SASKATOON — Frustration and disappointment could be seen on Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand’s face when he addressed the negative issues being hurled against the Emergency Wellness Facility in the Fairhaven neighbourhood.
STC moved its wellness centre facility from downtown to Fairmont Drive, but before beginning its operations, Arcand held four open houses to hear and address the area residents’ concerns. The new facility is located within the Fairhaven community.
Arcand met with members of the local media on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the STC office to answer the concerns and other allegations that the facility will increase criminal activity in the neighbourhood of Fairhaven.
“I’m going to contradict some of the stories that have been coming out from Fairhaven regarding certain individuals, specifically a pastor,” said Arcand after Fairmont Baptist Pastor Robert Pearce raised some issues within the vicinity of their church.
“This pastor is frustrating me in Fairhaven because he runs a church and if we look at our churches in the city, our province and the country, they are probably one of the wealthiest organizations in wherever we are.”
Pearce told CKOM that minor offences — like dumping garbage in their bin, leaving shopping carts, urinating and defecating — and vandalism allegedly increased since the wellness centre moved within their neighbourhood.
Arcand said he knows the intentions of some of the residents in Fairhaven are reasonable, and their concerns are for the entire community.
“What I think, in my view, [are] good concerns. But they’re not doing anything to support what we’re doing. I hear when they say there are feces; how do they know that’s [from] a relative? Did they go out and [ask], ‘do you stay at the EWC?’ or are they being judgemental,” said Arcand.
“It that’s human feces; you tell me people that stay in our wellness centre that have a nice warm bathroom to use are going to give that up and go to that church and use it as a washroom there. That does not make any sense. Other people need help because we are full; who is opening their door to let them use the washroom?”
He added that Pastor Pearce was among the more than 900 Fairhaven community residents who attended one of the four open houses they hosted before the wellness opened in December.
“We told them what we were going to do. We were very open and transparent. Now he’s [Pearce] coming and saying, ‘this is not home.’ How does he know that? He never came back to the shelter and talked to the manager and see what was going on,” said Arcand.
“There’s a perception here that he needs to talk to me instead of going to the media and saying things that could be true. I’m not sure who is going in his garbage; we don’t know. We’ve got to focus on helping people and all that other stuff.”
Arcand also presented statistics from the Saskatoon Police Service showing that in the last four months before opening the doors of the wellness centre in December, there were more than 500 calls to SPS, with 264 due to social disorder (suspicious or intoxicated persons, disturbances, needing an ambulance and mental health issues) compared with 155 calls and 87 social disorder reports in the first month of their operations.
“I’m frustrated that we have to call this press conference to confirm what we’re doing. People are talking about the 7-11 [Pendygrass Road], [our EWC] manager reached out and talked to them. She asked how it had been at your store. They said it has been good, [they] had more people [in the store]. No crime, nothing,” said Arcand.
“People from the wellness centre are going there and spending money just like any other normal person when they have money. They are not stealing or robbing. There was a robbery there last Saturday and we got blamed for it. It is not all Fairhaven residents, only a select few. But they are adding fuel to the fire by spreading gossip, not truths. I’m tired of that.”
He added that the wellness centre was being blamed for the robbery that took place in 7-11 when it was a non-Indigenous person who committed the crime and then fled the scene and was caught by police in the parking lot of their facility.
