Despite delays in getting the latest shelter discussion addressed by the city council, residents are continuing to pressure city officials to have the decision reversed.
Councillors are feeling the pressure from those who oppose the latest shelter location and they’re not just from Sutherland.
Another councillor is weighing in, this time Ward 10 councillor Zach Jeffries wants to have the council change the criteria for where shelters can go.
“I believe this motion will help provide more certainty and clarity in the community about future shelters and how they can best be located, Jeffries wrote in a Facebook post.
“If this motion passes, it would end consideration of the former Fire Hall Number five as a location for a shelter and ensure that different sites can be looked at that take into account these separation distances.”
Residents of Sutherland as well as those with ties to area schools and other facilities weigh in - all vowing to not back down.
Jessica Thompson has lived in Sutherland for four years. She said she feels like residents aren’t getting the whole truth from the city council.
“Are you guys lying to us like yes, we can have our say in this, or is it already gone through, and you’ve already made a decision behind closed doors,” Thompson told CTV News.
The cancellation of the City of Saskatoon public meetings earlier this month on the matter is adding to her frustration and overall confusion for this resident who doesn’t know where to turn for updated information.
Thompson’s kids attend Sutherland Public School, which is many blocks away from the shelter.
She’s prepared to fight to have the decision to put a thirty-bed shelter in the former fire hall on Central Avenue.
That continued pressure is something that Ward 5 councillor Randy Donauer says could help.
“I think my colleagues are listening to the community and when this does come to council, we’ll be very careful of what decisions we’ll make,” Donauer said.
“I’ve had lots of residents contact me and across my ward and across the city. I think all the councillors and mayor have,” Donauer said.
That’s not how Thompson sees it.
“I think that’s what they’re saying to keep us calm because that’s what they said to Fairhaven too. We’ve had a lot of Fairhaven support in this because they don’t want it to happen to us like it happened to them,”
That pressure could be coming from parents of students at Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School.
That school is 100 metres from the shelter. It’s a school where students are primarily bussed from all over the city because it’s a specialized program and the only one in the province.
“We have children not only from Sutherland but from all over the city, from all neighborhoods of the city so it concerns all parts of the city of Saskatoon,” Melenchuk told CTV News.
Melenchuk has a grade six and a grade one child. She said she never had concerns with how the city was being run until this issue came up, now she’s done research and is informed on council procedures.
“In the fall when it’s time for the election I’ll be a more active citizen,” she said.
The Ukrainian community across Saskatoon is a significant voice and she’s hopeful it can affect change.
The Sutherland shelter issue – including Jeffry's concerns won’t formally be discussed at the council meeting on Wednesday with the matter postponed until public meetings on March 11, which is a virtual meeting and another in-person meeting on March 12th.
