Saskatoon Tribal Council’s Tribal Chief says the proposed 30-40 bed shelter on 210 Pacific Avenue would not be providing additional spaces to house Saskatoon’s homeless, and instead would simply relocate 30-40 beds from the STC’s Emergency Wellness Centre.
Tribal Chief Mark Arcand says if the new shelter opens, the EWC would lose up to 41 beds, dropping their bed count to 65. He adds that the Salvation Army shelter wouldn’t lose any beds, even though both facilities are contracted to provide the same services.
“There’s a discrepancy here. I look at the Province and I say where’s the fairness? Where’s the accountability? Where’s the transparency? Why is one shelter getting cut…and another shelter isn’t?”
In order to keep both his 106 beds and provide shelter to more homeless people throughout the winter, he suggests reallocating the provincial funding that was earmarked for the new 30-bed shelter towards establishing warm-up shelters that would serve up to 200 people instead of just 30.
“Is 30 beds really going to make a difference? Or do we invest in 135-200 people a night and get them into services through EWC, through Salvation Army, and other programs that are already established…We have funding guaranteed from the province for these original 30 beds, but we can redirect that funding here to support a bigger need in Saskatoon so people aren’t freezing to death in our city.”
He adds that he has spoken with leadership at the Salvation Army, and they are trying to secure locations for potential warm up shelters, such as St. Mary’s Parish Hall.
Arcand adds that he isn’t confident that The Mustard Seed, the organization selected by the province to provide services at the new 30-bed shelters, will be able to do it successfully, as they don’t understand Indigenous culture or Saskatoon’s model of care based on reconciliation.
“Their population, when they work and Calgary, is with newcomers. They don’t deal with what we’re dealing with in Saskatoon which is the First Nations people, the mental health, the addictions, the violence…they have zero clue.”
He says the Mustard Seed also hasn’t reached out to the STC to ask for input on how to operate a shelter such as this.
“They need to know who they’re dealing with. This is our territory. This is how we work together, and if they’re not willing to reach out, I have a problem with that.”
Arcand believes that the STC should have been chosen to operate the shelter instead, as it has provided positive results and housed over 50 families since its inception in 2021.
He calls for a pause on the pursuit of a new shelter at 210 Pacific Ave., and a focus on establishing warmup shelters, at least until the winter season is over.
The EWC moved to Fairhaven in late 2022 after Mayor Charlie Clark said Saskatoon was facing a crisis with homelessness, mental health and addictions, and it was adding to growing tension in the downtown core. He claimed to be working with the province and service providers to identify alternate locations to the downtown core.
In a written response to the CJWW Newsroom, Minister of Social Services Gene Makowski stated that “As part of the Provincial Approach to Homelessness, Government has indicated it will be moving to a model of smaller shelters going forward. Aligned with that principle, the Ministry of Social Services plans to decrease spaces at the Saskatoon Tribal Council Wellness Centre in the future. The timing of the decreased spaces at the Saskatoon Tribal Council Wellness Centre will be determined after new temporary spaces become available in Saskatoon, and their impact is assessed. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure there are enough spaces available for people experiencing homelessness in Saskatoon over the winter. This may mean that spaces at the Saskatoon Tribal Council Wellness Centre are maintained during the winter months.”
