The Chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council is calling for immediate action to address homelessness in Saskatoon.
A Point-in Time homelessness count was conducted in the city in October.
The shocking results of that count were released on Thursday showing Saskatoon as having 1,500 people experiencing homelessness.
Just under 600 people were counted in 2022 showing a homeless population today two and a half times greater than two years ago.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, STC Chief Mark Arcand called on the city to take action to address the rise in numbers. He says the city needs to divert funding to the issue and come up with an immediate solution.
“This is a serious issue,” said Arcand. “I’m not gonna sit back anymore and allow this to happen. I need the mayor. I need the council, and I need the city staff to listen to the Saskatoon Tribal Council because people are out there are freezing.”
The Tribal Chief also believes that 90 percent of the population experiencing homelessness in the city are Indigenous.
“So I’ve got an invested interest in this about our people being on the street, and we’ve seen what it’s been like in the last month here, a lot of cold spells, a lot of everything, and we have lack of shelters right now for people.”
The City of Saskatoon does have a plan to address homelessness, but Arcand says that plan is two years away and action is needed now. He also says the planned 35 bed shelter is not enough to address the growing issue.
“That facility is not gonna be open till March, and it’s only 35 beds. So what is that? Less than 1% maybe of 1500 people,” said Arcand. “So in my opinion, we need 1500 beds. We need 1500 spaces to accommodate the people that are on the street.”
Arcand says the tribal council is open and willing to help address the issue, however, he says they would need buildings and revenue to properly help out.
In the meantime, the tribal chief will speak on the issue at city council next week.
He also says he plans to bring his concerns and calls for action to the province as well.