Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) Chief Mark Arcand says he has concerns about the plans for a new shelter in the city’s downtown.
Arcand said the Mustard Seed representative was not able to answer his question about how much money the province will pay it to operate the facility.
“There was not transparency and there was no accountability from Mustard Seed to say, ‘This is what we get, this is what we’re doing,’ ” he said.
Arcand said The Mustard Seed’s executive director called him Tuesday night and he had to educate them on working with First Nations people in the city and province. The Mustard Seed does not have the STC’s or Salvation Army’s experience working with First Nations people, he said.
“When I see a Christian organization coming in to take care of the First Nations people again, I have a problem with that.”
Arcand said the Mustard Seed representative told him the shelter will have one staff member for every 10 clients, while the STC Wellness Centre in Fairhaven currently has a ratio of one staff member for every 14 clients.
He said the ideal ratio for staffing such facilities is one staff member for every five clients, which points to a larger issue when it comes to provincial funding of shelters.
“We have problems because we’re underfunded through staffing-wise, through food costs, through all the programs and services that we do.”
In an emailed statement, the Ministry of Social Services said shelter facilities are funded based on the services they offer.
“All shelters in the province receive consistent funding based on the type of shelter services they provide. Funding for both the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s Emergency Wellness Centre and the proposed, temporary emergency shelter operated by Mustard Seed provide for enhanced spaces,” the statement said.
The decision to go with The Mustard Seed as the shelter operator was made after an open bidding process, it added.
“The Government of Saskatchewan chose Mustard Seed as the successful proponent to deliver up to 60 enhanced emergency shelter spaces in Saskatoon through a public Request for Proposals process as part of the Provincial Approach to Homelessness,” the statement said.
“A lot of those kids, those patients, those clients, whatever you want to call them, are Indigenous kids from all over Saskatchewan,” he said.
He reiterated his call for the city to pause the current process and instead consider developing warm-up shelters. He said the city should have had a plan in place for such facilities at the start of September.
“None of that (planning) has happened.”
Penny Babbings, a resident of the Rumely Building near the proposed location of the new shelter, told media she also attended a recent information session held by the city and did not feel residents’ concerns were being heard.
“It was not to consult with us, it was to inform us that in a week’s time this was happening,” she said.
The decision to put the shelter at the vacated bus station downtown is a mistake and would simply ‘dilute’ the current homelessness issue rather than fix it, she said.
Babbings said she has seen items being moved into the building already.
“It hasn’t been approved. Why are we moving stuff in already?”
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