Saskatoon’s Mayor says adequate housing is the key to solving the city’s current overdose and homelessness crisis.
So far this year, the Saskatoon Fire Department has responded to 741 overdose calls, up from 291 in the same period of 2024. At the overdose event’s peak, the Saskatoon Fire Department was responding to an average of 19 calls per day, and the Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service says nine of the overdoses from March resulted in death.
The added burden on city amenities and resources has prompted the temporary closure of Prairie Harm Reduction, as well as two of Saskatoon’s public library locations: Frances Morrison Central and Dr. Freda Ahenakew.
Meanwhile, the spring weather means the city’s warm-up shelters are closing for the season shortly. Mayor Cynthia Block says to ensure these people have a place to go, City Council has approved 756 new affordable housing units in the last six months, 70 per cent of which will offer wrap around supports.
“This is going to take time; eighteen months probably, at a minimum. Some of it will be coming on stream this summer. The first phase of the Heart Row project by Camponi will be coming onstream. However, it takes longer to build housing. That’s why we do need some things in the meantime,” she explains.
To provide some of those short-term measures, the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre was activated on March 12th. Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency President Marlo Pritchard says the virtual centre allows all organizations involved to easily share data and let each other know what resources they require.
“Those representatives include the City of Saskatoon, Saskatoon Fire Department, Saskatoon Police Service, Medavie Health Services, the Ministry of Health, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Saskatchewan Coroners Service, the Ministry of Social Services, the Marshal Service, RCMP and of course SPSA.”
The PEOC has been distributing additional naloxone kits throughout the community, expanding overdose outreach teams, and most recently has added four temporary paramedics to the Saskatoon Fire Department.
Pritchard says these measures seem to have made an impact.
“In recent days, the emergency responders are reporting a reduction in calls for service in Saskatoon. The local fire department paramedics are currently seeing an average of 10 calls per day, so it’s coming down somewhat, but this is still well above the call volume for the 2024 average.”
When it comes to getting these illicit drugs off the streets, the Saskatoon Police Service investigation that spurred after the uptick in overdoses has resulted in 25 arrests so far.
Inspector Erin Coates with the SPS says the investigation is still ongoing, and it is tough to say where these drugs are coming from.
