Community Photographs Around Thunder Bay
We took photographs around the community of Thunder Bay to demonstrate the meaning of community. Feel free to make comments on our photos :)
The photographs are divided into four albums, each highlighting a different topic/area of the meaning of 'community'.
Art Expression and Scenery
Below are images displaying expressions of art and scenery around Thunder Bay. Recently, Thunder Bay has been installing new artistic pieces throughout the city, particularly down at the Marina. Pieces done by citizens are also found throughout the city, such as the grafitti found at the SkiHaus and the Ontario March of Dimes. These expressions of art help make the community feel more inclusive, creative and welcoming. The Arts can create inspiration, and inspiration is often the catalyst for change; it is wonderful to see such inspiration throughout our community. As Peter Block states, "physical space is more decisive in creating community than we realize...the design process needs to be an example of the future we intend to create. The material and built world is a reflection of the connectedness, openness, and curiousity of the group gathered to the space".
There are also pictures in this album displaying some of the wonderful scenery without our community. Perhaps one of Thunder Bay's greatest advantages is its geographical location; the marina, Kakabeka Falls, Centennial Park, as well as many other Provincial Parks and green spaces all exist within a day's drive.
Food Security
Juha Mikkonen and Dennis Raphael identified fourteen 'determinants of health' that should be examined when looking at an individual or community and thinking about health. One of these listed determinants is 'food security'. Thunder Bay has many initiatives within the community promoting this. Perhaps one of the greatest examples is the Country Market; a gathering of local vendors selling their local goods. This is an excellent way to both support local merchants as well as re-fuel the local economy. (Not to mention, the product is delicious, fresh and healthy!). Thunder Bay also hosts other events such as the Murillo Fair and the Kakabeka Fair, offering more opportunity to purchase local products. Thunder Bay has many local farms in its surrounding area, and a few of these are also shown below.
Throughout the community there are also several food banks (for a more comprehensive list please refer to 'community links'). Having these services available to the members of the community, and spreading them throughout the city, gives the city a more inclusive feel. Food security is essential to healthy individuals, and healthy individuals are essential to a healthy community. Thus, this is an area of great importance for the city of Thunder Bay, as well as any community wishing to grow and prosper. It is great to see examples of this effort throughout our community, and hopefully these efforts will only increase with time!
Community Buildings/Areas
Thunder Bay is home to a wide variety of community services including accessibility services, Shelters, educational buildings, transportation services, tourist buildings, parks, and many more (again, for a more extensive list please refer to Community Links). This album only displays a small portion of these services, but they offer a glimpse into the community of Thunder Bay.
Including in this section are also images of the Grain Elevators. At one point, the Grain Elevators along with the Mill were the sole foundations of Thunder Bay. Thunder Bay existed primarily as a single-industry city. These images are displayed both as an honoraium to this stage of Thunder Bay's existance as well as a display of the community's resiliency and growth since the demise of these industries.
Thunder Bay's Aboriginal Head Start building
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Community Growth and Future Change
"The future is created one room at a time, one gathering at a time...This means the small group is where transformation takes place. Large-scale transformation occurs when enough small group shifts lead to the larger change" (Peter Block). When taking pictures throughout the community, there were evident examples of small group attitude changes throughout the city. Some of these were small-scale, such as the neighbourhood pumpkins sold with an 'honesty box' that you see depicted, or the 'free candy canes' given out by vendors. Others however, were much larger. The two main examples shown were Reta Atkinson's locally written and produced book "Rambo's Adventures" and the Skate Park at the Marina. Reta's book is a children's book about a horse learning to be healthy. Reta's book focuses on the concept of 'healthy children=healthy adults'. Her small-scale effort is growing; recently, the Native Women's Association of Thunder Bay purchased large quantities of the book to be distributed amongst the children on a number of neighbouring reserves. The Skate Park is also shown; another pointent example of how inspiration breeds change. The skate park began as an initiative sought out by a small group of local adolescents and has since grown into a city-funded, large-scale community spot. Other examples displayed in this album show ideas such as the Murillo Fair, where vendors are once again able to sell local goods and people come together as a community to celebrate local farmers and participate in activities. Events such as these will hopefully continue and grow into the future.
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