Thunder Bay - Rants

We are a small family possibly moving to TB. What areas should we avoid when renting or buying a house? What areas would you recommend? Thanks


the entire city


Don't move here all you are going to find are little darlins with snake-like wet skin that drink ethanol from morning til dusk trying to dream the real dream which was robbed of them during the pretend treaty making process. The other thing you will find are the reptiles called the old town wondering around without leashes crapping on everyone and everything that has two ears. Right now the crappers are up in apartment 1, 14 Regent St. Thunder Bay, Ontario atempting to kill or maim psychologically or physically the three good Indians living below them, so turn around and stay in Saskatoon unless you are one of them crappers.


One piece of advice: don't move here.


I moved out in '94 after 34 years...
DO NOT spend a load of money on house....DICKER!!....I know SK is hot right now....don't put your SK money into a TB house....TB is the only ON city that has a declining population.. 
TB realtors are living in the 80s.....they play the same ol' game...just like the pirate car dealers there...do not be fooled by them!! 
I am better in the S.Ward.....stay out of the east end...downtown core....Westfort....parts of Northward (ugh)....Green Acres is good...Victoria Park is good (Chestnut, Walnut)...Riverview is nice....new developments in the country are nice... 
In TB is see a scary trend.....VACANT homes for sale....not a stick of furniture....maybe in 20% of the homes I have seen....AND I CHECK LOTS!!! 
My home in TB sold for 187,500 in late '94...worth 175 now....my QC home went from 155K to almost 300K (down now along with everyone else's but not that much) 
TB has a load of good things about it....good luck...have a Sally Ann on me...



Thunder bay sucks unless your retired or native. There is nothing to do and everyone knows everything about eachother since its such a small city. Theres no places to party and everyones right pyscho and whore.. and everyone thinks they can be models here but lemme tell you thats not the case. SO i would say stay where you are. 



Do not move to this hell hole, also known as Blunder Bay. I have resided here for 42 years. The only time I thought it was a nice place to live was when I was young and naive. Limited employment, a high crime rate, a lack of anything substantial to do as well as the extremely high tax rate (2.5X that of Toronto, based on a homes assessed value) makes it an undesirable place to live. The jokers in City Hall insist on wasting the tax payer’s money on expensive and mostly unnecessary projects. Redoing the marina (to make it smaller and less attractive) with a price tag of well over 100 million dollars, a new hospital (over budgeted – maybe double the price), planning a new, multi-million dollar events center (w/limited parking) which no one will use, so on and so forth. This is all passed on to the hard working tax payer’s of the city. When residents sign petitions or request plebiscites, we are laughed at and basically told to shut up. Never mind the lack of proper infrastructure upkeep. An improperly designed sewage treatment plant recently flooded homes/businesses and displaced 100’s of families. A class action lawsuit against the city is on the books now and if the residents win, guess who foots the bill! Don’t even think about going out for a leisurely walk, at any time, unless you’re in a large group or carry a weapon! Population wise, approximately 22% are bogies. They flock to Blunder Bay to drink, do drugs, rob, steal, assault, murder, all while never contributing to society. The only thing they are good at is breeding - produce kids like rabbits to live off the rich’s of the city. The only reason I’m still here is my transfer has not come through. I would gladly take a loss on my home and/or possessions to leave this cesspool. I could write a book! Do not take my word of it – do your own research and make it thorough. If you don’t and you choose to move here, you will likely regret it! Best of luck!



the poster disapoitned is the reason we are taking over this town. if you are NATIVE then we welcome you here!!! whites keep off our land.


lol Hardly taking over! Epic fail if you think you're taking over as the jails are over crowded and there is more native on Native Crime. What was that in the last 5 days? Two Native Murders killed by two different Natives. As the Fort William Band is working hard in business working with the general population of Thunder Bay, You lil' bastards are making them look bad!



