Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block looks to challenges ahead in 2025

It’s been a whirlwind year for new Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block, going from long-time city councillor, to decisively winning the civic election as the city’s first female mayor.

Fewer than two months since the Nov. 13 vote, Block said she’s ready to tackle the challenges facing the city, including public safety, tax increases, maintaining roads and snow clearing, and her top priority — homelessness.

“I feel excited and energized to do this work. I love my job. It’s not an easy job, but I didn’t expect that,” she said.

“I walked in here (Mayor’s office) the day after the election and of course there was already a mayor sitting in this chair, but I got some good advice and talked to the chief of staff and talked to the city manager and it just has seemed really effortless in terms of process because I’m already familiar with every file that we’re doing.”

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Block made the jump from councillor to the mayor’s office because she felt “the responsibility” to do so.

Now, she’s working on carving out her own space, rather than sharing the legacy of the previous administration.

“I felt that I was being put into a box by several different factions, but I think this: That I make decisions based on the evidence and data. I want to listen to all sides. I want to understand them,” she said.

Some of the successes she counts as a councillor and mayor in 2024 include council’s vote to support the Housing Accelerator Fund, securing a Downtown Event and Entertainment District (DEED) funding plan, continuing on the Bus Rapit Transit (BRT) plan, and putting more money into snow clearing and road maintenance.

But Block said the biggest issue over the past year has been the city’s rapidly growing homelessness crisis. According to the latest Point in Time Count, there are now just shy of 1,500 people with no home. That’s nearly triple the number from 2022, when the last count was completed.

“Whether it’s supportive housing, transitional housing, being able to have attainable housing; that has been the focus of this past year, more than anything. And, of course, not being able to achieve that presents all of other problems in terms of social behaviours, we’re attracting gangs and others when we don’t make sure people are safely housed

“The evidence and data are very clear: when people are safely housed, community safety goes up for everyone. When people aren’t vulnerable, that criminal intent doesn’t find their customers, and I think that’s a really big piece that people don’t always fully understand,” she added.

Going into 2025, that will remain Block’s focus.

“I can tell you that the mayor’s office will be steely focused on homelessness. This is foundational to our way forward, and the council that has been elected seems pretty unified that that is the single biggest issue that we face and there’s a lot of determination to find solutions.”

But she recognizes that it also has to be a partnership with the federal and provincial governments. Both of those relationships are evolving. She’s happy to have secured nearly $4.5 million from the federal government for an encampment response plan.

“I’m very happy we were able to secure that money and (am) also looking forward to working in partnership with Saskatoon Tribal Council, Metis Nation, CUMFI, and a whole host of others as we try to find a good path forward, ” she said.

As 2024 winds to a close, Block has a message for Saskatonians who she said have been through a lot over the last year.

“I think I’m asking us to remember who we are as a city, people that look after each other and people that don’t give up. People that will have the vision and the courage and the bravery — and all of the things that I know Saskatonians are about — to look at the issues we face with a new lens. With a determination, and a steely resolve to make this better,” she said.

Read more:

• Rental Housing Sask. approves of SCAN officers, wants implementation
• Chief of Saskatchewan Marshals Service ‘excited’ for early launch