Winter has settled into Saskatchewan and encampments have been popping up more frequently as people without homes try to stay warm.
Records sent to CBC News by the Saskatoon Fire Department show there have been 200 more encampments catalogued in the city in 2024 compared to this time last year.
Meanwhile, advocates are calling for action to get people off the streets.
St. Mary’s Parish in Saskatoon opened the doors to its men-only warming centre last week, one week earlier than anticipated, in an effort to keep people warm.
“We’ll see how the winter goes and whether this is a good solution for this year, or if more was needed,” Gordon Taylor, the executive director of Salvation Army Crossroads, said.
The Salvation Army operates the overnight warming centre in the church’s basement. Taylor said on average about 120 people per night would seek warmth in the space last year — more on colder nights.
An encampment on 20th Street, right across the street from St. Mary’s, was taken down last week. The camp’s leader told CBC that some people sought shelter at St. Mary’s in the aftermath.
Data from the Saskatoon fire department suggests that homelessness is on the rise in that city. As of this time in 2023, there had been 42 working fires at encampments reported in Saskatoon. This year that number has risen to 47.
Not only have there been many more encampments recorded so far this year, the number of inadequately housed people in Saskatoon has risen by more than 600 people compared to this time last year.
The Regina Fire Department did not provide statistics from last year for comparison.
Meeting people where they are at
The Regina Fire Department confirmed Friday that 12 encampments were currently active in Regina.
There have been four large encampments reported in the city, with many smaller camps scattered across the city, according to the Regina Street Team, which works face-to-face with the people living in the encampments. The team confirmed that the majority are in the North Central neighbourhood.
The street team works with the people living on the streets to find solutions.
“What we try and do is build some trust and rapport with the people who are staying in the encampments, try to address their immediate needs,” Jason Knudsen, outreach program manager with the Regina Street Team, said. “Whether it be food, water, warmth, shelter, getting connected with the ministry so they can get their benefit entitlements in place.”
He said the team believes in meeting people where they are at and working to understand how they got in their current situation, instead of demanding they leave.
“We can’t expect people to be making high-level decisions when they’re starving or they’re not sheltered,” Knudsen said. “First, you have to address those immediate basic needs that all human beings share, then perhaps you can start having a conversation at a bit of a higher level and try to figure out some kind of a long-term plan.”
Finding solutions
One of the ideas that has gained some traction in the province is replacing encampments with teepees, which are culturally relevant to many of the people without homes and also more fire-safe.
“I know that it’s not a permanent solution, but there are folks who they’ve been so hurt by the system that they’re not ready to trust that again, and I know that a teepee is a much better, much safer way to shelter and stay warm,” Knudsen said.
Saskatoon does not have an equivalent to Regina’s Street Team. Encampments in Saskatoon are mostly handled by the city’s fire department. It said its first step when dealing with an encampment is to provide support and at least 24 hours for people to secure another place to go, before removing the structures.
An encampment that sprung up Saturday as a site to hold a ceremonial smudging was still up almost a week later. New Mayor Cynthia Block visited the encampment Friday with an elder and came to an agreement with David Fineday, the organizer of the site, to have it taken down.
Those initial supports can include connecting people to shelters, financial support, social services, housing co-ordinators and reliable sources of food.
The fire department said its main goal is to ensure people are not freezing to death outside.
“Last week we did identify one individual that was sitting on a sidewalk wrapped up in a blanket,” Ryan Bradley, fire marshal for the Saskatoon Fire Department, said. “When we engaged in a conversation, it was very quickly recognized that that individual was very cold, so we did our best to make sure that we provided them some warmth right away.”
The department said there are often concerns about unsafe conditions in encampments.
“There’s a spread of infectious diseases, there is a predatory type of behaviour happening in these encampments, and that’s everything from assaults of all types, human trafficking, exploitation, to the drug trade and increased drug use,” Bradley said.
People living on the street and engaging in active addiction can find it harder to access shelters, according to the Possibilities Recovery Centre in Saskatoon.
The centre argues it could be impossible for people to recover from an addiction before finding housing and that being appropriately sheltered should be the first step.
“That’s kind of a double-edged sword, that they need safe, stable housing in order to step into recovery from addiction, but at the same time, they won’t take them into housing if they’re in active addiction,” Tanner Perratt, the centre’s executive director, said.
Social Services say they are providing resources
In a statement to CBC News, Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Social Services said it is working to connect people in need to emergency shelters, detox services, supportive housing and mental health services.
The ministry said it is in contact with front-line organizations in major cities providing assistance when possible.
The ministry also highlighted its Income Assistance Mobile Outreach Service, which works in more than 30 community-based organizations across the province to provide hands-on support for people with complex challenges.
“Mobile income assistance workers take in-person applications for new clients, assist with obtaining necessary documentation, complete service level screenings, provide appropriate referrals to other programs and agencies and assist with finding secure stabilized housing,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it has also provided funding to major cities for emergency winter response plans, which include overnight warming centres.
Looking ahead
The Regina Street team said it would like to see more compassion.
“Most of the people we serve are really kind, caring people who have fallen into some unfortunate circumstance,” Knudsen said.
He said the true solution is to introduce more smaller-scale, low-barrier shelters in the province.
“There are some low-barrier shelters, but there are truly no no-barrier shelters,” Knudsen said. “With the stress and trauma of not knowing where you’re going to stay, it’s pretty hard to manage those behaviours.”
Warming centre locations
People needing a place to seek shelter overnight in Saskatoon or Regina have a few options.
In Saskatoon:
- St. Mary’s (Operated by Salvation Army) at 211 Ave. O South is open every day from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. CST (Men only, 18+).
- Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre on Wall Street is open every day from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. CST (Women only, 18+).
In Regina:
- All Nations Hope Network and Awasiw at 3115 Fifth Ave. is open every night from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. CST.
- Carmichael Outreach at 1510 12th Ave. is open every night from 7:15 p.m. to 6:45 a.m CST.
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