Photo credit: CBC
Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario have called for help with homelessness, addictions and immigration.
CTV News reports they met in North Bay the last two days to discuss critical issues impacting their cities and the region.
The mayors of Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Thunder Bay said building relationships with the provincial and federal governments remains at the top of the agenda for tackling homelessness and immigration priorities for the north.
Flanked by his colleagues, North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico said he is putting his foot down … severe challenges in northern Ontario need to be solved now with help from upper levels of government. “To make sure our citizens and our entire population in northern Ontario are well serviced.”
A top priority is pushing the Ontario government to ensure there is a dedicated homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hub in each major city in the north.
The Ford government recently announced that 19 HART hubs will be installed across the province at the cost of $378 million. Ten new hubs will be built, while nine others will be created by converting former safe consumption sites. The hubs are meant to connect people with complex homelessness, mental health and addiction challenges to a “comprehensive locally based approach to treatment that will offer an array of services.”
Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said, “They’ve made it easy for us. This is what we have available, and this is what we’re going after.”
According to statistics, the five major cities in the north have the highest opioid mortality rates in the province and are facing the challenge with little support from the province.
The mayors also call for an expedited launch and permanent nation of the Rural Community Immigration Pilot to address regional labour shortages. They said the strategy aligns well with their broader vision of a place where economic opportunity, public safety, and quality of life coexist in the north.
The mayors are also going to fight the federal government over immigration, which is reducing the number of permanent immigrants by at least 20 percent from its previous target of 500,000.
Chirico said, “Let’s not paint the entire country with one brush. In the large urban centres, it is out of control, but in rural and northern Canada, that’s not the case.”
Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre said The needs are not just our municipality. It’s the regions that we have, as well. That’s kind of the unique difference between northern and southern Ontario,
“You can drive an hour, and you can get services … in ways that they want. We don’t have that luxury here.”