Thunder Bay really, really sucks. I moved there to work in a lab- most of the people that I worked with didn't know the first thing about chemistry (seriously). Turns out they were all friends- and also back-stabbing, two-faced, lying, sabotaging, jerks. Avoid this place like the plague it is.



Thunder Bay has gone down hill...all they do is spend money building when we have plaenty of vacant buildings which could use refurbishing.
Years ago when I was young and it was Port Arthur & Fort William it used to be real nice & safe..a cop on the beat all the time..they would get to know the people in their area..I loved it then..left so many times..why I came back..heaven only knows



 Thunder Bay is just a huge reserve now.
Come here, pop out a few FAS babies, live of the guv-mint titte.
Guess who pays?



 Yea...STAY AWAY. This town is pathetic! Cold as f*ck, and the transit sucks.
Can't walk 5 blocks without some skid asking for a smoke.
No jobs, useless cops, oxy-zombies everywhere and high rent costs...
I'm looking for a way out!



You know what makes this city suck? All the racist b***ards, that's why you shouldn't move here. All I hear and read is f***ing Indian this, f***ing Indian that. I like to inform everyone that I'm native and probably have more education than most of you, I've worked with the homeless, the drunks, the drug addicts and do you know they funny thing, most were white. But I didn't judge, I tried to help, I fed them I gave them clothes I helped them get into detox. Get off your racist a**es and help someone, we all bleed red and we all have problems, be f***ing human beings and stop the hating. Dumb a**es.



Open your eyes. Go walk around May and Victoria for half an hour and see.
It's not that we're a bunch of racists who hate natives... It's the fact that we have a high concentration of the worst elements of reserve life thriving and growing in our downtown cores. 
A person like you who is educated and native isn't part of the problem.
It's your 94 cousins all drinking lysol in the back alley and robbing Macs stores that's the problem.  
If I got free schooling like you did, I'd take advantage too. I don't know why more don't do it.



 Lived in T Bay for a few yrs. Glad I moved. It's a gross city. It's the Detroit of Canada. Honestly. Horrible drivers. Big city attitudes. People passing out drunk outside your bathroom window at 4 in the morning. True story. Constantly being asked for smokes. Crack heads everywhere. I don't even like going there to visit.



Yeah, you're right, we are born a bunch of stinkin' crackah racists.
Or perhaps this profiling is true 90% of the time? What do you think?
Was I born racist, or did I learn to be this way based on the FACTS?
Don't want to hear about "f***ing Indians"?, it's simple....
Stop them from acting like a Bogan. And yes, there are a lot of them.
Until then, I will continue to be racist, since it has done me well.



 I would never suggest anyone move to Thunder Bay, place is a dump! Drunk natives walking around everywhere, ruining the city! And SOME Police Officers are just power tripping disrespectful pieces of crap who don't deserve a badge, or they cheat on there wife, and ruin a family! Eh Bob or Robert N...?



I live in tbay and it's not a great place! I am currently going to lake head but may transfer out to somewhere else next year! The people generally are very backstabbing and think they are worth more than they are! Simply put its not a good place to invest. There is a lack of leadership in the city! It needs a change and I would advise to avoid at all costs!



Thunder Bay is really bad now, it's ok if you live in current river Thunder Bay North but avoid all other areas



I believe you, as I have education BUT no one in TBay considers natives period. It is a racist town, and most addicts are white. Too proud to admit it, but love to put the minorities down them ghosts :P. I keep up with the news and more of these ghosts are being exposed on the news great job. Even for the simple jobs, how many natives you see employed? More immigrants migrating here taking jobs from the CaucASIANS, that's good! I couldn't even tell one white from the other because they all have the same face.



DO NOT MOVE HERE for ANY reason.



I agree never move here. Horrible town and power tripping police! Aint that right Mr. R Neill.. biggest arse on the force!
Natives drunk passed out all over the city. The youth here are such wanna be followers.

