Thunder Bay apartment owners defend bedbug response

The owners of a Thunder Bay apartment complex are defending the way they've dealt with a bedbug infestation and say they have diligently operated the building on Court Street South for nearly three decades.

In an email statement to CBC News, Poli Rentals says an exterminator has visited four times over the last month. The statement adds management is inspecting more units on its own, and contacting another pest control company.

But not all tenants think Poli Rentals is doing the best it can.

Sue Jacobsen said she first discovered bedbugs in her 4th-floor apartment on Aug. 29, two weeks after an exterminator first visited the building.

She said rumours had been swirling for weeks, but Poli Rentals hadn't warned her about the infestation.

"If they had acted on this when they knew, it wouldn't have gone this far. People would have known about it, and they could've prepared for it," Jacobsen said. "But they didn't; they didn't say anything."

Jacobsen's apartment has since been fumigated at Poli Rentals’ expense.

But tenants like Paula DePalma say that's not enough.

"There's gonna be bedbugs here for the next six months ... by the time they finish, the person they did at first is gonna have 'em right back again."

A health inspector with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit said his office first visited the building in mid-August. Etrick Blackburn said Tuesday the health unit is still receiving three to five calls per day from the building.

"I've been a health inspector for 16 years and I've never seen it that bad," Blackburn said. "So, this was an eye opener for me."

Poli Rentals refused CBC's requests for an interview.