The end of a lease agreement has created tension in the relationship between Thunder Bay Public Library and Anishinabek Employment and Training Services (AETS).
In March, the Thunder Bay Public Library announced the expansion of its children’s area as part of a restructuring of the Waverley and Brodie Street facilities. The restructuring displaced AETS, which will reopen June 2 in their offices on the third floor of 523 Algoma St. North, and will continue to offer services in Suite 210 at 250 Park Ave. within Goods & Co in the former Eaton’s Building.
The situation has left disappointment with AETS, causing it “shock and uncertainty” about the future of their relationship with the library’s leadership.
In a statement to The Chronicle-Journal, Sharon Ostberg, AETS board director, said the AETS board, management, and the nine First Nations they represent are deeply offended by the conduct of the Thunder Bay Public Library.
“We believe the library board and management have not been genuine in their communications with us,” said Ostberg.
“We’ve been subjected to a disrespectful lease termination process that undermines the co-operation and trust we have worked so hard to build over the years. This partnership was a cornerstone for reconciliation in Thunder Bay, and we expected a much more thoughtful and respectful approach from what we considered our community partners.”
AETS says they invested more than $1 million into enhancing the Waverley and Brodie libraries, including the addition of barrier-free and gender-neutral washrooms, a boardroom, kitchen, elders-in-residence space, electrical upgrades, and new ventilation systems to accommodate cultural smudging.
Ostberg says, the organization was informed in November 2024 that they must vacate both library facilities, initially within three months. She said the library subsequently “slightly” adjusted the must-vacate date to the end of May.
AETS claims there was a potential first right-of-refusal lease, lasting at least until March 31, 2029, with additional potential ownership opportunities in the Waverley Library building.
Richard Togman, chief executive officer of the Thunder Bay Public Library, acknowledged that AETS has raised the issue of ownership in the past.
“There are things that they may have wanted, but we’ve never made commitments to proactively sell the building,” he said.
“That was one of the things that in a prior version of the lease, they had asked for a right of first refusal,” Togman explained, adding there have never been any plans to sell Waverley library, and that was never anything the library board was entertaining.
After receiving the termination notice last November, AETS said transition negotiations began and claims they were informed that a financial offer would be made to recognize the organization’s investments in the library buildings.
Ostberg said AETS was informed on March 26 by the library’s representatives that “no financial offer would be made.”
Togman noted that every version of the lease agreement the library had with AETS over the years states that AETS has agreed that all of their leasehold improvements that they’ve invested to make the space more suitable for themselves would stay with them.
“It was agreed in the lease and we’ve never submitted any kind of promises that they would be paid for structural improvements to the building,” Togman said. “That would be directly in contravention of the lease terms that we agreed to. We’re a little surprised that this is the position they’re taking.”
The library board looked at the spatial constraints they were under, and city council preferred the libraries to stay in their current locations. Togman says this meant they would continue to be undersized as a library system and not have enough space to meet the programming needs.
“Restructuring is not ideal for anyone, and we would have loved to have more space to continue the partnership in its current form. But, that’s part of the risks that they understood being a tenant, that it’s not permanent, it’s not ownership. It has set expiry dates for the lease, and we’ve called those diligently,” he said.
