Submitted by Will Arscott 

 

 

This meeting was held in person at the Saskatoon Club. We had a light attendance with thirteen members present and another two members joining us on Zoom. Wendy Cooper was our MC.  Mark Cheriyan was the cashier. Technology was handled by Mark Gryba and Gary Rusu.  Thanks to Avis Hardy for setting up the roster.

 

We began with singing ‘O’ Canada which served as a nice change. Gary Rusu led the way and members joined in. The blessing was given by Jenny Lawrence who asked for blessings on all our members present and absent.

 

 

Maureen Torr introduced our one visitor Hilary Gough, who was introduced more fully later in the meeting.

 

 

There was no report at this meeting.

 

 

District Conference 2023: District Conference 2023 – the 5 clubs in Saskatoon are being asked to host this conference as we have not hosted in over 15 years, and the incoming DG’s club has already hosted twice in the last 5 years. The program would be the sole responsibility of the District Learning and Development Team, as would be the on-line registration. Saskatoon would be responsible for arranging facilities, meals, a social event, greeting and in-person registration. A total committee of 12 – 15 people is needed (we would need 4 or 5 members to become involved in the planning committee), and maybe a few more members for day-of duties. At Presidents’ Council, it was decided that since no club wanted to take on the responsibility for hosting this event, it would be taken on by a Conference Planning Committee made of individual members from the Saskatoon Clubs. Ruth Marritt and Brenda Banbury (North Club) have volunteered to act as co-chairs for this planning committee. Steve Wilson and myself (Saskatoon), Dale Worrall (Riverside) and Asit Sarkar (Nutana) have agreed to be involved.  Last meeting Gary Rusu volunteered to take part and assist in the planning as well. Is there anyone else who would be willing to be involved on this committee? The committee is already working to finalize the dates and location for this event.

 

The 2022 District Conference will be held virtually, by Zoom; held over two Thursday evenings:

All members are encouraged to participate. You can register for the conference at the District 5550 website.

 

The vests for the St John Ambulance Therapy Dogs that our club has sponsored were presented to several of the teams in a brief ceremony at the vaccination clinic on March 31. The teams will come to give us a presentation on their program at our meeting on May 9 and we will have a chance to meet the dogs and their handlers. At that time, we will formally present the teams with their vests.

 

Joeline Magill from Hope Restored CANADA (Saskatoon) will be speaking to us on May 30 to tell us about their program. This is the organization that we are partnering with for our new Local Community Project. At that meeting we will be presenting them with a cheque which will fund their gift card incentive program.

 

RI President Visit to Winnipeg: For the next Rotary year we will have a president that is Canadian and our first female president of Rotary International. Prior to taking her new position the RI President, she is travelling across Canada to meet with Rotarians. She will be in Winnipeg July 5 and 6 and all members from the district are encouraged to attend. If you can attend, please let Gary Rusu know so we can coordinate hotel rooms. Gary quoted a rate of $127 per night at the Fort Gary which is a very good hotel room rate.

 

Blanket Ceremony: This will take place at our regular meeting on April 25. The meeting will be in person at the Saskatoon Club with a Zoom option. The Blanket Ceremony is an activity in which we participate that illustrates the effects of European migration on the indigenous peoples. The presenter will be Jaida Nelson who will present about Indigenous Understanding. For this meeting it is most important we know who will be in attendance. Some members confirmed at the meeting. If you would like to attend, please contact President Mark or Mark Cheriyan and let them know ahead of the meeting.

 

Joy’s Center: Maureen Torr reported that $3,000 has been sent to this project carried by a member of the Watrous Rotary Club who will be visiting. [sorry Maureen, I was not able to get the name of the person.]

 

Grocery Cards: Donna has them available. Please contact her to order your cards. They can be ordered now to be available at the next meeting or they can be delivered. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hilary was introduced by the ever-busy Mark Cheriyan. She has been councilor for Ward II since 2016.   Hilary is from Saskatoon and attended the U of S. She serves on the Police Board. Her Ward covers eight neighborhoods including some of the most disadvantaged areas of Saskatoon. She is passionate about community safety and wellbeing.

 

Hilary began her talk by describing one of the changes made to the role of our City Councilors.   In recent years each councilor has not just represented the people of their Ward but have also taken on portfolios to work in a particular area for all of Saskatoon. Hilary’s portfolio is the safety and wellbeing for all of Saskatoon.

 

Many of the issues in this area are the responsibilities of higher levels of government. Issues such as education, health and income distribution are the responsibility of the higher levels of government who have many more resources than the civic government. Community safety and well-being is a difficult area and has become more difficult as more addictive and cheaper drugs have become available. This can be seen in a rise of violent crime particularly in a rise in the number of incidents involving possession of firearms. Her work starts from the idea ‘The true measure of a society is now they treat the most vulnerable.’  

 

Hilary believes all solutions start from collaboration. There is very little the city can do by itself.   The city has had much recent experience in this area as the Covid situation came without a plan and in many areas the province took the lead.

