Collins calls for better relationships to help Thunder Bay and Fort William youth

By Rick Garrick

Fort William First Nation Chief Peter Collins called for better relationships to help youth in the Thunder Bay-Fort William region during Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s Commonalities meeting.

“(We) need to build a stronger relationship with each and every one of the parties at the table,” Collins says, “whether it be the feds, provincial, Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), the Robinson Superior communities, Fort William, Thunder Bay and all interested parties to create a better lifestyle and a better solution for our students.”

Collins also wants to build a stronger partnership with NAN.

”I’ve been working with the City of Thunder Bay already,” Collins says. “This is the territory of Fort William First Nation, so everybody is a visitor here that comes into this territory. We are the ones they need to partner with.”

Collins says “quite a few” Fort William citizens live in Thunder Bay.

“They enjoy being under the municipal structure but they still reach out to our community and look forward to (resources) they are entitled to in our community at the same time,” Collins says. “We need to build strong partnerships, strong relationships so we can create a positive and healthy lifestyle for our young men and women from our communities.”

Collins says his community’s foremost goal is building healthy minds among the youth. He wants to see better schools, better economic opportunities, more jobs and higher educated students, such as doctors, lawyers and trades people, in the future.

“The city and Fort William have made some substantial strides in closing that gap between the municipality and First Nations,” Collins says. “And now with Nishnawbe Aski Nation, we all need to be a partner in creating a healthy lifestyle, a healthy outcome and a sustainable future.”

The NAN Commonalities meeting was held May 21 with a wide variety of participants, including local MPs Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty; Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs and a number of city councillors; Lakehead University, Confederation College, Lakehead Public School and Northern Nishnawbe Education Council representatives; Thunder Bay Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Nishnawbe Aski Police officers; and officials from other groups.

Joe Moses, chair of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce and a Pic River citizen, says federal and provincial responsibilities for education and health were raised at the political table, which included the MPs, Hobbes, city councillors, NAN representatives and others.

“Those are some longer term challenges we have to face together … to ensure the dollars and the funding are coming from the right levels and are being directed to the right avenues and solutions,” Moses says. “(For the) short term, we have to put our heads together and come up with some strategies and fixes to address the needs that are immediate.”

Moses says while this is a challenge that needs to be addressed by the whole community, the business community can do its part.

“There are things we can be doing as businesses in terms of educating our workforce, our employees as to who the Aboriginal stakeholders are in the community,” Moses says, “what their needs, wants and desires are and making sure we are receptive and open to meeting those needs.”