Collaborative approach needed to address transit safety, says Thunder Bay councillor after incident
Altercation between driver, member of the public under investigation
Addressing violence on transit in Thunder Bay, Ont., will require a collaborative approach, a city councillor said.
The city is investigating an altercation between a transit driver and member of the public that occurred Friday morning at the city hall terminal.
In an email to CBC News, Fred Caputo, president and business agent for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 966, which represents transit operators, confirmed an operator was injure.
The operator has been placed on paid leave during the investigation, which Caputo said is normal procedure.
Caputo said the union will provide further comment when the investigation is complete.
No other details about the altercation have been provided.
Coun. Brian Hamilton, who represents the McKellar Ward — City Hall is in McKellar Ward — said the issue is a complex one and the city needs to work with social service agencies if it's to be addressed.
"The city did put out an EOI [expression of interest] in the winter months and that was related to hopefully engaging with social agencies that could maybe assist in finding people down in tough circumstances, like around city hall, and connecting them to services," he said. "I don't think we had a lot of ... take-up on that.
"Part of the reason could be a lot of these organizations are at max capacity," Hamilton said. "So there's capacity issues, there's labour crunches that are happening right across multiple sectors, including the social services sector."
Hamilton said it's also important to "keep the lines of communication open" with the union and front-line transit workers to hear any ideas they may have.
"Our staff needs to hear them," he said. "City council needs to be aware.
"I know there's a bunch of initiatives, including mental health and de-escalation techniques and all kinds of additional training happening. If there's more, as a city councillor, I need to know that.
"I think the rest of the council is going to be very interested in what we can do to move the dial, make the transit system safer in every way that we can," Hamilton said. "Indeed, it's quite safe, but we have to be vigilant and we have to ensure the safety of our drivers."
On Friday afternoon, Thunder Bay city administration issued a media release about the altercation, saying the matter has been reported to police and "no interviews will be granted at this time."
Hamilton said addressing the issue won't only be a police matter, however.
"We need social services to assist and be part of this as well. This is not just solely a policing matter, it's not just putting up shields and barriers between users and transit drivers."
"We really need to address some of these kind of deeper-seated social issues."