THUNDER BAY – Wendy Landry, the longest serving president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA), has decided to take a step back from the organization after eight years.
The announcement came during the opening of the 2025 Thunder Bay District Municipal League annual general meeting on Thursday.
Landry will still be active with NOMA as a past president, but “it's time for someone else to take that lead.”
“There are other folks that can take up the charge and lead us in a good way, who've been at the table and who have expressed interest in doing that. So, I support that, but it was totally a decision between me and my family that it's time to cut back,” Landry told Newswatch.
Before serving as NOMA president, Landry served as a vice-president on the NOMA board since 2015, after serving as president of the Thunder Bay District Municipal League.
She is also the first Indigenous woman in Ontario to serve as a mayor. Landry was first elected mayor of the Municipality of Shuniah in 2014. In 2022, she was acclaimed to a third term.
Landry works full-time at Confederation College as the vice president of Indigenous Leadership, Partnerships and Strategies.
She also sits on several boards including the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
Thunder Bay District Municipal League president Rick Dumas has worked alongside Landry for many years.
“She'd been the president of NOMA since 2017 – a huge advocate of Northwestern Ontario, specifically. She’s done a great job. She has a great relationship with the Ontario government. She has the opportunity to text ministers. She has a direct call number for those ministers,” said Dumas.
He also stated that he will be putting his name forward to become NOMA’s next president during the organization's election during its conference on April 23 at the Superior Inn.
“Hopefully, the NOMA membership votes me in as the president so I can take the message that Mayor Landry has been bringing for the last eight years or so to the government of Ontario,” said Dumas.
When asked how confident she is about someone new taking over after she leaves, Landry said, “I have complete confidence in those that have been sitting at the table for a long time.”
“We're a strong team. We're good friends. We've been in the thick of it together. We've all believe in the same thing, in our hearts and souls are in Northwestern Ontario,” said Landry.
