SASKATOON — Just a stone's throw from where Fran Frosberg was urging the provincial government to do more to address addiction, homelessness and hunger, about 30 people sat outside a convenience store, their belongings packed into bags or shopping carts.
While it wasn't known whether they were among those Frosberg's group regularly assists, she said volunteers spend weekends handing out thousands of meals and hundreds of bottles of water to people in similar circumstances. She said the effort is funded entirely out of the volunteers' own pockets, without support from the provincial government or other non-profit organizations.
Frosberg, joined by Shadow Ministers April ChiefCalf (Housing) and Leroy Laiberte (Mental Health & Addictions) in a Saskatchewan NDP media event on Monday, July 13, at the corner of Avenue O South and 20th Street West, said that on Sunday alone, July 12, five volunteer families joined her in handing out close to 500 meals and 600 bottles of water in less than one hour.
“Every Sunday, we're out there doing that. We do this on our own money. We do get some donations from people. But every week we are seeing more and more, especially women and children and youth out on this street. It is despicable. The numbers are growing. Saskatchewan has the highest rate of child poverty at 27.1 per cent. Those children are going hungry, some are houseless. It’s ridiculous,” she said.
“We need to find our humanity. We need to find some heart. I've been doing this for five years, if I can do this surely at 71 years old, surely the government can step up and start helping the people in need instead of filling their own pockets. You know. It's just getting worse and worse. I see nothing, no end in sight. And the government needs to step up.”
Aside from free meals and water, especially as the temperature goes over 25 degrees Celsius, Frosberg said they also give out life-saving Naloxone kits, especially after the safe consumption site Prairie Harm Reduction closed in April this year.
“I have invited the premier and his cabinet personally to come and join us every Sunday at 11 o'clock till 12. No response from the provincial or federal governments. You're welcome anytime. Come and speak with the people and see them for yourself. Show that you care. The government should be ashamed. In fact, I’d like to see them go see the Wizard of Oz, to get a heart and a brain,” added Frosberg.
ChiefCalf, the Saskatoon Westview MLA, said volunteers like Frosberg’s group should not have to fill gaps left by the provincial government, and providing food, water and basic necessities is ultimately the ruling government’s responsibility. She added that poverty and homelessness reached unprecedented levels in the two decades the Saskatchewan Party has been in government.
She criticized the provincial government for failing to improve housing affordability, expand mental health and addictions services, and increase emergency shelter and supportive housing capacity, citing the latest point-in-time homelessness count, which found 1,931 people experiencing homelessness in Saskatoon, up from 550 three years earlier, a number which could be even higher.
“We’ve met with the sub-committee on homelessness with the city a couple weeks ago, and one of the new strategies that they're bringing into play is to have a peacekeeper come to help with the encampment issue. So, that it is not just the firefighters who are responsible. They are bringing an all-hands-on deck with other municipal resources and players coming into play as well,” she added.
While commending community volunteers for stepping up to help their neighbours, ChiefCalf said their generosity should not be mistaken for a government strategy. She called on the provincial government to treat homelessness and poverty as an urgent crisis by taking meaningful action on housing and social supports rather than relying on volunteer efforts to meet essential needs.
Programs addressing issues
Social Services Minister Terry Jenson said that, based on the programs their ministry has been supporting, there have been positive changes and cited the Emergency Wellness Centre being run by the Saskatoon Tribal Council in Fairhaven, where he had the chance to speak to some of the frontline workers in the facility.
“They were very excited because they were able to get some individuals housed that had been, you know, at the shelter for some time. They're also working really hard to get people into treatment spaces. We monitor these outcomes. We monitor usage and make the best choices based on information collected by our service providers,” added Jenson.
He said that it is not only the Social Services Ministry that is addressing the issues, especially homelessness, and that it has been treating them with a multi-agency approach in partnership with shelters, mental health, and addictions, focusing on treatment space issues, especially the complex needs facility in Saskatoon.
“It has shown very good results, and there's another one being built in [Prince Albert] as we speak. So we work with other ministries, the Ministry of Health, as an example, and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. But we also work with our Indigenous partners, non-profit or community-based service delivery organizations like the Mustard Seed and the Salvation Army,” said Jenson.
“We also convene regularly, and I'm in touch with all of our service providers on a regular basis to understand what they are seeing. Things are evolving; the drugs are getting different; they're not the same drugs. We saw that even three years ago. What we're doing is gathering information so we can make the best possible decisions while also working with the federal government on the housing piece.”
