SASKATOON — Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand said putting up a fence at the soon-to-be-opened emergency shelter downtown is a step backward and not part of the healing process as the country prepares to commemorate the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Monday, Sept. 30.
Arcand was reacting to the City Council’s approval on Wednesday, Sept. 25, of pushing forward with the planned emergency residential shelter that will be operated by Calgary-based The Mustard Seed with the program funded by the provincial government, including $250,000 for renovation. The provincial government will also provide operational funding for the shelter.
He said he was disappointed when he heard the news that the City Council did not consider the concerns of the public, especially those who operate and own establishments near the facility — the former Saskatchewan Transportation Company office at 210 Pacific Avenue, which includes a dance studio and several counselling clinics.
“Honestly, I’m quite disappointed in the City Council for approving this facility. I don't think they consider the impacts of what will happen. When I think about the dance studio and all these opportunities, I have to say that more shelters are needed. However, we don't consider those and do what's best for people. People will say, ‘We need the beds.’ Yes, I understand that, and I support that piece, but they have to have better locations. That's just totally unacceptable to me,” Arcand told SaskToday.ca.
He added that putting up a fence around the facility will also not help with downtown's image. At the same time, it will not give hope and build trust to those who will be housed in the facility, which can have walk-in access on Ontario Avenue as the entrance on Pacific will be closed off.
“When they're talking about caging people up with six to eight feet fencing, it's just not acceptable to me. We had a discussion today [Thursday, Sept 26], and our people are disappointed. It's not reconciliation. They don’t take the opinion of myself as Tribal Chief to provide some support and advocacy on behalf of our people. So, to me, that's not reconciliation. That's more of a dictatorship,” said Arcand.
“Having a six- to eight-foot fence will not build trust for our relatives and will not give them hope. We don’t need that facility to look like a jail to keep people in and out. The best way to do this is to have hope for people and trust them. It will look bad downtown to have this facility with a chain-link fence around it. When I think about Sept. 30 coming up, the harm done to First Nations people, and it will be our people who will use the services, this is not a way to build trust and hope for our people.”
Arcand called the facility a jail setting, and he views the move as paternalistic and colonial way, which brought harm to First Nations Peoples in the past instead of showing care, love, support, empathy and trust, and not just locking people up.
“There's only one location. It's not going to meet the needs of people. I'm disappointed in this decision, and I'm appalled at the City Council that they don't want to listen to the voices of the First Nations people who will be using these facilities. Our people will get blamed because they're hanging out and doing all this stuff, and I'm just not in favour of that,” said Arcand.
“We're talking about a six- to eight-foot fence. That's more like an institution style, and I'm not in favor of that. It doesn't sound like that's a positive solution for people, especially when the psychologists said that could potentially affect their patients as well that are coming for service. To me, it's just bad decision-making.”
He did not hold back in calling out the City Council for their decision, especially since almost half of the members chose not to run for re-election in November. He added that they should have left the issue to the next administration to decide.
“I'm not too pleased with City Council and I'm really disappointed. There's six of them that are actually not returning, and now they're not going to deal with the consequences because they're not running in the election and that's very inappropriate. They should have left this decision to the other people.
Mayor Charlie Clark has announced he will not seek another term as the city’s chief executive with Councillors Hillary Gough (Ward 2), David Kirton (Ward 3), Mairin Loewen (Ward 7), and Serene Gersher (Ward 8) also skipping their re-election bids. Ward 6 Councillor Cynthia Block is running for mayor against Dan Atchison, Cary Tarasoff and Gord Wyant.
The incumbent city council members who may seek another term are Darren Hill (Ward 1), Troy Davies (Ward 4), Randy Donauer (Ward 5), Bev Dubois (Ward 9), and Zach Jeffries (Ward 10).
Arcand again called on the provincial government to redirect funds to help warm up shelters, which are not receiving proper funding.
“This is what I told Mustard Seed, that they're bailing out the province right now through their charitable organization because the funding that they receive for this facility is about $100,000 a month for a 30-bed facility. So, the province is not being held accountable for proper funding for shelters, and that's an issue because now a lot of our shelters, [the STC’s emergency wellness centre] and Salvation Army’s, we don't have the funding to include that in our block funding that we receive currently. It's problematic, and the government shouldn't be getting involved. They should have the responsibility of funding these facilities [shelters] properly for the safety of all residents and the relatives that are using these shelters.”
