Saskatoon’s Mayor spoke with a sense of urgency Wednesday afternoon about the city’s more vulnerable population falling through the cracks without more support from the province.
Charlie Clark has heard from front line agencies that people are showing up with symptoms that could be from COVID-19, and they are being told to call the HealthLine and get a referral from a doctor, which isn’t very realistic for a homeless person.
A group of Saskatoon’s community leaders sent a letter to the Premier earlier this week to impress upon him the need for immediate action.
That would include a testing facility, more block funding for shelters rather than paying on a per diem basis, streamline processes to get people what they need, and help for First Nations and Metis organizations, who aren’t able to access what they need because of inter-jurisdictional challenges between the federal and provincial governments.
The Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership told Clark that there is also an increased need because of layoffs, meaning more people are asking for help.
Clark says this emergency doesn’t just affect Saskatoon’s more vulnerable people, it affects everyone, because without immediate response, the health system will become overrun.
He adds that Saskatchewan’s response pales in comparison to Alberta which has promised $30-million in funding to homeless and emergency shelters.