{"id":102097,"date":"2026-02-18T14:41:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102097"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:41:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:41:23","slug":"thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 \u201cWe do shoulder a large burden,\u201d Coun. Andrew Foulds told city council on Tuesday. Council voted 10-1 in favour of declaring a humanitarian crisis on homelessness in the city. Coun. Albert Aiello was the only council member to oppose the declaration, saying it could potentially cost the city more money in homelessness prevention. Couns. Mark Bentz, Trevor Giertuga, Dominic Pasqualino, Michael Zussino, Rajni Agarwal, Shelby Ch&#8217;ng, Greg Johnsen, Kristen Oliver, Foulds and Mayor Ken Boshcoff voted in favour. Coun. Brian Hamilton declared a conflict of interest because he has taken on a frontline role addressing homelessness with the city&#8217;s HART Hub. Coun. Kasey Etreni was absent from the meeting. The decision comes after Chief Michele Solomon of Anemki Wajiw&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F02%2F18%2Fthunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 \u201cWe do shoulder a large burden,\u201d Coun. Andrew Foulds told city council on Tuesday. Council voted 10-1 in favour of declaring a humanitarian crisis on homelessness in the city. Coun. Albert Aiello was the only council member to oppose the declaration, saying it could potentially cost the city more money in homelessness prevention. Couns. Mark Bentz, Trevor Giertuga, Dominic Pasqualino, Michael Zussino, Rajni Agarwal, Shelby Ch&#8217;ng, Greg Johnsen, Kristen Oliver, Foulds and Mayor Ken Boshcoff voted in favour. Coun. Brian Hamilton declared a conflict of interest because he has taken on a frontline role addressing homelessness with the city&#8217;s HART Hub. Coun. Kasey Etreni was absent from the meeting. The decision comes after Chief Michele Solomon of Anemki Wajiw... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F02%2F18%2Fthunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 \u201cWe do shoulder a large burden,\u201d Coun. Andrew Foulds told city council on Tuesday. Council voted 10-1 in favour of declaring a humanitarian crisis on homelessness in the city. Coun. Albert Aiello was the only council member to oppose the declaration, saying it could potentially cost the city more money in homelessness prevention. Couns. Mark Bentz, Trevor Giertuga, Dominic Pasqualino, Michael Zussino, Rajni Agarwal, Shelby Ch&#8217;ng, Greg Johnsen, Kristen Oliver, Foulds and Mayor Ken Boshcoff voted in favour. Coun. Brian Hamilton declared a conflict of interest because he has taken on a frontline role addressing homelessness with the city&#8217;s HART Hub. Coun. Kasey Etreni was absent from the meeting. The decision comes after Chief Michele Solomon of Anemki Wajiw\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T19:41:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T19:41:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":570,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/\",\"name\":\"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T19:41:23+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 \u201cWe do shoulder a large burden,\u201d Coun. Andrew Foulds told city council on Tuesday. Council voted 10-1 in favour of declaring a humanitarian crisis on homelessness in the city. Coun. Albert Aiello was the only council member to oppose the declaration, saying it could potentially cost the city more money in homelessness prevention. Couns. Mark Bentz, Trevor Giertuga, Dominic Pasqualino, Michael Zussino, Rajni Agarwal, Shelby Ch&#8217;ng, Greg Johnsen, Kristen Oliver, Foulds and Mayor Ken Boshcoff voted in favour. Coun. Brian Hamilton declared a conflict of interest because he has taken on a frontline role addressing homelessness with the city&#8217;s HART Hub. Coun. Kasey Etreni was absent from the meeting. The decision comes after Chief Michele Solomon of Anemki Wajiw","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2026-02-18T19:41:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness","datePublished":"2026-02-18T19:41:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/"},"wordCount":570,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/","name":"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-02-18T19:41:23+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/thunder-bay-declares-humanitarian-crisis-on-homelessness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thunder Bay declares humanitarian crisis on homelessness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102098,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102097\/revisions\/102098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}