In the small town of Porcupine Plain, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s (SHA) new virtual physician (VP) initiative has been generating positive results. The VP program, implemented as a temporary measure, has proven to be a helpful tool for the community, keeping emergency room (ER) services open when local physician coverage is unavailable.
Registered nurses (RNs) have been able to virtually access physicians located elsewhere in the province, allowing for the assessment and treatment of patients, even when a local physician is not available.
“Limited physician coverage at times over the summer and fall could have led to ER disruptions but thanks to VP, we’ve kept our doors open. It’s been a game-changer.”, said Cheri Thorpe, Licensed Practical Nurse.
Patients presenting at the ER are triaged by an RN, who then collaborates with a physician virtually to ensure the appropriate course of action. This approach has enabled patients to receive timely treatment, schedule follow-up care with local physicians, or, if necessary, have transport arranged to another facility equipped to meet their needs.
“Our remarkable health-care workers have demonstrated unwavering resilience. Despite initial reservations, they have embraced innovation for the betterment of our patients,” said Rhonda Teichreb, Director of Primary Health Care, “Their dedication is evident in how smoothly this program has been implemented.”
Porcupine Plain’s story highlights the important of innovative solutions in health care, especially in areas with staffing challenges. Although temporary, the VP program exemplifies the SHA’s commitment to uninterrupted access to emergency care.
Dedicated Porcupine Plain registered nurses collaborating virtually with physicians from afar, ensuring patients receive the care they need when it matters most.
With the support of the Government of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has reached an agreement with Eden Care Communities that will enable Regina Lutheran Home (RLH) to remain open. Eden Care Communities will continue to operate RLH on a transitional basis while ownership of the facility is transferred to the SHA.
The Government of Saskatchewan is providing $1.7 million in new annual funding to Family Service Saskatchewan to expand its free, rapid access counselling services to children, youth and their caregivers across the province. Kindersley, Leader, Unity, Rosetown and Biggar are the newest communities to launch these services.
How are we supposed to take these climate conferences seriously when in their wake oil production and carbon levels keep on rising?
The literature is also telling us that we can’t solve the climate crisis without eliminating, or at least radically decreasing, inequality; and, as far as I can tell, the people attending these conferences have no intention of giving up the privilege afforded them by the burning of fossil fuels.
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They are simply looking to make themselves feel good, giving the impression of doing something while continuing to grind the climate and all that supports life on this planet into dust under their feet. Judging from the results of past COP conferences, the best thing we could do for the climate is not to have them.
It would save a lot of emissions and show a sincerity of intent if the conference was held over Zoom, instead of zooming around in private jets.
The million bucks our provincial government will likely spend on attending COP28 is just more political tourism and corporate welfare on the taxpayer’s dime, masquerading as promoting green aspects of Saskatchewan business.
Provincial officials say they’ve picked a “nationally recognized” third party to run the facility, but will not yet say who it is.
Published Nov 22, 2023 • 5 minute read
Saskatoon city council approved on Nov. 22 an 18-month window for the province to operate a 15-bed emergency shelter at 1701 Idylwyld Drive North for people with “complex needs.”Photo by ROB O’FLANAGAN /Saskatoon StarPhoenix
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Saskatoon city council spent the bulk of its Wednesday business meeting addressing an application from the provincial government to set up a temporary emergency shelter for some of the city’s hardest-to-house people.
The city last week issued notices to residents and businesses within a few hundred metres of 1701 Idylwyld Drive North, indicating the province is seeking to use it for a 15-bed facility for people with “complex needs,” a term generally applied to people with mental health or addictions challenges that make them a potential danger to themselves or others, and who cannot be housed at existing facilities, other than police detention cells.
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The proposed facility is part of a $90 million package aimed at addressing mental health, addictions and homelessness announced by the province in October.
Between Leslie Anderson, the city’s director of planning and development, and city solicitor Cindy Yellend, council members heard a temporary emergency shelter is a permitted use under the property’s zoning.
As such, council was told there is no option to reject the province’s application — only to set a timeframe of between one and 18 months for the proposed emergency shelter to operate.
Yellend further clarified that setting a zero-month timeline would amount to council acting in bad faith, while noting such a decision could be appealed.
Council heard a presentation from Chad Ryan, executive director of the organization strategic management branch of the Ministry of Social Services; he was joined by representatives from Social Services and the ministries of Corrections and Health.
Council learned the province has selected what Ryan described as a “nationally recognized” third party to run the proposed site. The third party operator is to provide the full complement of medical and security staff.
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The provincial representatives declined to name the provider, citing ongoing contract negotiations. That information is expected in early 2024, before the projected opening of the facility.
