THUNDER BAY – Matthew and Sue Wilson spent the last 17 years looking after a portion of Junot Park, which the city is proposing to sell to the Thunder Bay Muslim Association.
The Wilsons were among the 234 people who showed up at the 55 Plus Centre on Thursday evening to give their opinion or get more information on the development project.
The Muslim Association is planning to build a prayer hall, a day school, a gymnasium, a community hall and a small residential development on three acres of the 13.4-acre greenspace, next to the Junot Avenue fire station.
That area includes the Multiple Sclerosis Society Park, a park within the park that was created in 2014 to commemorate people who have MS and bring visibility to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The council of the time decided the Wilsons would be responsible for that portion of the park, said Matthew.
“We’ve done it up in spades. We put in 25 trees. The city matched it with another 25 or so. We put in numbers of commemorative benches that actually commemorate the lives of people who have passed away, some tragically, others just of natural causes, and so. These people are memorialized in the park,” he said.
Matthew said several people have made donations over the years to have their friends and loved ones commemorated with trees or benches in the park.
“The MS Society area is a beautiful area, and we have people sitting there a lot reading their books. The MS people can come in their wheelchairs. It has added to our park, and we are so sad that the city would even think of taking all of these trees and benches out and moving them to the other side of the park, which is not where the people wanted them,” Sue said.
Sue said that section of the park was picked because it was a quiet place to meditate and think about lost loved ones, away from the playground.
The city can’t dig up a 17-year-old tree and expect it to survive the transplant to the other side of the park, said Matthew.
“Some of the trees are younger and maybe five or six years of age, but they’re not going to be able to transplant those either. These trees have significance in the spot they are in,” he said.
Like the Wilsons, most people Newswatch spoke to at the event were opposed to the development. A significant majority said they were concerned with protecting greenspace. While many said they might support the development at another location.
However, not everyone was against the proposal.
Walid Shahrour said the development could prevent an encampment from setting up on the land.
“Because once there’s an encampment, like on McVicar Creek, for example, there are all these encampments there. Nobody walks there anymore. I don’t walk. I don’t take my kids. It’s right beside my house. So, if we’re going to have an area there, let something happen there that can prevent encampment from happening,” he said.
Shahrour said the playground area is necessary to maintain because children need a place to play, but if the city is looking to grow, infilling needs to happen.
He said encampments don’t form beside people’s homes, but in empty spaces, and the three acres the city is planning to surplus is a “big empty space.”
“I think it’s important that we fill the city. Like, we’re going to have Costco. We’re going to have things. This area does not; it’s right beside the fire station, if I’m not wrong. I don’t go there. I’m in the park, in the playground,” he said.
Deanna Walker, manager of realty services, told Newswatch in a previous interview that the development could increase safety in the area.
According to Thunder Bay Police, from Jan. 1, 2025 to May 29, 2026, there have been nine calls for service at Junot Park, only two of which were criminal in nature.
Matthew said they have witnessed people down on their luck who sit in the park, but they have never felt threatened.
“It’s got issues, yes, like every other park or every other public space at this time when people are down and out in their life, but if you have a sore on your hand, do you cut off your whole arm to get rid of the sore,” he said.
Within the first hours of the drop-in session, the Wilsons had gathered over 100 signatures opposing the development. They plan to give a deputation to the standing committee on growth on June 16.
City council will make its final decision on the park on July 7, according to Walker.
