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Landlord fears the worst for downtown North Bay

'We don’t have anyone driving vans down the middle of the street, yet, but the makings are sure there and we are creating them'
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A mattress recently found outside a Main Street apartment. Photo by Mike Trahan/BayToday.ca.

It may come as a shock for many to see a mattress, needles, and syringes laying in between two buildings in the downtown core of North Bay.  

But for downtown landlord John Wilson, it’s not a surprise at all.  

“It is common. That is not shocking,” said Wilson. 

“I was not surprised to see the mattress by the back door.  Not surprised one iota.  We have found needles back there time after time after time.”  

In fact, Wilson called the police about the concern and the mattress was eventually disposed of the following day.  

Wilson believes there is a huge problem in the downtown area of North Bay where mental health and addiction have become inseparable in North Bay.   

The downtown landlord previously was the executive director of the Downtown Improvement Area.  He recalls when the psych hospital closed, that he urged hospital officials that educating the public should be a priority. 

It wasn’t.   

“We got nothing, zero, the government turned a blind eye, no funding, no money,” he said. 

“Let’s put it towards supporting these people, they told us, let’s not put it toward education or helping other people.” 

Wilson says that has led to many of the problems in the downtown. He says many of the residents of the two downtown area senior homes (Marina Point & Empire Living Centre) will not walk down Main Street anymore.  

“And look at what we have, we have six meth clinics downtown,” said Wilson.  

“We have people going in for their daily dose. They come out of the office, they barf on the street right at your feet and then they go over to the Friendship Centre (also known as the Centre of Friends). Now what kind of a downtown is that and who has allowed that to happen?”  

Wilson says the problem has gotten worse due to a lack of leadership. 

“If there is no municipal leadership, then these things happen,” he said.   

“They slowly creep in.  Why would you centralize six meth stores downtown? Why not put them in one area and you expect people to go down there and shop?” 

Policing is a challenge too.  North Bay officers have been overwhelmed by mental health calls. In fact, North Bay had 4,000 mental health calls in 2017 while Hamilton, a city 10 times the size of North Bay, had only 1,000 mental health calls.   

And the police cannot keep up.  

“I can tell you some horror stories, some absolute horror stories where the police never even come,” said Wilson.   

“Squatters get inside your building and they get reported by a lone female tenant living alone in a building. They are in there for several hours and you call four times to the police tell them, 'can you get down here, they are shooting up, they have smuggled in their sleeping bags inside the building and the police never show, the cops don’t come.”  

Wilson fears that it may have to take something tragic to get people to recognize the seriousness of the problem.  

“We don’t have anyone driving vans down the middle of the street, yet, but the makings are sure there and we are creating them,” he said.  

“We are creating them through inactivity and lack of enforcement.  Once the city gets known as a weak enforcement area all the bad elements gravitate there because that is a safer place for them, they can get away with stuff and that is why you are hearing the comment on a very frequent basis, ‘well, we came here because it is an easier ride here.’”  


Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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