Ryan noted the proposed facility will be operated as a pilot project. Unlike the 12-bed brief detox unit currently operated by the Saskatchewan Health Authority on Avenue O South, clients won’t be able to “self-refer” — they can only be brought in by police.
Council heard people arriving at the facility will be considered to be in custody, and can be held there for up to 24 hours.
Council heard the facility operator will seek to provide a “warm handoff” of clients after 24 hours, including transportation to another shelter, a family member’s home, or other suitable location. However, Ryan acknowledged there is no guarantee some clients won’t refuse services and end up released into the surrounding community.
Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark, in this file photo from December 2022, discusses the challenge of finding housing for individuals with severe mental health and addictions challenges. Photo by Matt Smith /Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Council also heard from about a dozen speakers, mostly residents and business owners from the area near the proposed shelter site.
Most criticized the process leading to Wednesday’s vote, noting they received only a few business days’ notice, and questioned the suitability of the site, noting its proximity to homes and businesses.
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Tony Badger, owner of a British café across the street from the proposed site, was moved to tears as he described his concerns about safety for his staff and customers. Another speaker who has worked for decades at a nearby restaurant lamented that, if the facility is allowed to proceed, the slogan “Saskatoon Shines” could come to refer to sunlight glinting off of streets littered with discarded needles.
The decision by city staff to distribute the mailout announcing the province’s application also appeared to create confusion among residents about which order of government is responsible for the proposed shelter; some speakers reported that provincial MLAs contacted about the issue told them to contact the city.
Council heard the province picked the site of the proposed shelter without any input from the city, with an eye to using buildings it already owns. Ryan said this was done to get the new facility running as soon as possible.
The city will have a hand in picking sites for two additional 30-bed facilities the province also plans for Saskatoon; these will not be complex needs beds, and the city will not be responsible for operating either facility when they open. To date, no locations for these sites have been announced.
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Council voted 10-1 in favour of granting the full 18-month operating window for the proposed facility.
Coun. Darren Hill was the lone opposing vote. During the meeting, he attempted to introduce a motion to limit the facility’s operation to six months, but did not find a seconder. He said he would have supported 18 months if the province had included a guarantee that people discharged from the facility would be transported elsewhere. Hill went on to encourage nearby residents and business owners to pressure their provincial representatives on this point.
Coun. Randy Donauer supported the 18-month operating window. However, he also said he feels it’s likely council would simply be brought back to approve an extension of any shorter period, and would be just as restricted in the decisions available to it, as provincial law requires council to respect the current zoning.
Mayor Charlie Clark noted the city has asked the province to step up its efforts to address crises in homelessness, addictions and mental health. He said he doesn’t believe there’s any potential site in the city that wouldn’t come with similar concerns for nearby residents.
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No facility — not even the police detention cells — can guarantee someone refusing further help isn’t discharged directly into the community, Clark added.
Council unanimously supported Hill’s motion to request that the provincial government report back to council at the six- and 12-month marks after the new facility opens.
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Regina city council will debate a motion Wednesday that would allow builders to make new residential buildings more dense, and add more units to existing buildings.
The motion looks to secure money from the federal government’s housing accelerator grant program to build more housing in the city and meet the demand expected in the future.
In its agenda, the City of Regina said it approved a plan at a meeting on June 7 this year to use part of the grant program money for 1,100 permit approvals on top of the usual number of housing units over the next three years.
The plan is to make the city centre more dense, address the gaps in middle housing in neighbourhoods, cut some housing-related red tape for some applications and support the conversion of non-residential buildings to residential use.
The city also plans to remove the parking minimums for developments near main transit routes.
The majority of the 10 delegates who have sent letters to council about the motion are in support of it, including Vanessa Mathews, a professor at the University of Regina who researches urban space and urban planning, and has been following the city’s densification efforts for a little more than a decade.
She said people should understand that this type of motion will support filling middle housing density, like multiplexes.
“These are spaces that quite often fit in quite seamlessly into our neighbourhood,” she said.
“If we continue to develop outward without having the growth that’s taking place in core areas, then we’re going to end up really paying the price, and the costs are going to go up for servicing these areas in the future.”
Others, like Jim Elliott — who has ran for Regina mayor for three consecutive elections — are somewhat opposed. He said he agrees with the intent, but not the city’s planned execution.
He proposed using the Taylor Field area for development rather than opening up buildings for more units.
“Because the Taylor Fields yards are under the city’s control they have a lot more potential to say ‘OK, we’re going to do this,’ and … hopefully, in many cases, you could actually see housing built within the next two or three years.”
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations says it is frustrated with the federal and provincial government’s financial policy that withholds income assistance from First Nation citizens who receive per capita distributions from settlements of more than $15,000.
