Thunder Bay passes a grim homicide record and the police chief says southern gangs are to blame

Thunder Bay's acting chief of police says the illicit drug trade and southern Ontario gang activity are driving the city's record number of homicides in 2022. 

There have been 13 homicides recorded in Thunder Bay this year, two more than the previous record of 11, set in 2014. 

"Out of the 13 homicides this year, I don't believe any could be classified as random," said acting police chief Dan Taddeo. "They either have ties to substance abuse or addiction issues, or are gang related."

"For example, out of the 13 homicides, six arrests have been made connected to persons from the Greater Toronto area," he said. "When we speak about the influence of persons trafficking drugs from the Greater Toronto Area and Thunder Bay, it's because of the profitability that they're able to sell."

Taddeo said so far this year, police have executed more than 90 warrants in Thunder Bay as part of drug investigations involving people from the GTA; the warrants have led to 122 people from the GTA being arrested and charged.

Thunder Bay also needs to rely on the pathology lab in Toronto for autopsies, tying up resources from the major crime unit in homicide investigations.

Taddeo said more generalized harm reduction and community involvement is needed to address the drug issue in Thunder Bay.

"If you take away the market for the suppliers, then the suppliers will go elsewhere," he said. "We can also then focus our policing on more of crime and disorder versus social issues."

"Unfortunately, we remain the bottom of the social safety net, despite certain persons suggesting, and I do agree, that police need to get out of this business.

That's a great concept, but nobody has suggested what it looks like, or what's the operational plan."

In addition, Taddeo said the justice system needs to "look at our issues more locally as opposed to kind of a broad-brush approach."

Thunder Bay had the highest death rate from opioid overdoses in the province from April 2021 to March 2022 at 82.1 per 100,000 people, according to the latest preliminary data released by the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner.

"We investigate four times the amount of sudden deaths due to overdoses," he said. "We have to look at each one of those as a potential homicide, especially if laced drugs are involved."

Policing experts have previously told CBC News it's difficult to lay charges in sudden death investigations involving laced drugs, often due to a lack of evidence.