Last year, the Saskatchewan Coroner Service confirmed that 331 people in the city died from drug overdoses, nearly a person per day. In Saskatoon this year, firefighters responded to nearly 1,200 overdose calls in April and May alone.
“People are laying in our streets dying and the people trained to save their lives can’t keep up,” said Keith Jorgenson, Associate Shadow Health Minister. “Support agencies tell us they’ve never seen it this bad and, still, they’ve been completely abandoned by Scott Moe and the Sask. Party.
“For months, emergency responders and frontline agencies have begged for emergency funding and recruitment of more people — and we’ve seen nothing remotely adequate from this terrible government.”
On Monday, Jorgenson held a news conference with Corinne Anthony, Executive Director of Crocus Co-op, a non-profit charity that serves people with mental health disabilities.
“We have seen our needs increase and the demand skyrocket at Crocus. I’m from this community, this is my hometown, and it is heartbreaking to see what the drug crisis as done to our streets,” Corinne Anthony said.
Jorgenson said the situation has been made all that much worse after the Sask. Party shutdown Prairie Harm Reduction earlier this year and offered no plan to reassign more than 100 frontline workers.
“Not only has Scott Moe done nothing to help, he’s actually made this crisis worse,” Jorgenson said. "I want to give so much credit to the folks at Crocus and other support agencies for doing all they can to save lives. Access to mental health supports is absolutely vital to a person’s recovery – for many, it truly is a matter of life or death.
“If we expect meaningful change, we must start by supporting the people on the front lines – because without them, the entire system continues to crumble.
“It’s time for change.”
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