The women’s-only shelter in Saskatoon has seen concerning numbers this winter, with 4,030 visits from women within the two months since opening, 92 per cent being Indigenous.

“Out of those 4,030 interactions, it’s come out to be about 550 different women that are accessing services. So, that a woman could be there for five minutes, five hours, five days, whatever it may be, that’s what we mean,” Tribal Chief Mark Arcand of the Saskatoon Tribal Council said.

“So, it’s alarming to see that many women in need inside of two months for our services.”

The Saskatoon Tribal Council was asked to run the women’s warmup shelter this winter. It opened on Nov. 7 at the old bus depot downtown, running 14 hours a day, but they transitioned to Avenue C on Dec. 22 which is open 24 hours a day.

The building has a capacity of 100 people, with Arcand saying they have opened it up to be expanded if needed.

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“So I think our worst night in the last two months was about 119 people, which is pretty significant. And it tells us that there is a need, depending on the weather, if it’s really extremely cold. And it’s fluctuating anywhere from the 80s to that 119 mark, so it’s pretty consistent,” Arcand said.

Chief Arcand says there are many different reasons a person may use the shelter other than addictions.

“We see a lot of people fleeing domestic violence. When we do our intake forums, we see a lot of people that have said, 71 per cent of them have said they’re either on SED or CIS. Twenty-seven per cent have no income at all.”

Despite the alarming numbers coming into the building, Arcand says operations have been going well with few major incidents. However, work needs to continue to help the vulnerable women in the city.

“I think there’s a need moving forward in regards to how we got to really evaluate some of these services and make sure we’re having good outcomes and results and keeping a lot of data that’s really looking at and enhancing supports for women,” Arcand said.

Watch above for more on what the numbers coming from the warming centre says about homelessness in the city.

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