(Source:  http://www.topix.com/forum/ca/thunder-bay-on/TRN99HLH65PIUE5QS/p2)



Thunder Bay is a horrible city. I live here and it sucks. The people are nasty small mined idiots. I hate, hate, hate Thunder BAy
BTW- I've lived ALL over the world, big cities and small. So my assessment of this city is just. It's a racist (Aboriginal child having his hair chopped off-google it), homophobic (gay bashing google it) town. Stay a day or two, or just keep driving.



I grew up in Southern Ontario, and travelled with the family across Canada ---I have had some great experiences travelling and seeing this great country of ours. In July of 2007 I married my hubby who had taken a job in Thunder Bay. Lets just say in my time here in Thunder Bay I have hated 85% of my time here and count the days and weeks we have left in this city. I've never meet so many complainers in my life.........people here blame everything on people from Toronto its hilarious. They complain that all they're mills are shutting down and Toronto isn't helping them, Even though you wonder if these places in T-Bay couldn't stay with the times and come up with plans before the need for paper supplies deminished or realized how many people really are running to stores for snowmobiles, how many snowmobiles does this country need???? Wonder why everyone is losing jobs here, how about creating jobs that are up to date or invent some shit to make jobs??? Then the race war between Natives and "Whites" Its embarrassing (I'm actually Metis) and how the local Chronicle Journal posts hate letters from both sides in their Letters to the editor every week to fuel this race war....pathetic!! 
I will only look back in my experience living in this city as the city limits were beautiful with nature and the fishing was excellent and the neighbours I had were lovely but this City is living in the dark ages and they hate everyone outside of Thunder Bay and are a bunch of blamers, like I said this city is pathetic!




Sure, Thunder bay is great if you work at the hospital, or are a schoolteacher with June July and August as your best reasons for becoming one. But the city sucks donkey balls. Private Industry is dead, except for the couple of construction companies the city continually feed. The town was cut up like an apple pie 50 years ago, and the reason no business comes here is because of the monopoly attitude. City Hall even LIED about the MILLIONS they BORROWED to fix up the old fogeys' home, then did an abrupt about-face, gave the homes to the province, and took that BORROWED TAXPAYER MONEY and GAVE it to some favorite cronies. There's a law called Criminal False Prospectus, but the local fraud cops are in the pocket of City Hall. 
Sure, the wilderness is nice, but don't try to actually purchase a TINY piece for yourself because it's simply not allowed. Besides, who likes being harrassed by the OPP and MNR when you're out fishing?  
Yup. A great place for civil servants, their cronies and natives. Everyone else had best leave, ASAP, if you want some sort of future for yourself. Those are my plans, to sell out and split, but hey, did you know that you can't even GIVE AWAY an amethyst mine around here?



 Stuck in Thunder Bay - it was the city or my marriage (husband's family is here). I think I may actually be clinically depressed. Thank God for Grand Marais, Duluth, Minneapolis, and our airport.



Well, I spent the first 20 years of my life then moved away for school, and I gotta say, after seeing the entire country, and a good chunk of this wonderful planet we call home, I can honestly say that Thunder Bay blows. And I'm serious as can be. Unfortunately, my parents are still there so I am forced to make my way there once a year, and I dread my two weeks there. For all the people who defend this city, you're obviously fallen of your rocker.
I laughed at the clean air comments....cuz the smell of shit coming from the paper mill on a hot summer day is all so pleasant...pleasant enough that when you go to Old Fort William trading post, you know the biggest tourist attraction of the city, you can smell the nice pleasant smell of rotting shit. And when was the last time you let your children swim in boulevard lake? And hey, do you dare to walk downtown port arthur at night? No. Or how about taking a nice stroll down May street or Simpson street, at any time of the day? No. Wait, wait, let's all go to county park where it's just a massive neighborhood of violent crimes, drugs and poverty. Hmm, that won't work either. Should we make our way to the community auditiorium for a decent concert...oh shoot they don't get any. Well, I guess we can always go check out all the neat little shops/boutiques/cafes/nice restaurants....uhh, what? Their aren't any? My bad. Hey about naming one decent/pub/bar/nightclub in this city...oops, can't do that either. 

