THUNDER BAY — Tannis Smith says routinely driving on area highways is so dangerous, she’s taken out extra life insurance.
Smith, from the Red Rock Indian Band, was one of well over 100 people who filled the restaurant space at the Slovak Legion Monday night for an open forum on northern Ontario highway safety. It was led by Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles and four of her MPPs — all from northern ridings.
“I travel on the highway a lot for my work,” Smith told the room. “I lost a cousin near Pearl, Ontario due to a car accident, and I kind of feel emotional, but I’m scared to travel on the highways for work.”
“I bought extra life insurance so my kids are taken care of if I die on the highway — I shouldn’t have to do that just because of how unsafe it is on the highway.”
Smith said, when possible, she takes the Highway 11 route west of Thunder Bay through Fort Frances to get to Winnipeg, because the Highway 17 alternative is “way too dangerous.”
Smith was one of over a dozen area residents who addressed Monday’s packed house, sharing their stories of tragedy, near-death experiences and other close calls. Some also expressed frustration with what they called decades of provincial inaction on improving northern highways and more recent concerns over transport truck driver training, safety enforcement and inadequate infrastructure.
That last concern has been a long-standing point of advocacy for Jim Bailey, who lost his 19-year-old son Dallas in a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway portion of the Thunder Bay Expressway in 2018. Dallas lost control of his vehicle on an icy stretch, spun into the oncoming lanes and was hit and killed instantly by another vehicle.
Since then, Bailey has been an advocate for medians and other ways to separate opposite lanes of traffic on highways.
“That’s the day our life changed forever,” he said of the day Dallas died. “I cried every day for three-and-a-half years — every day for three-and-a-half years.”
“It’s hard to get up in the morning, and I understand I’m not the only guy to lose a child, but for me, he was my buddy,” Bailey continued. “And I don’t get to see him grow up and get married and have kids. I don’t get to reno a house with him.”
“I don’t get to do any of that.”
The open house was part of an over-week-long northern highway road trip by three New Democrat MPPs — Kiiwetinoong’s Sol Mamakwa (who is also the party’s deputy leader), John Vanthof (Timiskaming-Cochrane) and Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk-James Bay) so they could experience the drive in winter and hear from constituents and community leaders.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois, who has made highway safety a key issue in her work, also joined them at a media event on Feb. 7 and told Dougall Media on Monday she was joining the trek as far as Marathon on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s trip was scheduled to take the group — including Stiles — along Highway 17 from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie, stopping in several North Shore communities along the way.
Speaking at Monday’s open house, Stiles and her MPPs said how important it is that the current majority Progressive Conservative government hears about the real-life impact highway conditions have on regular people.
“You’re the ones who make it real,” Stiles told the room.
At least 11 people have died on the Trans-Canada Highway between the Thunder Bay area and just east of Hearst since mid-December, 2025.
Several of those were from First Nations in Nishnawbe Aski Nation territory, including Poplar Hill, Eabametoong, Webequie and Constance Lake; the territorial organization’s grand chief was in the audience at the forum to listen. In an interview with Newswatch, Alvin Fiddler said collisions and road closures are “becoming more and more of a concern.”
“I think, especially this past year, just how many road closures and accidents we hear about — it’s just becoming all too common,” he said.
“It’s just becoming too dangerous for people to travel and, especially now during the winter road season where more and more of our families from the north are travelling,” Fiddler continued. “They’re attending various events including a big hockey tournament next week in Sioux Lookout and probably a couple thousand people will be on the road.”
“It’s just becoming too much of a concern.”
Monday’s event heard many stories of grief and many long-standing concerns.
One woman who addressed the crowd told the forum she woke up to a phone call in the middle of the night telling her that her mother was dead, having been killed driving on the highway in January 2024 while at her new job. Others spoke from an employer’s standpoint, talking about the fear of sending their workers out on those roads.
Other speakers raised a slate of concerns, including the toll on first responders, a lack of oversight that allows some trucking companies to take advantage of immigrants, commercial vehicle inspection stations not being open enough, a lack of highway-side rest areas and the possibility of used nuclear fuel being transported along these highways if the deep geological repository near Ignace gets the green light from federal regulators.
Stiles asked the audience to raise their hand if they’ve had a close call on the highway — the vast majority of those in attendance did, with one person in the crowd saying “we don’t have enough hands.”
The subsequent speaker said she had five close calls in one weekend.
A number of people expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to tell their stories and share their concerns.
Stiles said she was impressed by the turnout.
“I have to say, on a Monday night, I was surprised at how many people came out but not really surprised at how people are feeling,” she told reporters after the meeting. “The anger and the frustration and, of course, the sadness.”
“I think it’s an indication that people are desperate — really desperate — to have change and to be safe.”
