THUNDER BAY — The province has set an ‘ambitious’ goal of having inmates housed in the new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex by June 2027, says union leader Shawn Bradshaw.
“Currently we’re having a lot of issues getting in a hard and fast number of staff that they’re going to provide, and the (Minister of the Solicitor General’s) ambitious goal of keeping the current operations in play has really thrown a wrench into it,” said Bradshaw, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Local 708 that represents workers at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre.
He said he’s been inside the new facility and it is “absolutely massive” and “easily bigger” than the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, with a bed capacity for almost 470 inmates.
“Now we need just that many more officers and support staff, social workers, everything, so it makes it a little hard to open a building without true, hard and fast staffing complements and trying to develop our policies around a number that hasn’t been given to us yet,” he said.
The number of jobs the ministry needs to fill, he said, is upwards of 500.
“I’d say 150 full-time officers (are needed) and probably about 120 what we call fixed-term officers to backfill those positions to open the new building, and we’ll need roughly another 200 full-time officers and probably another 130 fixed-term employees, just officers, and that doesn’t include any kitchen staff or whatever.
“We’re looking at probably 500 positions if they want to keep everything open the way they’re talking about.”
Bradshaw said that a job fair held at Lakehead University in June garnered some interest.
“More recently, not so many successful interviews, but lots of applicants, lots of interest,” he said.
Another job fair will take place sometime before the end of this year, he said, and then a third one early in 2027.
In January, he said he expects potential candidates will be able to get into the new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex.
“We expect substantial completion Nov. 23, where the ministry will take over operations in that building.
“While it won’t be completely ready for inmate housing, it will be ours at that point.”
What this means, he said, is that EllisDon, the contractor, currently owns the building.
“They will continue to own the building but we will take occupancy then (in November), then we will prep for having offenders living in there. So, we’ll start operationalizing the building at that point.”
Another question that has been asked of the ministry is about renovations to the two current jails.
“There are no hard and fast answers,” he said. “We’ve been pushing for two years for answers and it continues to be murky waters.”
He said he’s heard comments, like the one made by Premier Doug Ford about the “fancy new jail,” but said his only comment is that the new facility is a “modern jail.”
“(The new jail) takes into consideration human dignities,” he said, adding that while he can understand where the premier’s comments come from and why citizens wouldn’t be in support necessarily, he said it’s important to consider the officers who work there to “understand what the change of environment will actually mean for day-to-day safety.”
Bradshaw said that while there is some tentative excitement among younger staff about the new facility, there is also some apprehension.
“Not knowing what it’s going to look like, how it’s going to be without a staffing complement that is defined, and that causes concern.”
Mainly, he said, there is concern because nobody likes big change.
“People get comfortable, but we do have a lot of younger staff that are interested in what’s going on, so that’s good for us.”