 

City Council believes safety and wellbeing should be a consideration in every decision they make. Planning at the city level starts from the ‘Plan for Growth’ published several years ago.   There are two over-arching parts to this plan. The first is to increase the density in the land that the city already occupies instead of continuing to expand outwards. Ultimately, outward expansion is very expensive as ever-more infrastructure must be created. Having more people in the same area will greatly increase efficiency. To achieve this, existing lots will be divided, there will be many more multi-unit dwellings and there are opportunities to use undeveloped land within the current footprint. These undeveloped lands include University lands and the old city yards.

 

Density will reduce the cost of services. It will allow more amenities to be successful closer to where people live such as local grocery stores. It will allow more people to walk or bike to more services. This will reduce driving and emissions in general. The era of the city being designed around single car usage is ending. Beyond neighborhoods, we need faster, more-reliable public transit. Buses need to come more regularly and be more linear in taking people to the area they want to go. All of this together will be a big shift for the people of Saskatoon.

 

Safety and wellbeing are being brought into city planning. Every proposal has always had to have a financial bottom line. In recent years two other bottom lines have been added:  First added was an environmental bottom line. This is now expected. Now proposals are also being written with a wellbeing bottom line. How would this proposal effect the most vulnerable in Saskatoon?  

 

Hilary gave us an example of a wellbeing bottom line: Before our meeting she was at a City Council meeting discussing whether the city should provide charging stations for electric vehicles. There are several choices: They could provide the charges as a business charging the full value of the service. They could choose to partially subsidize the stations to improve the Saskatoon environment and encourage electric vehicles. Finally, they could provide the service for free to really encourage electric vehicles. Perhaps charging the full cost would be best for city coffers particularly in the short term. The second choice would be better environmentally but would cost the city potential revenue. The third choice might be best for the environment but could be expensive for the city. From a wellbeing perspective, you must ask who each choice would benefit. If a choice benefits those that are already well off and does nothing for the vulnerable it should be considered in the decision. This three-part process has already been a big win for the city.

 

One issue that is growing in the city both in incidence and in public awareness is the whole situation around homelessness and affordable housing. The city does have a large role in determining that affordable housing is created throughout the city. The city has effectively used its land bank to require developers to create affordable housing in new neighborhoods. 

 

Homelessness is an increasing problem, and its causes are complex. Many of the issues are beyond the scope of the city. Major housing initiatives require federal money. The role of the city is evolving. One issue is zoning of homeless shelters. There is at least one additional organization that would like to work in this area and the need is overwhelming the current shelter availability.  No one is sure where it is possible to put a homeless shelter under the current zoning by-laws. The problem is also being made worse by the availability of cheap crystal meth in Saskatoon. There is much work needed in addressing meth addiction.  Much of the current models and treatment is based on alcohol addiction which is significantly different than meth addiction.

 

On the issues of crime and community safety impressions are often as important as reality.   Hilary serves on the police commission and is determined to have a police force that represents the community. We need new solutions as we cannot just expand the police we have indefinitely. Police have a big role, but they are not the best at doing preventative work. We need to develop a larger range of responses to problems and save the police for where they are really needed. Civic services help to build community and community reduces crime. We need to support building community particularly in at-risk neighborhoods. Much of this work is contained in the city’s recreation budget but it provides much more than recreation in the narrow sense.

 

Hilary says the next step will be for the city to develop a formal safety and wellbeing plan. This plan will evolve but needs to be deliberative and targeted.

 

After her talk Hilary took several questions. Graham Pearson related several serious incidents that have occurred to people he knows travelling in our downtown core. The area around the Lighthouse has a particularly bad reputation. Hilary is aware of the problems and the perception of the problems. There are no easy answers. She suggested that the Lighthouse is trying to run too many problems in too small a building with the result that it is creating ongoing problems on the surrounding streets.  She reminded us that the greatest danger is to the people that live wholly or partially on the street.   Homelessness is an incredibly dangerous situation.  Beyond this there are many problems with bureaucracy and lack of addiction resources. She suggested that a block funding rather than a service provided payment model might create some improvement. One issue is the amount of time workers must spend dealing with provincial bureaucracy. In some areas there is just not enough being done. In the last year 50% of youth identified as having suicidal ideation were not able to receive counselling. The solutions lie in quick appropriate responses to incidents and bringing resources through partnerships with providers such as the Salvation Army.

 

Gary Rusu asked a good question about potholes that took us beyond the presentation for the day. A good presentation would be about how the city transitions though the seasons and the issues our extreme seasons create.

 

Hilary was very complementary towards what she saw at our meeting. She became a Rotarian for the day and put in $100 happy/ sad dollars. $50 is to go to the Salvation Army relief in Ukraine with the other $50 to go to the Salvation Army’s work locally.

 

Hilary was thanked by Wendy Cooper. In recognition of Hilary’s talk the regular donation will be made to Bethany Homes.

 

The next meeting is on April 25. Please let Mark Gryba or Marc Cheriyan know if you plan to attend as members will be participating in a Blanket Ceremony led by Jaida Nelson.