Temporary shelter by Saskatoon Tribal Council says it's already saved a life

SASKATOON -

The temporary emergency wellness shelter in downtown Saskatoon has already saved a life, according to Chief Mark Arcand. 

“We've had one overdose,” he said. “The individual was given Narcan, an ambulance was called, [they were] taken to the hospital, he was released and within a couple hours and then back here at the shelter.”

“The good thing about this is we say, somebody like yesterday inside of our shelter that could have potentially been overdosing outside in the freezing cold, right? So we look at this as a positive situation.”

Arcand says the shelter, which has a capacity of 50 beds, is already slightly over-capacity—around 54 to 55 people.

“We're trying to figure out if they're coming from other shelters or if these are new people, but it doesn't matter to us,” he said. “It's about helping people and that's the bottom line here.”

The shelter will be paying $10 a month to lease the city-owned building,

At this point Arcand, says it is not seeking funding, even turning down an offer from the province for giving people at the shelter a per diem of $50 a night and $20 for lunch.

“We're not in a big rush,”he said. “We're just gathering all the data and doing that kind of stuff, but there'll be a time when we have that discussion to hopefully continue this process.”

Downtown YXE executive director Brent Penner says the STC is the right organization to lead the project, but has concern over the downtown location.

“The issues, I realize, run deep and they are difficult to to solve, and that's perhaps why we're in the situation we are, but I think what we need to do is admit that this isn't the best case for anybody,” Penner told CTV News.

“Some of them are perceptions with respect to safety, some of them are the fact that I don't think it's healthy for anyone when you drive by a business or you drive by the Lighthouse and you see people just sitting outside. I don't think that's positive for the people who are sitting there. I don't think that's positive for someone who's trying to walk from place A to place B. That certainly would be an unintended consequence.”

Arcand says he doesn’t want the shelter downtown either, but there no other options.

“I don't want people leaving and accessing negativity, right? I want to provide services. It's a wellness place,” he said.

“The community has to understand that they go to work with us, if they find us a different place we'll move, but somebody's got to step up. Nobody's stepping up.”

Arcand says the STC first looked at buildings in Sutherland, on 20th Street, and 45th Street, but nobody was willing to lease a facility.

“The City of Saskatoon stepped up,” he said. “Do I want to move right now? I think we've gained some traction. But if there's another organization that wants to give us another facility that's in a better location, we're in. Pick up the phone and call me.”

Penner believes the temporary shelter is just that—temporary, and services for homeless people need to be addressed head on.

“Is it realistic to deliver large scale services at one location for such a myriad of issues?” Penner questioned. “Or is it better to distribute things across a city as large and geographically vast as Saskatoon so those are the right size for people who need the support, and they're the right size for what a neighbourhood can handle.”

Arcand questions why the business community is concerned about the shelter being open in an emergency situation.

“We're trying to help people,” he said. “We want our citizens and our people to be contributing to the city, but we've got to work together. It's not about us versus them in the business community.”

“The business community always says, ‘I want to help, but not my backyard.’ So which backyard? You guys tell us, we'll work with wherever you want to put this place or any place for that matter.”