A Saskatoon pastor has drawn the ire of the chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council after penning a letter saying the STC’s Emergency Wellness Centre should be closed.
Pastor Robert Pearce of Fairmont Baptist Church, in the Fairhaven neighbourhood where the STC’s Wellness Centre resides, says a recent situation where someone attempted to force their way into his church prompted him to pen the letter.
The letter is an open letter addressed to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and other members of the provincial government.
It was posted online and it calls the STC’s Wellness Center a “colossal failure” and says the facility should be shut down.
In his letter, Pearce says it was his hope that the facility could have been a “real solution”, but he feels the facility has not provided solutions. The letter can be found here.
In response, STC Tribal Chief Mark Arcand says he is frustrated with the letter, saying the it is filled with inaccuracies.
“It’s alarming how someone can sit behind a laptop and write letters like this to premiers without having proper facts about what we do,” said Arcand.
Arcand provided a list of services the Emergency Wellness Centre is providing to help the vulnerable community it serves. These include the housing of over 60 families, employment services, health services, income assistance, and other general help the wellness centre provides.
The tribal chief also took issue with the letter coming from a pastor, given the history of church run residential schools in Canada and their negative effect on Indigenous people.
“To make these false accusations is racism,” Tribal Chief Arcand said. “He is a pastor and First Nations people today are where they are at because of the colonial system that relied on facilities run by churches such as residential schools. I will not stand by and let him knock the work our people are doing because we are changing lives.”
Arcand called the letter an attack rejecting the assertion of constructive criticism.
“How is he helping? how is that organization helping? the answer is they are not… it’s always a target on our back.”
The facility, run by the STC and opened in December of 2022, houses over one hundred homeless people in the city every night and is funded by the provincial government.
Arcand admits they need more funding to better provide for the residents of the shelter and he says they are in current negotiations with the government over next year’s funding.
“Funding runs out March 31,” said Arcand. “But we look at it as a no-brainer that they are going to support the work that the Saskatoon Tribal Council does. Are we perfect? No. Do we acknowledge there are situations that happen in the neighbourhood? Absolutely, but it happens in every neighbourhood.”
The Tribal Chief doesn’t believe the letter will have any impact on current negotiations for next year’s funding.
(Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand holds up testimonials from EWC residents at a press conference at the STC office in Saskatoon. Photo by Joel Willick.)