struggling with acute issues that lead to homelessness. There are many dedicated individuals and organizations working across all the issues that contribute to homelessness, and we should continue to support and fund those groups that demonstrate quantifiable success. But residents also want our shared public spaces to be treated with dignity and respect. The solution can't be to tolerate makeshift shelters indefinitely. We need practical, humane approaches that address homelessness while protecting the integrity of our shared public spaces.

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First Nations oppose potential arrival of nuclear waste

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The North does want the prosperity and stability that securely storing the heavily regulated waste would bring.

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Shelter House client describes the challenges of being homeless

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I appreciate Ms. Wapoose coming forward to share her story. Her circumstance is very difficult, and any of us would struggle to adapt to what she had to go through. I also respect the intention behind what the Shelter House director expressed, focusing on compassion and the dignity of those they help. At the same time, there’s a tension that needs to be acknowledged. While it’s important to see the humanity in individual stories like Ms. Wapoose’s, we can’t overlook the very real degradation of our public spaces. By degradation, I mean the visible rise in drug use, harassment of residents, littering and crime. These are issues that affect all of us, and as a resident, I don’t want to see our shared spaces fall into disrepair. There’s a balance we all need to strike, a balance between decency and boundaries, compassion and accountability. We can both support those in need without sacrificing the safety and integrity of the spaces we all share.

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World Wildlife Fund Canada raises concerns over Bill C-

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How many more decades should it take to develop a top tier project like the ring of fire? Nobody wants pollution. Another thing nobody wants is to catalogue every turtle and shade of moss that might be displaced.Americans are threatening our sovereignty, this isn't a game.

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LETTER: Real approach to homelessness required

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Enforcement is a tool for public space management. Nobody is pretending it is a substitute for the causes of homelessness.

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Council selects north-side shelter village site

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Actual service providers have learned not to have open drug use and adjusted accordingly but the city starting from scratch has to relearn that lesson I suppose.

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New encampment guidelines to be ratified by city council

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The city needs an additional $450,000 in staffing to implement the new guidelines(252-2024), which are unenforceable due to the city policy passed last year that prevents enforcement options under a human rights-based approach(157-2023). We could, instead, allocate the funds to by-law officers if enforcement were allowed, but the current city policy explicitly prevents this. Therefore, these guidelines depend on the illusion of authority without the requisite consequences."It's important to note that these distance guidelines are not enforceable regulations." -corporate report 252-2024 up for ratification July 15, 2024

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City council maintains five metre distance for encampments

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Since 2019, California has funneled $24 billion into homelessness initiatives, effectively nurturing an industry of service organizations whose deeply entrenched policies, generously funded, have proliferated far and wide beyond the borders of California. Despite this, the intended outcomes have markedly failed to materialize. The Governor of California has recently signed an executive order to clear homeless encampments, declaring emphatically, "No more excuses. We've provided the time. We've provided the funds. Now it's time for locals to do their job." Why don't we jump to the end of this road we're stumbling along and revert to the historical precedent which was: if you're homeless you had to do it where you weren't bothering anyone. And with our public spaces preserved, we would continue funding long term solutions that address the many causes of homelessness. The ingenuity of the California model is a visibility-inconvenience-funding spiral and I don't think we should proceed.

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City wants feedback on shelter village locations

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The survey requires you to pick one of the two options to complete it. If you want neither, the survey does not let you complete the survey. The only way to communicate that preference is to not do the survey. Why does it feel like administration is lobbying council? They shouldn’t care if they get positive or negative feedback, they should just want accurate feedback.

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Is an out-of-the-way site a positive for city shelter village?

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Administration have claimed shelter villages reduce crime. The nearby businesses are adding fences and security. I’m inclined to believe the people spending their own money.

'Hometown pride': Hajdu represents Canada on the world stage

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Hajdu is accountable to us and genuinely cares about our community. The UN is not accountable to us and does not care about us. I don’t want to substitute community policy discernment with UN decrees or initiatives.

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Thunder Bay Art Gallery opening changed to

TBNewsWatch

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Why are we making a static structure carbon neutral? More spending doesn’t always mean better, just like how cardboard straws cost more and fall apart in your drink.

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We ‘cannot compel people to move,’ says city staff

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Kingston is currently enforcing a daytime encampment ban.

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Building bridges between business and street-involved people in north core

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This reads like an attempt to lobby businesses into accepting disorder.There's even an implicit assumption here that businesses themselves are failing to create a "safe space." But businesses already provide safe and orderly environments. The instability doesn't come from them, it comes from what is happening on the street. If a "safe space for all" really means businesses should tolerate more decline outside of their doors, that's not a bridge that is just normalizing the problem.

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Synergy North electricity bills to increase in Thunder Bay

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Harmonizing utility rates between Thunder Bay and Kenora might simplify billing but I don’t see how this doesn’t result in Thunder Bay rate payers effectively subsidizing Kenora utility costs. Thunder Bay has 48,405 households compared to Kenora’s 6,519. That’s an increase to Thunder Bay households of $133,113.75 a month vs a decrease to Kenora households of $16,363.69 a month. Without more information it seems like they’re just padding their revenues.

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Only 'select pieces' of historic James Whalen tug may be preserved

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The city could have moved the Whalen to the Alexander Henry/transportation museum when they pulled it out of the water. The city also could have prevented the Whalen from sinking in the first place, saving $800,000, if they had monitored the tug properly. The entire situation was a real embarrassment, further compounded by the rigging snapping during the recovery, which could have easily led to a disaster and thankfully didn't. As for the VIA train, it is currently sitting firmly in the Kam River Heritage Park homeless encampment.

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'Backed into a corner': Councillors object to shelter village decision process

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The chaos didn’t start with this last decision. This whole file has been a chaotic mess.

LETTER: Disappointment in council reversing nuclear waste decision

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“It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.“ Thomas SowellIt doesn’t matter how many regulations or safety redundancies we have in the process, or how many years or decades this project takes due to cautious planning, some people will ignore all of that and oppose this.

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City delays launch of 'green bin' recycling program

TBNewsWatch

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"while garbage collection will be scaled back to every second week." Can't cut anything else, has to be the weekly garbage pick up. Give me a break.

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Boshcoff: Poilievre's pledge to cut housing fund could mean hit to city

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It doesn't matter. New will always be less affordable than old. There is a cascading effect on housing prices across the spectrum of affordability as you increase the supply of housing.

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