A former Gore Bay resident entered into a Section 810 peace bond for 12 months at a hearing on May 14. Criminal charges against Tracie Thomas of Niagara Falls were withdrawn in the resolution.
Thomas was originally charged with 20 counts of mailing obscene matter and 20 counts of criminal harassment, threatening conduct.
In December 2019, hateful Christmas cards were mailed out to a substantial number of Gore Bay community members prompting OPP to respond to numerous complaints from people who got cards in the mail from an unknown sender.
Approximately 70 people received the cards that contained offensive messages.
In her submission, Assistant Crown Attorney Julie Lefebvre stated that Thomas admitted to writing the letters and had done a lot of work in the past year, including sending letters of apology to every person who had received the original cards, and making a $500 donation.
Justice Klein noted that Thomas had appeared remorseful throughout an earlier pre-trial. He had suggested certain actions and was pleased she had completed the upfront work with the apologies. No one who received an apology responded to her, Thomas said.
Justice Klein agreed the resolution of a Section 810 peace bond was reasonable under the circumstances. Thomas is to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for one year. She is prohibited from attending the Town of Gore Bay and is to have no communication of any kind with any Gore Bay community member.
- Lori Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative, The Manitoulin Expositor. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.
