Every week, volunteers in Saskatoon, like Fran Forsberg, are loading vehicles with food, bottled water and basic necessities before heading downtown to feed people who have nowhere else to turn. Forsberg is regularly joined by other well-meaning people too and has called the initiative Feed The People Saskatoon.
Shadow Minister for Housing April ChiefCalf has joined the group several times, including on Sunday.
"These volunteers should be applauded, but they should never have to shoulder this responsibility," ChiefCalf said during a Monday news conference with Forsberg and Mental Health & Addictions Shadow Minister Leroy Laliberte. "When citizens are organizing weekly food distributions because the Sask. Party has failed to provide the supports people desperately need, it is clear this government has lost sight of its most basic responsibility."
The Sask. Party has had nearly two decades to address the housing affordability crisis, expand access to mental health and addictions treatment, and ensure emergency shelters and supportive housing keep pace with growing demand.
Instead, homelessness has continued to climb significantly — 2025’s point-in-time count found 1,931 people, near-quadruple the 550 counted in 2022. ChiefCalf said she believes the number is far greater than what the count revealed, too.
Fran Forsberg gives out food and water every Sunday morning at 11am on the corner of 20th and Avenue P in Saskatoon as part of Feed the People Saskatoon, “Yesterday I gave out 500 bottles of water. This morning, just on my way here, I gave out another 100 bottles of water. At 71 years old, I should not need to be doing this, but the government is leaving all of these people behind,” Forsberg said.
“Even the people who are receiving some form of government support tell us it’s not nearly enough — they’re living in deep poverty and constant fear of where their next meal will come from or how they will afford their rent and utilities,” said Erika Ritchie, Social Services Shadow Minister. “Scott Moe and the Sask. Party is more focused on staging government photo ops and issuing news releases claiming they’re supporting people, than actually supporting people.
“It’s a shameful and sorry excuse for leadership at a time when our city — our entire province, for that matter — so desperately needs it.”
Saskatchewan people have consistently reported the greatest rate of financial insecurity in Canada for over a year.
"No one should mistake the generosity of these volunteers for a government plan," ChiefCalf said. "People are stepping up because they refuse to look away while their neighbours are hungry. Saskatchewan deserves a government that shows the same sense of urgency. It’s time for change.”
Further compounding the challenges is the worsening drug crisis that has overrun Saskatoon’s downtown. Firefighters in the city have gone public calling for more support as they respond to 600 or more overdose calls in the city every month.
“This is an unprecedented crisis,” said Leroy Laliberte, Mental Health & Addictions Shadow Minister. “People are desperate and in dire shape and, still, we see nothing in the form of an emergency plan from Scott Moe and the Sask. Party despite constant calls for them to act for months.
“How many more people are we going to lose before these guys wake up and do their jobs?”
-30-