Arcand says wellness centre will ban people abusing drugs, breaking rules

The head of Saskatoon’s Emergency Wellness Centre is putting his foot down when it comes to those abusing drugs and not following the rules.

Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand said the centre is going to be handing out lengthy bans and pushing people away if they don’t want to follow the rules.

The new measures start Sunday.

“We’ve had this issue since the day we started,” said Arcand.

“People are constantly using crystal meth and needle injections at our facility. When we had our open houses back in February, we tried to make everyone happy but, unfortunately, we can’t do that.”

STC’s Emergency Wellness Centre. (650 CKOM file photo)

Arcand said his organization has kids and families staying at the facility who are there to get help and deal with issues of their own. He said the extended issues with drug use and rule-breaking have caused problems for what is supposed to be the wellness part of the centre.

“We’ve heard residents from across the city talk about how we aren’t achieving any wellness, so we need to make this decision to really focus on wellness,” Arcand added.

Arcand said he notified both the municipal and provincial governments about his decision at a meeting earlier this month.

He said the people consistently doing drugs and breaking the shelter’s rules haven’t been getting the message, and the tribal council simply doesn’t have the resources to try and help those people.

“We do not have the funding to hire specific individuals to take care of (those with) complex needs. If somebody comes in there and they’re so high and pull out their catheter, we don’t have staff to take care of that. This is a serious situation for our city, and we’ve got to take care of it real quick,” Arcand said.

“We want to serve the people that actually want to change their lives so they can have a quality of life … Sometimes with complex needs – I know it’s hard to say this – but they don’t want to change their lives or they’re too sick to change their lives. We need a facility that can actually help support that.”

Arcand noted that in some instances, people who have been kicked out have returned to the facility and vandalized the property by breaking windows and damaging vehicles in the parking lot.

The chief said he doesn’t have the money to buy a facility to help those people, but noted he’s supportive if the province and city step up to help. Currently, the province funds the 106 beds allotted for the wellness centre and is not dishing out any more money to fund more spaces.

Arcand also said that staff at the centre have been intimidated by some breaking the rules, and some employees are scared to come to work as a result.

Supt. Darren Pringle with the Saskatoon Police Service said Tuesday’s decision means more work for police.

“I think what we’re going to find is our workload is likely going to increase,” Pringle said.

“Complex needs are nothing new for us; the challenge for us has always been, where do people go? If we have more of the folks out in the community, safety is our priority so the challenge is going to be, where do you take these people?”

Pringle said police have a role to play in social issues, but need somewhere to take those struggling with addictions.

“On the policing side we’re part of the solution, but we aren’t the solution,” he noted.

Right now, it’s not known where those evicted from the shelter could go.

“That’s what we’re challenged with every shift,” Pringle stated. “Where do we take these folks?”

Pringle wouldn’t say if the police department supported or opposed the move, but in the early summer police chief Troy Cooper called on the provincial and federal governments to do more when it comes to addressing issues around homelessness and addictions.