Sioux Lookout Mayor Dennis Leney (siouxlookout.ca)

Sioux Lookout's mayor wants the province to invest in a new detention centre in his community.

Dennis Leney said the town needs a place for youth who have committed crimes to serve their sentences closer to home, and added many families end up travelling from remote communities, from Sioux Lookout to Fort Frances or Kenora.

Leney said adults are also spending hours in custody on the road, as they cannot be held at the local OPP detachment.

"The people are transported from Sioux Lookout to the District Jail in Kenora,” Leney said. “And then they may only be there one or two days, and then put back in a van, transported back to Sioux Lookout for court."

Leney said a new detention centre would also create jobs in Sioux Lookout.