Thunder Bay police aim to clean up Field Street crime scene

Green spaces can provide an urban setting with a much-needed touch of nature, but in Thunder Bay, wood lots and fallow fields have become the scene of violent crimes.

Thunder Bay's fifth homicide of the year took place last week in a grassy space near Field Street, off the Harbour Expressway.

• Field Street death leads to murder charges

It's a known hangout and gathering place for people without a home. 

Mayor Keith Hobbs said many of the city's wooded areas are magnets to people with nowhere to go.

“They come to Thunder bay and they are lost,” he said.

“They are finding places of refuge out in green spaces and they have no support mechanism.”

Thunder Bay police spokesperson Chris Adams said they know of most of these hangouts, and deal with them on a case-by-case basis.

But Adams said ownership of the green spaces can make cleaning them up difficult.

“Some of the properties around town we are talking about are city owned, and those are fairly easy to deal with,” he said.

“But then you have others that are privately owned. And sometimes those lands abut each other, which makes it even more complicated.”

Social safety net needed

Adams said police chief JP Levesque has spoken to city officials about the need to make the Field Street site a less attractive one.

But he says clearing out the bush will not solve the larger social issues that put people there in the first place.

"How do you deal with the fact that so many people feel compelled, or need to go to these areas, whether it's to try and make a make shift home or camp or to socialize or do things that are quite dangerous,” he said.

“It's really a tough go. You can clean an area out, and that can be a real challenge, but where do they end up? So it's that social safety net that is really needed in this equation. "

Hobbs noted council is tackling the issue.

“We have the crime prevention council and we have teamed up with Shelter House on the alcohol management program, on the SOS program, [and] we are looking at increasing funding on that program,” he said.

“Those programs are working, but not enough."

Adams said there are similar gathering places around the city where trouble occurs.

“This is an issue that has been going on for really a long time — like many years,” he said.