Opposition says system failing kids in care
SASKATOON Saskatchewan’s NDP Opposition and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) want the government to take action to address the number of Indigenous children in provincial care.
NDP Leader Ryan Meili was joined by NDP social services critic Nicole Rancourt and FSIN Vicechief David Pratt for an online news conference on Friday to call attention to the latest numbers on children in care.
Numbers from the Ministry of Social Services show 3,362 children were in care at the end of March, compared to 2,981 five years earlier. The NDP says 86 per cent of those children are Indigenous.
The Opposition called on the Saskatchewan Party government to implement a strategy to reduce poverty and to address addiction and mental illness. Meili said one in four children in the province was living in poverty before the COVID -19 pandemic hit.
“We know that this is a system that is not working,” Rancourt said. “We need a system that is family-centred.”
The numbers include children in foster care, in the care of the ministry and children whose care has been transferred to a First Nations Child and Family Services agency.
Meili said the province needs to turn over care services for Indigenous children to Indigenous organizations.
“It has to be led by First Nations or it’s not going to work,” Pratt said.
Ministry spokesperson Andrew Dinsmore said in an email that the number of children remaining at home and receiving support has increased 20 per cent over last year and exceeds the number in care.
About 60 per cent of children in placements outside the home are living with extended family, he added. The government partners with First Nations Child and Family Services agencies to provide care for vulnerable children, Dinsmore said.
MAY JOBS NUMBERS
The provincial government and the NDP issued news releases on Friday offering starkly different interpretations of May job numbers from Statistics Canada.
The government sent a release touting Saskatchewan as being in a “strong position” compared to the rest of Canada, pointing to a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 12.5 per cent, the second lowest among the provinces. The national rate in May was 13.7 per cent.
The NDP countered that the 600 jobs added in May compared to April (seasonally adjusted) represented the second-worst growth in Canada at 0.1 per cent. The NDP called the recovery in Saskatchewan “among the weakest.”
Saskatchewan experienced the lowest drop in employment among all the provinces from February to April at 12.7 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
The province announced Friday that the minimum wage will increase to $11.45 an hour on Oct. 1. The government said this will be the 12th increase since the Sask. Party took power in 2007. The increased minimum wage will still be the lowest in Canada.
ONE NEW CASE
The province announced a single new case of COVID-19 on Friday, located in the far north region, bringing the total cases to 649. Three more recoveries dropped the number of active cases to 27.
Active cases in the far north dipped to 17, and only one person diagnosed with COVID-19 remained in hospital in intensive care in Saskatoon.
Only five new cases have been reported over the past six days.
The low case numbers bring good news as most of the province enters Phase 3 of Saskatchewan’s reopening plan on Monday. Restaurants, bars and fitness facilities can open under capacity caps in Phase 3. In northwest Saskatchewan, which includes the northern village of La Loche, the first two phases of the reopening plan are set to begin Monday.
EVICTION PROTECTION
Saskatchewan small businesses got some protection from the fiscal ravages of the pandemic on Friday as the province announced a moratorium on evictions.
The eviction ban applies to commercial landlords that are eligible to apply for the federal government’s Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program, but who opt against applying.
The eviction moratorium took effect immediately, according to a news release.
Commercial property owners in Saskatchewan could apply to the federal program last week. The program offers loans of half the total rent, which is forgiven if landlords follow the rules. The landlords must offer tenants a 75 per cent reduction in rent for April, May and June.
The program is designed to help small business with operations that have had to pause due to the pandemic and have lost at least 70 per cent of revenue.