Families in Thunder Bay accuse landlord of illegally shutting power, threats amid calls for better protections

Laura Petit moved into her current rental in Thunder Bay, Ont., because she wanted to live somewhere quiet and accessible while recovering from open-heart surgery.

However, she said, her County Park rental home has brought a slew of new stresses.

She lives in the home with her brother, who she said sometimes does maintenance work on it at their own cost. But Petit said she still lives in fear of electrical fires, having her utilities shut off and threats from her landlord

"I don't feel safe. We're just kind of living from one day to another," said Petit, 58, a former personal support worker (PSW). 

CBC has spoken to multiple Thunder Bay families who say the same landlord has shut off their power, which is illegal under Ontario law, and has failed to make repairs and threatened them.

Petit and other tenants and their advocates say more needs to be done to protect people from landlords who repeatedly violate housing laws.

Petit said that when she first moved in, she noticed some maintenance issues, including a leaky roof, blown fuses, a broken kitchen light and a damaged door. Most of the outlets in the kitchen didn't work or emitted smoke when she plugged items into them, she said.  

Despite multiple requests, her landlord didn't fix the problems, said Petit. She began to worry the electrical problems could lead to a fire. Her landlord, Jesse Mac Dougall, lives in British Columbia and doesn't always reply quickly to her texts, calls or emails, said Petit.  

The unpaid bills started coming in the mail, she said. While the utilities and internet were included in her rent, Petit said, Mac Dougall would direct her to open the letters addressed to him — they contained "Outstanding Balance," "arrears notice," and "Service disconnection may take place" notices from hydro, water and internet providers. 

"We [Petit and her brother] try to be nice, be patient — we fix a few things that we didn't damage. But yet we still go through this," said Petit. 

When power and internet would get cut off, Mac Dougall would request early rent payments or extra money to have the services restored, she said. 

"The hydro is disconnected, they can't give me detail," she said in a text to Mac Dougall on Aug. 15 that CBC has seen. "Send me money," Mac Dougall wrote back. 

When she paid the bill directly to the utility company to get her power restored, she said Mac Dougall sent her a series of voice memos, which she also shared with CBC. The phone number the voice memos were sent from is the same number Mac Dougall listed as his "preferred phone number" on an eviction application he submitted to Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board. 

A male voice can be heard screaming and swearing.