“When our chiefs signed the treaty in the 1800s, one of them was exemption from taxation. Those treaties are sacred covenants… Those papers are of international law,” FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron said Tuesday.
“What they’ve done is this unilateral decision. No communication, unbeknownst to any chief, unbeknownst to the FSIN. How they’re taxing the poorest of the poor.”
The settlements, known as “specific claims,” are designed to correct historic injustices. The federal government works with the communities under the Specific Claims Policy to resolve outstanding specific claims through negotiated settlements.
“They don’t give a damn about First Nation people because if they did, they wouldn’t hurt the poorest of the poor — our people who are going to receive those per capita distributions for the many, many decades of injustices,” he said.
FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron is calling on provincial and federal governments to sit down with them to move forward. (Chanss Lagaden/CBC)
Cameron said he asks Premier Scott Moe the reasons for his government to allow “such a harmful act” that will claw back any income assistance from First Nation citizens receiving above $15,000 in specific claims.
“We are taking legal action on this infringement on our treaty rights… it’s a terrible move. It’s a human rights case in the making, this $15,000 limit threshold,” he said.
“This is a battle brewing. It’s coming and it’s here to stay until we see it rule in our favour.”
FSIN represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan and many chiefs shared their frustrations with the cap on Tuesday in a news conference in Saskatoon. The unanimous consensus was an urge to the federal and provincial governments to honour the spirit and intent of the treaties and implement the treaty promises made more than a century ago.
FSIN said the provincial policy will also affect off-reserve First Nations members while the federal policy can restrict those living on reserve.
“It is shameful and unconscionable that those disproportionately benefited from treaty are attempting to claw back this court-ordered redress intended to right past wrongs,” Cameron said.
Chiefs spoke about how the exemption will help many single mothers and people in need in their communities and how Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia are the only provinces to impose the caps on $15,000.
In an email statement, the Ministry of Social Services said the government recently sent a letter to FSIN indicating the ministry is reviewing its policy on Per Capita Distribution payments for First Nations members receiving income assistance benefits and welcomes conversation and feedback with First Nations leadership.
“The ministry currently exempts Per Capita Distribution payments for First Nations members receiving SIS and SAID benefits, up to $15,000 per member, per settlement,” the statement said.
CBC News has reached out to the federal government for comment.
Shelley Bear, the Chief of Ochapowace First Nation, says their nation is in a state of emergency due to the suicides among their youth and young mothers and they will be greatly impacted by this policy. (Chanss Lagaden/CBC)
Shelley Bear, the Chief of Ochapowace First Nation, said the nation presently has six claims on the table with the government.
“When we move to that place of reconciliation, all of a sudden they fail us once again by imposing policies that are going to hurt our people. Imposing policies on claims that were breached based on lack of consultation, based on their own policies and based on no understanding of our people,” Bear said.
She said the nation is in a state of emergency due to the suicides among their youth and young mothers.
“Those are the ones that are going to continue to suffer. Our most vulnerable people are the ones that are gonna be hurting once again,” she said.
Calvin Sanderson, chief of the Chakastaypasin band, said it took them some 35 years to negotiate their land claims but are still waiting for an offer.
Chief Calvin Sanderson says Saskatchewan isn’t providing First Nations people with enough money as it is, saying assistance isn’t keeping up with inflation. He says while Canada makes announcements on hosuing affordability, the housing crisis in First Nations is sidelined. (Chanss Lagaden/CBC)
He said the province and the federal government are putting limits to their membership at no fault of their own.
“The province only gives our membership a little bit out there to live with on their social assistance and they’re having a hard time today,” he said.
“They don’t even have enough to pay for rent. They have to make a choice whether to pay rent or pay for food, or put the milk and diapers on the table… if you’re going to give them $15,000, that’s not going to go very far nowadays.”
He said they have been dictated for over 135 years and clawing income assistance from their membership who receive per capita distributions from claims is just another example. He said there are still “a lot of treaty issues outstanding”.
“Canada now has to step up to the plate. I’m grateful that we’re done our land claims and we’re going to move our own path forward but the province and the federal government got to stop dictating to us.”
The Regina Police Service’s (RPS’s) interim police chief says the force is prepared to take full advantage of 15 new shelter spaces promised by the province.
Interim chief Dean Rae said RPS continues to deal with many people who have complex needs, such as mental health and substance abuse issues.
From 2018 to July 2023, RPS made nearly 7,800 arrests for public intoxication, according to data presented to the Regina Board of Police commissioners on Tuesday. Rae said his officers are sometimes forced to hold these people in RPS cells because there is simply nowhere else to take them.
“There isn’t a service or organization out there right now that would take individuals who are intoxicated if they’re combative or have other challenges within themselves. So oftentimes we end up having to bring them into our detention centre,” Rae said.
