The Saskatchewan NDP Caucus wrote to express their deep concern about the absence of a provincial cold-weather strategy to protect Saskatchewan’s most vulnerable as temperatures drop as low as -31° Celsius this week.
Here’s the text of the full letter:
November 22, 2024
The Honourable Lori Carr
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Seniors, and Rural and Remote Health
Room 208 Legislative Building
REGINA SK S4S 0B3
The Honourable Terry Jenson
Minister of Social Services
Room 303 Legislative Building
REGINA SK S4S 0B3
Dear Ministers Carr and Jenson,
We are writing to express our deep concern about the absence of a provincial cold-weather strategy to protect Saskatchewan’s most vulnerable as temperatures drop.
While frontline service providers are stepping up and doing all they can, the Sask. Party government appears missing in action, with no decisive measures yet taken.
We must not wait for the first freezing death of the season to act. We urge you to immediately implement a cold-weather strategy that ensures no one is left behind during extreme weather conditions. Homelessness affects communities across Saskatchewan, both large and small. Often, smaller communities are forgotten or lack capacity to deal with such a complex strategy — that is precisely why a provincial strategy is needed.
Beyond this, there is an urgent need to address the root causes that leave so many out in the cold: the rising cost of living, housing insecurity, and the worsening mental health and addictions crisis.
We were shocked to learn that your Sask. Party government ignored an offer of millions of dollars in funding to address homeless encampments and housing by the federal government on Sept. 18. At a time when homelessness under your government has reached record numbers, partisanship and politics need to be set aside, and all resources and funding should be utilized to put an end to this crisis.
These issues require urgent attention and we call on you to:
- Open further emergency shelter space to provide safe refuge for people who are homeless;
- Discontinue taxing basic necessities like children’s clothing and groceries, which further burden low-income families;
- Address the housing crisis by renting out the nearly 3,000 government-owned housing units that currently sit vacant, driving up rental costs;
- Make mental health and addictions support a true priority.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss these critical issues further and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Brent Blakley
Shadow Minister for Social Services
April ChiefCalf
Shadow Minister for Housing
Betty Nippi-Albright
Shadow Minister for Mental Health
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