EYE TO EYE:

As told to Matt Prokopchuk, Photo by Shannon Lepere

Thunder Bay’s city council now has several new faces as it gets down to business after this fall’s election, but a familiar one has returned to the mayor’s chair. Prior to his recent win, Ken Boshcoff also served as mayor from 1997 to 2003; he has additionally sat on council for a number of terms dating back to the late 1970s and was a Member of Parliament for four years in the mid-2000s. Away from the political spotlight, Boshcoff has also worked in business development and with a number of community organizations. Boshcoff spoke to The Walleye about his priorities for the new term, his interest in Antarctica, and receiving a shawl from the Dalai Lama.

The Walleye: What’s your top priority now that the new council has convened?

Ken Boshcoff: There are so many barrels really that have to be addressed. From the social side, clearly the coming winter and the homelessness is there. At the same time, there’s reason for optimism with the number of mining operations that are looking to set up here. So if we could get even four or five or six of the head offices for those companies, that would provide an impetus for some very serious longrange economic development. So it’s a double-barrel push right now.

TW: Away from work, what do you enjoy spending time doing?

KB: Well, I have been saving up most of my life to start travelling. Of course that’s been set back two or three years. I will actually have [to] set that aside for another couple of years, but I have a couple of trips that I will take as breaks—even a mayor gets holidays [laughs].

TW: Where are you wanting to go?

KB: My Antarctica trip has been postponed for about three years in a row— apparently now it’s going ahead, so I’ll take some time off in January to go from ice and snow to ice and snow.

TW: What would a trip to Antarctica entail?

KB: I’ve been a big historical fan of people who achieve against hardships that none of us could even conceive of, so it’s always intrigued me and it’s just something that’s been on my wish list. When I retired [laughs] a few years ago, I bought [the trip] and it’s just been postponed because of COVID for three years running, but apparently it’s going to go now. It would be on a scientific vessel, visiting animal colonies and whalewatching, things of that nature.

TW: What’s on your music playlist these days?

KB: I managed to get to Eagles’ final concert in Ottawa, so that was nothing short of spectacular, of course. There are a couple of entertainers coming to the Auditorium. I really enjoyed The Mavericks’ last show [here], they’re always an exceptional show band. I hope to get more music in my life again, and as you know I’m a big supporter of musicians and talent. I will catch a [Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra] show or two—it looks like a great season they’ve got coming—as well as Magnus. So I’m glad we have all this here and an auditorium to show it all off in.

TW: Where did that support for the arts come from?

KB: It came from my awareness that I would never be talented enough to be an entertainer, so I better start enjoying it. I’m a great admirer, particularly, of people who do comedy. One of the joys of life is the fact that we can make fun of ourselves. The last comedy show that the Investors

Group brought here to the Auditorium was a gutsplitter from start to finish and showcasing Canadian talent in particular.

TW: Do you have a treasured possession?

KB: I do. I have a shawl from the Dalai Lama, and I have a Terry Fox print that Mrs. Fox gave me after I declared our area as keepers of the flame when they opened up the Terry Fox monument. They are treasured things. I have a rattlesnake skin that shed when I was in the jungles of Kenya. I don’t save much stuff—people know I’m a great gifter, so as long as I know it’s going to be treasured as much as I would then I like to pass it on.

TW: Tell me about the shawl from the Dalai Lama.

KB: When I was in Parliament, a group of people decided that the Chinese oppression [of Tibet] was getting too much, and we would form a Tibetan friendship group of parliamentarians—all-party.

So as the Dalai Lama came to different places, the friendship group would go meet him, whether it was Ottawa or Montreal or Vancouver. In Thunder Bay, actually, [when] Lynn Peterson was the mayor, we raised the Tibetan flag. We were one of the few cities in Canada that did it, so the Dalai Lama was quite enthralled with that, and he was very effusively grateful.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.