STC eyeing permanent location for wellness centre away from downtown

The Saskatoon Tribal Council is searching for a long-term solution to help address homelessness and addictions in the city.

Since the middle of December, the STC has been operating an emergency wellness centre in downtown Saskatoon on First Avenue North.

Tribal Chief Mark Arcand says the STC is focusing on finding a permanent home for the centre out of the downtown area.

“We are looking at a long-term solution. We’ve found a facility, but it won’t be ready for 10 to 14 months because it’s a complete renovation,” Arcand said Monday.

Arcand says the location is still being negotiated and is located on 20th Street between avenues L and M.

The project would cost up to $5 million, including the purchasing of the land.

As for the present, the STC will need to receive the proper funding from Saskatoon city council to continue operations at its current facility.

Arcand says the centre has made huge leaps over the four-month period and the numbers should speak for themselves.

“Since we opened Dec. 15, we had 95 total calls to the wellness centre in one month. Eighty-four of those calls were social disorder calls. Those are high numbers,” Arcand said. “(From) Jan. 15 to Feb. 15, that was cut in half.”

Arcand says the centre has been at full capacity since opening in December and plenty of people are showing they are ready to make changes.

“We’re seeing a lot of individuals that really want to move forward in regards to getting help,” he said.

The wellness centre operates on a 24-hour basis and provides three meals a day to the people staying there.

“Right now, if you look through our winter, I don’t think I’ve heard of anybody freezing in our city compared to the (years) before,” Arcand said. “(I’m) not saying we solved the problem, but I think we had a big impact in keeping people safe this year.”

Arcand says the one issue the STC has had since opening the centre downtown has come from some of the neighbours in the area.

“One of our neighbours (is) pretty disrespectful,” Arcand said. “They don’t call me. I’ve always had an open invitation to the public to say, ‘Pick up the phone, let’s have a conversation.’

“People (are) calling saying there’s a shopping cart outside, which I think is bogus. It’s going to happen anywhere in our city, so I think those people have to be looking at things differently.”

When asked about the potential to partner up with Prairie Harm Reduction to help treat Saskatoon’s homelessness and addictions issue, Arcand said he just can’t see it happening because he doesn’t “see eye to eye” with that organization.