Do any of you rememeber the hype in '94 when it was announced that Thunder Bay was getting the real canadian superstore? Yes, fellow readers of this blog, there was actually a ceremony for the opening of this momentus occasion. And getting the walmart around the same time was like winning the bid for the olympics..only with less economic impact, less low paying jobs, and more reasons for city council to destroy the core of the city. Also, do any of you Thunder Bayites remember the plan to build the expressway all the way out near Kakebeka, then the city ran out of money, and it ended at golf links road? For about 15 years of my life growing up, there was this giant clearing at the end of the harbour expressway(which by the way, it's only about 3 km's long LOL) and about 50 feet of pavement just left there to wither away like the Fort William Gardens. And someone here mentioned the housing prices...well there's only one reason, and one reason only for that....no money. If you all want cheap housing where you have a shot at a livable income, go to Windsor, I almost did, but I ended up in Oshawa where I currently reside. And as for Toronto and area not having nature...any of you heard of Niagara Falls? One of the natural wonders of the world. Hell, I have a cottage in havlock, located in the best known, most famous cottaging/recreational area on the planet...the muskokas. Oh but I'm sure Ouimet canyon beats Georgian bay right? Located 50 minutes from Toronto. Skiing in Thunder Bay? Ya sure. Let's go to Loch Lohmond, or Big Thunder and have the crap spewing from the paper mill blown right in our faces. And of course Mt Baldy, with what, 7 runs? Sorry, I'd much rather go to Collingwood(45 minutes from Toronto) where it actually is world class skiing and resorts, as opposed to go to a ski hill that had the World Nordic championships, and couldn't do Giant Slalom or super G. 

You Tbay people can all rant about nature...but you have obviously not see the rest of the most beautiful country on the planet that we call home. Thunder Bay is a cess pool of filth, crime, and unemployment. The roads are shit, the transit, well tbay transit eh...I've seen better trasnsit in places like Regina, Swift Current, North Bay and Saint John New Brunswick. And I have yet to visit a city in my life that has more boarded up schools. Like crap man, my school, black bay road public school, has spent 15 years collecting dust. It really says alot of about a city when I can say that growing up in Current River, I lived in the best part of the city. Which ain't saying much cuz I lived a 10 minute walk from one of the largest psychiatric facilities in the country...which speaking of which, my high school was located right across the stret from. 

Sorry to rant like this, but hopefully people here thinking of going to visit/move thunder bay...you'd best keep going to Kenora, Dryden or Atikokan...this way you can avoid getting your head kicked in by a gang of natives, or a gang of white folk who think your native, and also to see real nature, and not some random group of trees that we call a bush...anyone else notice that Ouimet canyone is starting to look like a dump from all the garbage thrown down there? Ok, sorry I'll stop now....after I mention the fact that Thunder Bay has the second highest percentage of people in Ontario living offof welfare...google it ;). How's that for employment prospects?




 Avoid Thunder Bay unless you're touring. The whole city is run on nepotism and cronyism, the city council and mayor haven't a clue on how to run the city, the economy is in the toilet, and frankly, these are all reasons why people want to move out of the city. 

I've lived here all my life, and I can tell you that as a 26-year old with a background in computer animation and an English degree, there is NOTHING here for me. The people with the money don't want to see new industries come in and create competition and new jobs, the jobs that are here are for those who graduate high school and don't want to do anything else to further their education, and frankly, the paper mill is whistling past the graveyard, employing a small fraction of what it once could.  

