ACT NOW TO HALT DEATHS
The death outdoors of at least three people each year in the dark of night, be it from freezing, alcohol poisoning or chronic illness, would be a source of great concern for most communities in Saskatchewan, enough to galvanize public officials and politicians to address the problem.
Yet at least 27 homeless people have died exposed to the elements since 2007 in the northern town of La Ronge, with stop-gap efforts to provide emergency shelter falling far short of meeting a growing need, and even that meagre help soon to become non-existent unless senior governments step up to help.
“That’s a lot of people to lose in your community,” understates Jackie Ballantyne, a community worker. “If this was say, a small community down south ... you’d think what the hell is going on, why does this continue?”
She’s an outreach worker for the Scattered Site Outreach Program that cobbled together money to operate a bare bones shelter for five nights this winter before it managed to land a small federal grant to run it seven nights a week till this spring. However, that $80,000 grant, which, among other things bought 10 lounge chairs for clients to sleep in this winter in a dilapidated building whose door at times needed to be pried open with a crowbar, has run out as of tonight.
As a Weekend feature in today’s Leader-Post by reporter Andrea Hill explains, a big part of the challenge in building a permanent 24-hour shelter in La Ronge is jurisdictional. The town, under provincial jurisdiction, abuts the Lac La Ronge First Nation, for which responsibility rests with the federal government.
While those who work to help people ravaged by poverty, lack of jobs, inadequate mental health and addictions services and a dearth of social housing — many of the needy are transients who end up homeless in northern Saskatchewan’s largest town — say the municipal, provincial and federal governments need to work in concert if a proper shelter is to become a reality, but chances of that happening seem remote.
While some help may be forthcoming from the federal Liberal government’s $58-million budget pledge to tackle homelessness, the town council is pointing to its tight budget and limited capacity and the province is content to identify it as mostly a federal problem, limiting itself to providing emergency shelter for one night at a local hotel in dire cases.
When people are dying without proper shelter, surely the smarter — and in the long run, cheaper — alternative is for all governments to get together to co-ordinate their efforts and spending to mitigate the problem rather than point fingers.