The Emergency Wellness Centre on Fairmont Drive will no longer be accepting people with complex needs as of October 1st. Tribal Chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council, Mark Arcand, explains that the EWC is home to 106 people with the focus on wellness for those wanting and accepting help, but about 30 per cent of the people at the facility are dealing with serious addictions and mental health issues and they aren’t ready to. They need a higher level of care with medical staff, which the EWC doesn’t have, so Arcand says they have made the decision not to allow them to stay.

The Saskatoon Police Service and the Fire Department are aware of what’s happening. Superintendent in charge of Patrol, Darren Pringle, believes the change will likely mean a higher work load for police and fire, but he understands why the STC is doing this. He says, “There are facilities with beds for those with complex needs but we need more.”

Tribal Chief Arcand says, “This is about safety and wellness for all. We need facilities for these individuals with proper funding but removing them away from families and those individuals that want help is the step that needs to be taken.” He wants the community to step up, work together and figure it out. He urges the community to rally together, including the City of Saskatoon, organizations and the province to figure out what comes next, and he adds that facilities should be in north, south and east Saskatoon, because the west side has stepped up enough.

Since the Emergency Wellness Centre opened in December of 2021, 68 families have been housed, 43 individuals, 32 units at the transitional care housing called Kotawan 1 (formerly Monarch Yards) are now occupied by families who were formerly at the EWC, and there are currently five families with 12 children in total staying at the Wellness Centre.