Thunder Bay, Ont., has declared homelessness as a humanitarian crisis. What happens now?
CBC
Nicole Chantal Pauluzzo says she almost lost two of her fingers to frostbite last month while trying to stay warm in a bus shelter in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Temperatures reached -47 C with the wind chill, she said, during a cold spell which saw the northwestern Ontario city enact a severe weather response.
“You can lose your hands over it,” said Pauluzzo, who's been experiencing homelessness off and on since 2022, of frostbite. “I saw three people lose their fingers over it.”
On Tuesday night, Thunder Bay's city council voted in favour of declaring homelessness as a humanitarian crisis.
The decision comes after housing advocates called on the city to declare a state of emergency over the situation in December. Indigenous leaders with Fort William First Nation and Nishnawbe Aski Nation made the same ask last month.
The latest point-in-time count saw 652 people report they were unhoused in the city this fall, but advocates say the actual number could be double that.
As of Thursday, Pauluzzo will be moving into transitional housing provided by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northwestern Ontario. She's originally from Sault Ste. Marie.
“I am so happy,” she said. “Hopefully it goes [well], so they can help me to get into detox in Elliot Lake — because I've been trying for the last two years to get off the fentanyl.”
She’s survived between seven and eight overdoses in her life, and said her goal is to become sober in time for her 15-year-old son’s high school graduation.
As she prepares to move into her own space, others haven’t been so lucky. Jason Strom, who’s been experiencing homelessness since 2017, says his friend froze to death earlier this winter.
“We've been friends for years, and now he's gone,” said Strom. “He was only 35 years old.”
Homelessness is rising faster in northern Ontario than elsewhere in the province, climbing by more than 37 per cent within one year.
Thunder Bay’s city manager John Collin says declaring a humanitarian crisis aims to address people’s immediate needs for shelter, as well as why people are becoming unhoused in the first place.
“There are just not enough resources that have been put towards addressing those two challenges, and therefore we find ourselves falling behind on a yearly basis,” Collin said.
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