As of 5:00 Thursday afternoon, Prairie Harm Reduction has announced that it is ceasing all operations.
Later this year would have marked the organization’s 40th year of service, and sixth year operating under its current name.
Vice Chair of PHR’s Board of Directors Brady Knight cites a lack of funds as the reason for closure.
“It’s a combination of a number of factors. That includes both the initial financial shortfall generally in the organization and the Ministry of Social Services and the Ministry of Health’s decisions to terminate their contracts meant there was no funding for those contracts going forward.” Knight says the contracts were worth several million dollars combined.
This lack of funds will see a shuttering of the drop-in centre, support services, the supervised consumption site, and two youth homes.
“The youth that were in our care are currently being cared for by the Ministry of Social Services. They will have a roof over their head tonight and going forward.”
The downfall was a quick one, as Knight days PHR tabled a surplus at the beginning of last year. He explains that a forensic audit would reveal the details, but conducting one isn’t feasible.
Knight says Prairie Harm provides a unique array of services to Saskatoon’s most vulnerable people, including a drug testing facility, a safe consumption site, and free Naloxone kits. He says the Ministry and other community partners will be responsible for filling the service gap left by PHR’s absence, but he is unsure if other partners are equipped to do so.
“I don’t know that there’s another organization in Saskatoon that’s equipped to fully absorb the entirety of what PHR provided. I think we were a very unique service provider.”
PHR was the city’s only supervised consumption and drug testing site.
Between 400 and 500 families used PHR’s case planning services, and hundreds more accessed the drop-in centre each day. He adds that upwards of 120 staff members will be out of a job, and hundreds of vulnerable Saskatoon citizens will be left hanging in the balance.
