A market and a Johnny Cash night today, then a Sunday with three things worth leaving the house for — Hymers, Fort William and an 80s brunch. Monday is the last cruise-in of the long weekend, and the week gets back to business with council and the Resource Expo. ✅ Sunday is the sunniest day of the run; Monday carries a 40 per cent chance of showers, so check with the organizer before anything outdoors.

Saturday, September 5

Sunday, September 6

Monday, September 7 — Labour Day

Tuesday, September 8

Wednesday, September 9

This is it. Where's the best slice in town? Which counter pours the coffee worth getting out of bed for? We stopped guessing and handed the question to you. 15 categories, about two minutes, one ballot per person.

The ballot closes at the end of today — Saturday, September 5. Winners run right here on Tuesday, September 8, with a write-up on every one. If you've been meaning to get to it, this is your last chance.

Back the places you actually love — then go tell them you did.

✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT

Environment Canada had no watches or warnings posted for Thunder Bay as of Friday evening. Latest alerts at Environment Canada.

⛅ Saturday, September 5 — Thunder Bay

Overnight low 11°C

A mix of sun and cloud · no rain in the forecast · humidex 27 · UV index 7 (high) · clear tonight

Ontario's new classroom supplies fund gives every homeroom teacher $750 a year for pencils, paper and the rest — money that used to come out of their own pockets. The catch is the ordering portal. Dave Paddington, president of the Lakehead Elementary Teachers of Ontario, says local educators have been told they won't be able to log in until mid-September, weeks after the doors opened. “This would have, historically, been done in June, the pre-ordering, so it was sitting there ready to go when you walked in,” he said. There is a second complaint underneath the first: everything has to be bought through Staples Canada, which despite the name is owned by an American private equity firm. “I think we're seeing a lot of tax dollars heading stateside as a result of the choice of vendor,” Paddington said. And because the money follows homeroom teachers, special education and second-language teachers — who mostly don't have a room of their own — get nothing.

Two Thunder Bay retailers had thoughts. Shawn Christie, vice-president of the century-old Lowerys, said back-to-school business has been in steady decline as procurement policies push volume to the big chains: “We have not been able to infiltrate, in a sense, to be part of that... It doesn't make any sense to me that they would not have the opportunity to shop here locally.” Down the road at Purple Camel Learning Resources, manager Cindy Thomson isn't losing sleep — she reckons people came back from the online-shopping years wanting to touch the thing before they buy it — but she was blunt about the timing. Teachers set up their rooms in mid-August, she said: “By the time first day of school comes, that is too late for them to be shopping.” The Ministry of Education did not respond to a request for comment.

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🗳️ Your call: the money is real, the rollout is the problem. What would you fix first?

Nishnawbe Aski Nation put out a statement the day after the Alstom announcement, and the number in it is the story: more than 30 NAN communities have no year-round road access at all. They depend on winter roads that open later and close earlier as the climate shifts, and when the ice goes, so does the reliable route in for food, fuel, medical transport and emergency response. Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler was not arguing against the rail-car investment — he was asking why the same ambition stops short of the North. “The prime minister talks about building Canada Strong, but First Nations are falling further behind,” he said. “There is a crippling lack of transportation infrastructure across NAN territory that cannot continue to be ignored while billions are allotted to support infrastructure elsewhere in the country.” NAN frames the shortfall as a rights issue, not just a budget one — adequate housing and self-determination both depend on being reachable. “We are calling on Canada to prove otherwise with the same ambition, the same urgency, and the same scale of investment.”

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The Westfort Bulk Zone shut its doors last weekend after 30 years on the south side. Owners Les and Barb Tabachak want to be clear about why, because everyone assumed the worst: “It has nothing to do with the low Canadian dollar, American tariffs or trade wars. It's nothing like that. This was just our decision.” They are consolidating onto the Macdonell Street store, which stays open. Up to six employees are affected — some have found other work, some moved to Macdonell, one is retiring. The goodbye post landed harder than they expected. Bradley Vanhapelto, now 36 and living in Calgary, grew up treating it as the corner store: “That's where I used to spend my allowance when I was a kid. They used to sell cap guns... and some of the first comics I ever got were from there.” He still has the comics, and still stops in every time he's home. The Macdonell store keeps the things that made the name — Vegemite and Marmite, more than 700 kinds of pop from around the world, the bulk candy and spice bins, the home-brew kits, and Northwestern Ontario's largest and cheekiest tea towel selection.

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Worth knowing if you or someone you know uses it: NorWest Community Health Centres' HART Hub has moved to 500 Simpson St., and you now go in through the main entrance off Finlayson Street. Everything else stays put — Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., same services: primary care, mental health support, addiction care, employment help, and basics like food, laundry and clothing. The Hub works alongside PACE, Shelter House, the Elizabeth Fry Society and Alpha Court. NorWest won the bid to bring a HART Hub to Thunder Bay in January 2025 and says a grand opening for the new space is coming later this month.

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Two story polls ran this week, on two different subjects, and read together they point the same direction.

Monday's question: the temporary shelter village opens this month with 80 cabins. What should the city do next? (15 responses)

Friday's question: residents told the police chief they no longer feel safe in their own neighbourhoods. What would actually help most? (13 responses)

Takeaway. The shelter village splits the room — the largest single group wants it built out before the cold arrives, but add up the doubters, the stopgap camp and the go-slower camp and that is the clear majority. What is striking is the second poll. Only two in thirteen picked more police. Everything else — outreach workers, bylaw officers, housing — is a request for some other part of the system to show up. That is not a soft-on-crime answer. It reads more like people who have concluded that a cruiser is the wrong tool for most of what is bothering them, and who would rather the right tool existed.

💬 What readers are saying. On the shelter village, more than one reader wanted conditions attached — that a spot should come with a path out of it, through schooling, training or work, and that it shouldn't become anyone's permanent address. The same reader was careful to add that people who can't meet that bar because of mental illness need a proper facility, not a cabin. Another worried the village could quietly become a settled way of life rather than a step. On safety, a Westfort reader made the bylaw case in detail: years of back-lane complaints going nowhere, dumped appliances, weeds high enough to hide rats, cars blocking driveways during funerals — and asked plainly whether the city just needs more bylaw officers. One more said the fix is on both ends at once: firmer sentencing for repeat offenders and far more addiction and mental-health capacity.

Final thoughts. Fifteen and thirteen responses — treat this as a temperature check, not a verdict. But when two unrelated questions in the same week both land on “fund the services,” that is worth noticing. Keep voting; it's what makes Saturday possible.

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