A Mile In These Shoes

THUNDER BAY, Ont./ August 2026 – In the most recent study done October 2025, over 650 people reported that they were experiencing homelessness in Thunder Bay, Ontario, 78% of which identify as indigenous. Along with this, Thunder Bay continues to lead the way in Opioid toxicity reports as well as reported overdoses and deaths. Thunder Bays opioid mortality rate sits nearly 6 times higher than the Ontario average and more than 3 times the national baseline with 61 confirmed opioid related deaths in 2025 alone. While more initiatives come out to simply create beds, most are left worrying about the systemic failures that will continue to be neglected by our government such as lacking mental health and addictions support. Kaycee represents these vary statistics and shares these same concerns. On one of my usual walks around town, I came across an all to familiar sight as of lately in Thunder Bays south end, on the corner stoop of St. Andrews Church near City Hall, sat a young woman smiling at me. She had various paraphernalia’s spread on the stoop, so I stopped to introduce myself and asked if I could sit with her to which she was more than happy. She was only 32 years old - originally from a Northern Community of Ontario - yet she’s been homeless in Thunder Bay for the past 13 years. Her family was forced to leave her community due to not having access to the necessary resources to maintain their home nor the housing or finances to move elsewhere in the community, soon after this she was homeless. She was just beginning the process of cooking down fentanyl to be injected. She began using opiates over 10 years ago that had been prescribed for back pain. When she could no longer afford and access her prescription, she turned to purchasing these same drugs off the street before progressing to opioids like fentanyl and heroine. I asked her why she stays in these encampments rather than going to one of the shelters in town for real help, her answer was quick, “My addictions have got me kicked out of every shelter I’ve been at, they wont deal with addicts and mental cases there”. It ends up being a revolving circle of trying to numb the pain of generations of systemic failures only to be let down by the same systems that continue to fail today while traffickers and drug dealers are able to capitalize these vulnerabilities. At the end of our conversation, I almost felt a wave of defeat wash over me as the only help I could really offer was contacting the same places that have already turned these people away, leaving her with some food and water. Our government needs to be forced to address these issues head on and include viable pathways to support addictions recovery and mental health care along with housing that will carry on for generations without being subject to budget cuts after 2 years of ‘looking good’ for headlines. We as a community need to advocate for these same things, addressing these issues at their core without band aids and biases is the only real way to start making a change for our communities.