It's sad, but when you realize how incredibly stubborn and stupid the city has been in terms of bringing in new jobs or improvements, you honestly get angry and stop caring, altogether. Why? Because people in the city have been doing it for years. Soon, the city will turn into another Elliot Lake or a gigantic reserve for the First Nations. Everyone who graduates from the medical school here wants to go somewhere else for work because of the aging population and political games. Same with the university and college. What good is staying when all the answers you get while trying to get a job involve call centres, nursing and truck driving?




 I was born and raised in Thunder Bay. My sister and me moved to Vancouver. We were appalled at the lack of customer service, smiles and thank you's. It was almost painful!!! These people hate it here and don't mind showing it. I've moved back due to some unfortunate events and am counting the days till I leave. Don't get me wrong, it's really beautiful..but, if you're not an outdoorsy type there is little here. A cultural wasteland comes to mind. The locals like it the same(change is a scary thing!)..Tim Hortons and every restaurant featuring the same menu seems to do well. In general, the people here don't mind going for their groceries wearing their breakfast on their clothes. Racism, homophobia and sexism is the norm. Which equals people like me running very quickly in the opposite direction. Let the giant sleep.




If you are wondering why many of the locals are down on their town there is: the lack of jobs unless you have connections or luck, some of the stupidest most myopic car driver's in the country along with badly synchronized lights that makes for needless stop-and-go traffic, mediocre city transit that has limited evening times and ends around midnight, needless urban sprawl that goes beyond the large city limits. There always seems to be the need to tear down much of the old to build something new (with no guarantees on workmanship and costs way over estimates). The fix is also in on many things from the vote for the city name (purposely splitting the vote by offering 'Lakehead', 'The Lakehead', and 'Thunder Bay) to city council asking for citizen opinion on big projects when it already has it's mind made up to if, how big, and where they will be, to local contractors being the tail that wags the dog on city building fixing and building projects. 

The isolation of the city doesn't help - you are a good 7 hour drive from anywhere bigger (Minneapolis and Winnipeg). The only close city of around the same size is Duluth/Superior.  

As far as the comment by IRK wondering why people who are "stuck" here don't leave. The cost of living isn't too high (that may change if the local gov't keeps increasing taxes for it's many recent white elephant projects), they may still have friends and family here or other commitments, and who is going to leave unless they have a better job lined up elsewhere without a skyrocketing cost to their housing. The philosophy being the devil you know is better than the one you don't even if you are working several McJobs (which IRK probably isn't - if you have a regular secure good paying job anywhere can be good).  
The recent "boom" mentioned by IRK doesn't help anyone who has been here for a while and doesn't have very recent education and experience in the precise field needed. Most of the "boom" only helped those outside of the city getting a job here and only slightly indirectly helped a few here. 




Having lived all over Canada and multiple places overseas I can say with confidence that Thunder Bay is indeed a shit hole. The author of this article shouldn't be criticized, he manage to point out a few nice points about this place, which is not an easy task. The nature surrounding Thunder Bay is fantastic, the city itself is shit. 

Living in Thunder Bay is kind of like living in some sort of groundhog-day-esque, 1980's surrealist nightmare complete with mullets, hair band classic rock, Reganistic attitudes towards anything progressive but without any of the jobs that came with the 80's.  
Most trucks are jacked up higher than their drivers IQ's. Vomiting spaghetti on a map would probably have been a more sensible and aesthetically pleasing approach to city planning. Locals are not welcoming unless you have wallowed in the same gene puddle together for most of your life. Plus it snowed into May this year, which is some whole new level of bullshit anywhere south of the 60th parallel.  

I cannot wait to be done work here and get the hell out. I have been here off and on for about 5 years, having spent the last 2 years here in a row and can say with the utmost confidence that when I pack up and leave this little backwards frozen-turd-nugget of a town I will never return. Sorry for the negativity but other than nice nature T-Bay has no redeeming qualities whatsoever!


(Source:  https://www.raisethehammer.org/article/799/postcards_from_thunder_bay)

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