Temagami mayor says his community dumped as Scotiabank pulls out abruptly

The Municipality of Temagami has been left wondering what’s next after losing its only financial institution earlier this week.

Scotiabank closed its branch in the small northern Ontario community after decades to consolidate its services with the branch at 1500 Fisher Street in North Bay, more than an hour away.

Scotiabank abruptly closed its bank brank in Temagami. July 18, 2024 (John Shmyko/Municipality of Temagami)

The closest financial institution for those who live in Temagami now is in New Liskeard, more than 55 kilometres north.

"Our big concern about this whole thing was I got a call a couple months ago and they said they were closing the bank," said Temagami Mayor Dan O’Mara.

"It was pretty shocking at the time. They didn’t give us any opportunity to respond, the decision was made and they came and told us."

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He said the town's biggest concern is what the residents, especially the seniors, are going to do.

"It was a big decision, I understand that. They are going to let us have (a bank machine) across the road at the PharmaSave, which is good, but it’s the history," O'Mara said.

"You know it’s the commitment to a community and I guess it might be business-related, but I don’t think closing the bank is going to increase the profits of Scotiabank."

The bank was only open a couple of days a week in Temagami and now, the mayor questions Scotiabank’s commitment to small communities.

"To me, it’s just not right, it’s profits and closing this bank is not going to save this bank a lot of money," he said.

"Yes, we’re a little bit disappointed. We do appreciate they did try and work with us and gave us a banking machine across the road, but it’s not going to be open all the time."

O'Mara said the lack of in-person banking service is going to be an inconvenience.

"It’s like cell service and whatever, when it comes to small towns in northern Ontario, we sometimes get neglected," he said.

The mayor said he worries about what this will mean for seniors and businesses in the community.

"It’s going to make business harder in Temagami than it was before and we don’t need any more obstacles," O'Mara said.

"This is another item that small towns have to deal with. Especially the history we have with Scotia and just to walk away and not even give us an opportunity to see if there’s something the community can do. If they’re having trouble recruiting staff, I don’t know, it just wasn’t right."

The mayor said the town has reached out to credit unions and couldn’t land one and the owner of the building may start looking for other tenants.

Scotiabank told CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca it reached the decision after careful consideration.

In a statement, Madison Rodness, manager of Scotiabank’s Canadian banking communications writes in part:

"With customer preferences changing and more day-to-day banking being done digitally, we are continuing to evolve how we serve our customers and invest in areas that make it easier for our customers to bank with us from wherever they are. We are committed to supporting our customers, employees and communities through this transition."

"We’re a dot on the map to them and that’s not right and they’re not going to like what I’m saying, but the truth hurts," O’Mara said.