THUNDER BAY – City manager John Collin says the $5 million council approved capital commitment to build the temporary homeless shelter village remains on track and on budget.
A $70,000 cargo van for the village is a separate capital project.
On Tuesday, city council unanimously approved a new capital project for a cargo van to help with transporting shelter village clients to appointments.
The van is fully funded through Health Canada’s Emergency Treatment Fund, which the city was successful in obtaining in 2025.
Because the cargo van is considered a tangible capital asset, administration needed council approval to be included in the 2026 capital budget in accordance with budget policy, even though the expense is covered by an external grant.
The van was not included in the capital budget due to the timing of Health Canada’s approval of the funding, according to the staff report.
The operation of the van was included in the 2026 operating budget, acting commissioner of growth Cynthia Olsen told council.
“We had approved $5 million, and we’re told the total cost of the village would be $5 million. And now this is, even though the funds came from elsewhere, this is now increasing that $5 million in capital towards the village,” Coun. Rajni Agarwal said.
She asked administration to clarify if the van is part of the $5 million capital cost of building the temporary village.
“This is an opportunity we took advantage of with Health Canada, where they were willing to provide, through capital funding of an additional vehicle that the operating team at the village could use to best effect in support of operating the village. So, we do believe that we are retaining the requirement to build the village within a $5-million capital project, and this is an additional project to help enhance the operation of the village, taking advantage of Health Canada’s funding,” Collin said.
Agarwal then asked if the cargo van project would have been supported by partnering with Shelter House’s SOS program.
Olsen said the SOS program, operating at different hours and the city’s operated cargo van, would be a dedicated service to “transport individuals in and out of the village to health and social services.”
“We had identified when we established the location for the village that it was quite a distance away from other health and social services, and while we will collaborate and have additional on-site supports, this is a critical component for the success of the operations,” Olsen said.
In November 2024, administration submitted a funding application for $237,960 to Health Canada’s Emergency Treatment Fund program. In February, the application was approved by Health Canada, and shortly after council entered into a service agreement with the organization.
In October 2025, Health Canada added additional funding to the Emergency Treatment Fund, for which the city applied for $401,100 and was successful, bringing the total funding awarded to $639,060.
