From: THE THUNDERBAY CHRONICLE-JOURNAL, Monday, October 27, 1997

Quality of Life Index for city due in 1998

BY JULIO GOMES
THE CHRONICLE-JOURNAL

A survey has indicated that the overall quality of life in Ontario has declined since 1990, but incomplete information means that the situation in Thunder Bay won't be know until the new year. "As far as the data we've collected right now, we don't have enough to publish our own index," said Brenda Reimer, executive director of the Lakehead Social Planning Council. "We hope to complete the information and do an index for the city of Thunder Bay in the next three months." The Quality of Life in Ontario - 1997 report was released on Oct. 17 and it revealed "progress in some areas and setbacks in others" A monitoring of social, health, environmental and economic factors showed that the quality of life in the province had declined from the base year of 1990. Among the findings:

Environmentally, there has been improvement in air quality, waste diverted for recycling and a reduction in effluent spills.
The number of bankruptcies and unemployed have increased.
More people have gone on welfare due to a lack of public housing.
The number of low birth weight babies has gone up, meaning there are more children at risk for problems later in life.

"The idea (of the Quality of Life Index) came about because we felt it would be useful for all sorts of community groups, and citizens as well, to see if things are getting better or worse," said Reimer of the province-wide program led by the Ontario Social Development Council. A similar profile for Thunder Bay is not yet available, she said, because it has been difficult to obtain enough and the right kind of information from some public institutions and government funded non-profit organizations. "Some of the indicators we collected are for the whole district and some are collected for the city," she said. "So, we felt we just weren't ready to publish anything locally at this time. "But there are a lot of other areas in Ontario where they are running into similar problems. "However, Reimer is confident that the LSPC working group will have all the information it needs to compile a Quality of Life Index for Thunder Bay by January. "It is a good study to be involved with on a long-term basis," she said.