'Get a little bit of false hope and end up with nothing': Metis Nation Saskatchewan hosts housing conference

The homeless crisis is front and centre this weekend as hundreds gather in Saskatoon to try and find solutions to the growing problem being seen in all corners of the province.

The goal of the Metis Nation Saskatchewan event is ultimately to leave fewer people out in the cold in Saskatchewan.

For Marie Wolfe, not having a place to live is nothing new.

“I’m sick of walking around, being homeless, with very few resources to find a home. I’d find a home and things wouldn’t work out so I’d be back on the street again,” Wolfe told CTV News.

She was born in the Peepeekisis Cree Nation but was moved to Shellbrook for foster care when she was a toddler. She moved to Saskatoon when she was 17.

Wolfe says she had employment over the years but bad situations got worse and now she struggles to secure a place to live. She said facing the reality of finding a place to sleep every night was difficult.

“They say we have shelters and warm-up spots. I’d like to know where. Really I do. Because I didn’t find them, and I can read and everything too. And there’s nowhere to go to the washroom,” she says.

Having an accessible washroom is something Wolfe says is a very real issue and something the public doesn’t realize is a very real challenge. She says she doesn’t want to have to resort to going outside in alleys or other places, and she wishes it wasn’t her reality.

Wolfe had a dog and admits that was the reason she was turned away from some shelters in the past. Her dog was taken by the SPCA and put down without her knowledge, which she still has a hard time talking about.

Even now she still finds herself being turned away.

It’s situations like Wolfe’s and a growing number of others that this Metis Nation Saskatchewan event is hoping to address.

“We need to start working on solutions and we don’t always have the solutions. When we can get everyone together and get everyone on the same page, we can come up with some solutions together,” Jason Mercredi, Metis Nation Saskatchewan (MN-S), housing director told CTV News.

This event is the first of its kind and includes 330 delegates representing: service providers, contractors, and individuals with lived experiences, coming together to discuss solutions to the homelessness crisis in Saskatchewan. The conference features a ‘fireside chat’ with Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée – hoping to make a difference for those who face homelessness.

The advocate is a new position formed to help fix the dire situation across Canada.

“It needs to be prioritized because in the end people are dying and that can’t be the line for duty bearers, government to be holding,” Houle told CTV News.

She’s been travelling across the country, assessing the crisis. She’ll return to Saskatchewan in July to meet those experiencing homelessness.

“They’re the ones who are the experts. They’re the ones who have solutions and I want to speak to them, about what they are seeing and where the system is failing them,” she says.

Wolfe says she’d love to share her story to try and improve the situation for her and many others. She also recognizes that people will watch her story and say things like get a job, but she hopes to advocate for all those on the streets who try.

She says without a phone making calls about jobs or housing is a challenge so they make phone calls where they can, but it’s a frustrating process because they often are left feeling like they are getting nowhere.

“You can talk to people every day and get a little bit of false hope and end up with nothing. Back on the street. Walking around at night, wondering what I did wrong. I didn’t do anything wrong,” she says.

Wolfe has found a temporary place living with friends since the beginning of March in Pleasant Hill but is very aware that there’s no guarantee of how long or if it will last.

In an effort to meet some of the area’s more immediate needs, MN–S announced Tuesday morning it will contribute $1.5 million to the NRIII Regional Housing Strategy. In partnership with Sakitawak Development Corporation, the Village of Ile-a-la-Crosse and Metis Local 21, MN-S will construct eight new affordable and accessible housing units in Île-a-la-Crosse.