Saskatoon drug crisis like 'nothing we've ever seen before' puts lives at risk daily: Prairie Harm Reduction
The alarm bells in Saskatoon haven't stopped ringing, as the city continues to grapple with a drug overdose crisis that's jeopardizing lives every day.
On Tuesday, the Saskatoon Fire Department reported that it has responded to 935 overdose incidents or suspected opioid poisonings since the start of this year.
The department responded to 376 incidents over the same time period last year — less than half of what's been reported this year.
Halfway through April, this year's numbers are already approaching the total of 1,282 calls in all of 2024.
The fire department cautions that the number of people getting help might actually be higher, because the numbers do not account for how many patients are involved at each call.
Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction, says the crisis is unprecedented.
"This is nothing we've ever seen before. It doesn't seem to be going away. Things have plateaued, which doesn't mean they're getting better."
Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction, says the crisis is unprecedented. (CBC)
Prairie Harm Reduction — Saskatoon's only supervised consumption site — tests drugs for composition and toxicity, and the city has been "completely saturated" by a toxic drug supply, said DeMong.
Last month, the site temporarily paused its operations to give its staff a chance to recover from the trauma of dealing with the overdose crisis head-on. The centre has reopened, but DeMong says the need for help continues.
"We were seeing days where all the staff did was revive people their whole shifts, and days where it was four people at a time, six people at a time," she said.
This month, the fire department said it had responded to 119 overdose incidents or suspected opioid poisonings as of Tuesday, more than double the 53 calls in April 2024.
During a period of just over two weeks last month, the department responded to one overdose call in the city every hour, on average.
According to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, there were 16 confirmed and 76 suspected drug toxicity deaths in the province in the first three months of this year, including seven in Saskatoon.
'So many people dying': advocate
David Fineday, an advocate for homeless people who is originally from Sweetgrass First Nation, leads smudging and drum circles in Saskatoon.
He says the people he helps have complex needs. The majority are Indigenous and many are living with trauma, including survivors of residential schools and the Sixties Scoop.
"It really upsets me for people to just ignore stuff like that when there's so many people dying," he said.
"I know eventually everybody has to go, but not like the way that they're letting them go. Overdoses, freezing — that doesn't have to happen in 2025."
David Fineday, a front-line worker advocating for people experiencing homelessness, says more social services and housing are desperately needed to get people off the streets and into recovery. (Chanss Langaden/CBC)
Last month, Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block pointed to a long-term solution: housing. City council has approved 256 affordable housing units in the past six months, about 70 per cent of which have wraparound supports, she said.
Council has also approved a study for a navigational hub, meant to be a one-stop shop to help people experiencing homelessness with services, said Block.
On March 12, the Saskatchewan government said it would activate its provincial emergency operations centre, led by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, in response to what it termed the "toxic drug crisis" in Saskatoon.
The province has also promised additional first responder staff and naloxone kits, but front-line workers say more social services and housing are desperately needed to get people off the streets and into recovery.Earlier this week, the provincial government introduced legislation that would see fentanyl, methamphetamine and hypodermic needles categorized as street weapons.
Amendments to The Safe Public Spaces Act are expected to be passed in the legislature this spring and come into force during the summer, according to a news release by the province Tuesday.
Justice Minister Tim McLeod called it a "pivotal step" to ensuring public places are "free from intimidation [and] violence caused by street weapons and illicit drugs."
With drug use spilling into Saskatoon libraries, two branches shut their doors to increase security last month, with a plan to reopen next week with beefed up security.
But DeMong says moving people around or policies categorizing drugs as street weapons will not address sustained underlying problems.
Both she and Fineday say it is key to invest in housing, health care, mental health care, community centres and education.
"Imagine what we could do if we were spending the money on these services that are preventative and can intervene in what we're seeing," said DeMong.
"All the money we would have — to put into other things rather than overspending on ineffective policies and discriminatory practices that are further criminalizing people in our province."
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