Bedbug infestation troubles Thunder Bay tenants

Some tenants in a Thunder Bay apartment complex are upset over a bedbug infestation. 

They say they were first told to keep quiet about the problem — but weeks later, there are still bedbugs in the building at 201 Court St. South.

It was the long weekend in August when David Walker said he first found bed bugs in the ground floor apartment he shares with his mother on Court Street.

"I was lying in bed watching TV, and I felt itchy," he said. "I was scratching myself and I felt something between my fingers. And I looked, and there was a bug there."

When he looked down at his bed, Walker said he saw a lot more.

"There were bugs all over," he said. "I quickly grabbed an empty pill bottle beside my bed … and I kept scooping up these bugs. They're really fast, but I was able to catch them, there were so many."

Walker guessed he caught at least 100 bugs that night.

'Don't tell nobody'

His mother, Florence Brown, said she called the office of the building's property manager, but was told "'I want you to shush about this. Don't tell nobody.'"

"She basically said, 'Well, it's your fault,’" Brown said. "But we have no idea if that's the case or not, or if it had been in the building before."

The building is owned by Poli Rentals but, when contacted by CBC News about this story, a representative hung up the phone.

Walker and Brown report the company has paid for fumigation, however other tenants are now finding the pests in their apartments.

Walker said he and his mother had to move in with his sister for a month as a reprieve from the bugs and the fumigation process.