The CEO of the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce says with a few updates and renovations the building on Fairmont Drive will be far more conducive to serve the complex needs of those who use the Saskatoon Tribal Council Wellness Centre.

The Emergency Wellness Centre Open House takes place today and tomorrow (Weds-Thurs) at the new building at 415 Fairmont Drive in Saskatoon.

Chamber CEO Jason Aebig says one of the significant advantages of the building on Fairmont Drive is its outdoor space.

Aebig says people who use those facilities, without appropriate outdoor space, are turned to the street for huge portions of the day.

“And have nowhere to go outside of malls or other indoor spaces until they can come back to the shelter for the evening. So, we had always stipulated that any future shelter facilities should provide 75 to 100 square feet of outdoor space for every user of the facility.”

He says that is the same benchmark used for daycare centres and long-term care facilities.

The Saskatoon Tribal Council received approval to use a building on 1st Avenue in downtown Saskatoon last year as a temporary Emergency Wellness Centre. Aebig says in light of the volume of people on 1st Avenue at the temporary shelter, it had become challenging to manage.

Aebig says it is to the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s good credit that they did an incredible job with a space and a location that was never designed to provide services and programs such as those being offered by the Wellness Centre.