The president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association is calling on Lakehead University to go forward with a partnership with the University of Guelph that would lead to the creation of a veterinary program in the region.
Last month, Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association president Wendy Landry wrote a letter to Lakehead University president Moira McPherson, expressing the association's support for the program.
A copy of the letter was recently included in a Greenstone municipal council meeting agenda.
A shortage of veterinarians has led to clinics in Thunder Bay not taking on any new clients, leading to many pet owners heading south of the border to Minnesota or elsewhere in the region to receive services.
“I’ve heard of people driving as far as Dryden to get their vet services done, which is obviously a four-hour drive,” Landry said.
Landry compared the veterinarian situation to regional physician shortages, which was one factor that led to a medical school being established in Northern Ontario.
“When we did the Northern Ontario School School of Medicine, that push was so that we can have Northern people trained to stay in the north," Landry said.
"We want to make sure that we put in those mechanisms and tools, although we can’t discriminate on where those colleges and university accept their student, at the end of the day they are businesses too, we wanted to make sure that when those student graduate from the veterinary program that they are some sort of commitment to stay in the north and serve the north,” Landry said.
In January, the university said it was working with University of Guelph on the project, and was advocating the province for approval. At the time, McPherson said the proposed program would have a focus on recruiting local and Indigenous students.
Reached this week, a university spokesperson declined to provide comment.
Landry said the regional needs go beyond just caring for house pets.
In the letter, Landry said the Rainy River District has two veterinary clinics serving 151 large animal farms. In Thunder Bay, there is only one veterinary clinic serving 96 large animal farms.
“The veterinarian service for the farm community is definitely in need," Landry said.
"In order to keep them producing and to have a safe sale of their cows or pork, they need to have a vet available to make sure that their animals are safe and healthy. There is definitely a domino effect in northern Ontario in keeping our food supply safe as well."