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Happy Friday, Thunder Bay! Mainly cloudy, fog patches burning off through the morning and a high of 22°C. In today's issue: Neskantaga's evacuees are told there's no date to go home, police open a ballistics lab inside a shipping container, bargaining stalls for 400 social services workers, and a Nipigon dog earns a national honour. Plus eight things to do over the next five days. 🐾
In this Harbour Beat Issue…
Trivia: The word “robot” entered English from a 1920 Czech play — what did the original Czech word robota mean? (Answer at the bottom!)
Thunder Bay Events
The blues take over Port Arthur Stadium for two nights, the Fort hosts a free weekend of Anishinaabe culture, and Sunday finally turns sunny. ✅ Outdoor events can shift on short notice — confirm with the organizer before you head out, especially Friday and Saturday with showers around.
Friday, August 21
AUG 21 · Blues In The Ballpark — gates 3:30 p.m., first set 4 p.m. · 📍 Port Arthur Stadium · Night one of two: Jeff Rogers, the Mike Wheeler Band, Solomon Hicks, Erja Lyytinen and Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues closing at 9:15. Tickets are two-day passes only · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 21 · Jazz Night at Anchor & Ore — 6–9 p.m. · 📍 2240 Sleeping Giant Pkwy. · Free · Live jazz on the waterfront side of the evening, no cover and no cover charge for lingering · 📅 Add to Calendar
Saturday, August 22
AUG 22 · Anishinaabe Keeshigun — 11 a.m.–7 p.m. (and 11–5 Sunday) · 📍 Fort William Historical Park, 1350 King Rd. · Free · A weekend of Anishinaabe culture, language and hands-on demonstrations, with a pow wow and a community feast open to everyone at 4:30 p.m. Saturday · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 22 · Story Time with Mz Molly & Friendz — 2:30–3:30 p.m. · 📍 Mary J.L. Black Library, 901 Edward St. S. · Free, drop-in · A family-friendly hour of stories with local drag performers, presented by the Thunder Bay Public Library. No registration needed · 📅 Add to Calendar
AUG 22 · Sunset Yoga & Spritz — check-in 8 p.m. · 📍 Lakehead Beer Company, 206 Park Ave. · $40 · Yoga as the sun goes down, then a spritz or a non-alcoholic pour, with proceeds to the health sciences foundation's mental health fund. Bring a mat · 📅 Add to Calendar
Sunday, August 23
AUG 23 · Sundays in the Park at Chippewa — 1:30–3:30 p.m. · 📍 Chippewa Park main stage, north of the pavilion · Free · Local acts, a sunny forecast and nothing to do but bring a lawn chair · 📅 Add to Calendar
Monday, August 24
AUG 24 · Monday Evening Concerts at Waverley Park — 6:30–9 p.m. · 📍 Waverley Park · Free · The Coalition for Waverley Park's summer concert night, in the shade of the old trees · 📅 Add to Calendar
Tuesday, August 25
AUG 25 · Tai Chi in the Park — 7–8 p.m. · 📍 Tai Chi pad, Marina Park · Free · Drop-in session by the water, all experience levels welcome · 📅 Add to Calendar
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✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS IN EFFECT
Environment Canada had no watches or warnings posted for Thunder Bay as of Thursday evening. Fog patches are expected to form overnight and thin out through Friday morning, so give yourself extra room on the highways early. Latest alerts at Environment Canada.
🌥️ Friday, August 21 — Thunder Bay
22°C
Overnight low 12°C
Mainly cloudy · Morning fog patches · Humidex 28 · UV 6 (high)
Soft and sticky. Fog patches hang around first thing and dissipate through the morning, then it's mainly cloudy all day with a high of 22°C and a humidex of 28 — muggier than the number suggests. The cloud is not cover: the UV index is 6, or high. Overnight brings a 40 per cent chance of showers and a low of 12°C. Saturday runs to 23°C with showers around, and then the weekend pays off — sunny and 22°C on Sunday, sunny and 23°C on Monday. Full forecast and any new alerts at Environment Canada.
Neskantaga's evacuees are being told there's no date to come home
Nearly 260 members of Neskantaga First Nation have been living in Toronto hotels since early this month, and this week they were told there is still no timeline to return — one member's blunt read was that they might be there until Christmas. The community, about 440 km northeast of Thunder Bay and home to fewer than 400 people, declared a state of emergency on Aug. 4 after a sewage leak at its only nursing station. That was five days after roughly 140 members had just come home from a wildfire evacuation to the same city. Chief Gary Quisses says leaders are again asking Ontario and Ottawa to fund a new health facility — the same request made after a flood and fuel smell shut the station for three months last year, which he says never got a concrete answer. Neskantaga has also been under a boil water advisory for 31 years, the longest standing in Canada.
Police open a ballistics lab inside a shipping container
Thunder Bay Police unveiled a new ballistics lab on Wednesday, built into a container parked at headquarters on Balmoral Street. Inside is a water tank that lets officers test-fire a seized gun on site and recover the bullet and casing, which then go to the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto for comparison against other shooting scenes. Until now the whole firearm had to be shipped south for test firing — a wait of weeks or months. “That allows us to get results … within days,” said forensic identification sergeant Ryan Doucette. Deputy chief Jeremy Pearson called the lag time the real cost: the faster one incident's evidence is processed, the sooner investigators can move to the next. The lab was built by Thunder Bay company Stongbox and paid for through Ontario's Community Safety and Policing grant.
🗳️ Your call: a faster gun lab is one way to spend a policing dollar — but it's not the only claim on the budget. Where would you put the next one?
Thunder Bay police just opened their own ballistics lab. Where should the service put its next investment?
Bargaining stalls for 400 social services workers
A 16-hour mediation session on Aug. 13 between OPSEU Local 740 and Community Living Thunder Bay ended without a deal. Local president Cindy Mazan, who represents more than 400 employees of the publicly funded non-profit, said the day started with mediators relaying that the organization had spent all the money it had, and ended with a slight improvement that went nowhere near closing the gap. “It really went nowhere,” she said. The workers support adults with developmental disabilities across the city — the kind of job where turnover lands directly on the people being supported.
A Nipigon dog is headed into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame
On the night of Sept. 16, 2025, Colette and Joe Shwetz of Nipigon let their dog out into the yard. When she came back in, a black bear came with her. What happened next has now put Chloe — a medium-sized mixed breed the couple rescued in May 2019, at about six months old — into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame, which honours pets for protecting their owners in life-threatening emergencies. “She's just one of those old soul dogs,” Colette said, describing a dog who doesn't much like attention and is about to get a great deal of it. “She's our hero.”
Meme of the Day
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Trivia answer: Forced labour. Robota is an old Czech word for drudgery or serf labour, and playwright Karel Čapek used it in his 1920 play R.U.R. — Rossum's Universal Robots, about manufactured workers who turn on their makers. The play was translated widely within a couple of years, and the word travelled with it.
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