This situation is not ideal and presents a risk to the force as an organization, he said, adding that even though there are paramedics that monitor people in RPS cells, they are not a substitute for a hospital or nursing station.
Rae said RPS does not want to criminalize anyone who has a substance use disorder.
“We want to take them to a place that can get them the proper supports, and in our detention we don’t have the proper supports available for them,” he said.
That’s why Rae is welcoming the announcement by the province.
“We will utilize 15 beds with individuals for sure within the city of Regina, and we’ll continue to have discussions with the province on that support piece, because ultimately the support is what’s necessary for these individuals,” Rae said.
Saskatoon reports similar problems
Saskatoon police have experienced similar challenges.
A report presented to Saskatoon’s board of police commissioners last week found that officers are left to manage dozens of people with mental health and addictions issues when there are no longer beds available at local detox or wellness centres in the city.
From Jan. 1, 2022 to Aug. 31, 2023, about 17,800 arrestees were brought into Saskatoon Police detention.
Approximately 15 people per day — or 31 per cent — were detained only because they were intoxicated in public, despite not having committed a criminal offence.
According to the report, approximately half of those people are homeless.
The province has announced it also plans to introduce 15 new shelter spaces for people with complex needs in Saskatoon.
The Current20:35Loneliness as bad for you as smoking, says WHO
Top health officials say loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking, but one doctor warns that the stigma around feeling lonely still stops people from reaching out for support.
“Just like thirst is a signal you need hydration, loneliness is a signal you need … human connection,” said Dr. Jeremy Nobel, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and author of Project Unlonely: Healing our Crisis of Disconnection.
“Why is it we’re guilty and ashamed about being lonely, where we don’t feel that way about being thirsty?” he asked The Current’s Matt Galloway.
Last week the World Health Organization designated loneliness as a “global public health concern,” appointing U.S. surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy to lead an international commission to tackle the problem. Research has shown that loneliness is as bad for people’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
“To say you’re lonely almost feels like saying you’re not likeable. Or even worse, that you’re not lovable. And I know this because that’s how I felt as a child when I struggled with loneliness over the years,” he said during the talk on Sept. 8, 2022.
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Nobel said that the condition is “probably the biggest preventable risk factor” for mental health concerns including depression, addiction and suicidality.
“[It] increases risk of heart attack or stroke or death from either by 30 per cent; risk of dementia by 40 per cent; type 2 diabetes 50 per cent,” he said.
“So bottom line, we need to take it very seriously as a medical issue.”
Pandemic created ‘window of opportunity’
Nobel said there’s three main kinds of loneliness, all of which people can experience to varying degrees.
“First, there’s psychological loneliness. Is there someone I can confide in and tell my troubles to? Does someone have my back?” he said.
There is also societal loneliness, he added, where a person can feel systematically excluded due to factors like their race, gender or disability status.
“And then there’s a kind of existential or spiritual kind of loneliness where you wonder if your life has meaning,” he said.
Understanding the root causes of a person’s loneliness is important, he said, so that interventions can be tailored to address it.
Pandemic lockdowns became a cause of loneliness for many people, but Nobel thinks that period of isolation has offered “a little window of opportunity” to overcome the stigma.
“We were isolating in response to a common threat, not because we were flawed or unattractive or excluded,” he said.
“And so, yes we were lonely, but we didn’t feel embarrassed, ashamed or guilty about that loneliness. So we were able to talk about it.”
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He thinks that helps to highlight why the stigma around loneliness is a social and cultural narrative — one that can be changed.
Making loneliness ‘a new vital sign’
Dr. Jacques Lee studies loneliness, and has seen first hand that people are reluctant to talk about it.
“Studies of loneliness often have difficulty finding people because, you know, nobody defines himself as being lonely,” said Lee, the inaugural SREMI research chair in geriatric emergency medicine at the Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
Lee said that many doctors will empathize with a patient experiencing loneliness, but often won’t consider it relevant to the diagnostic process.
He thinks loneliness needs to become “a new vital sign,” checked as routinely as blood pressure.
“I think we’re beginning to understand that it should be a priority. It must be a priority,” he said.
Nobel said that doctors can connect patients “to community-based opportunities in faith-based groups, libraries, schools where they can have the authentic interaction with other people.”
“If you feel you’re lonely, the most important thing to know is you’re not alone in that. Also, that it’s not your fault,” he said.
Grocery chain Sobeys is rolling out its annual price freeze on thousands of food items over the holiday season, and expanding it more than usual in the face of heightened consumer concern about inflation.
It’s customary for grocery chains to hold prices steady as much as possible during the busy holiday season, but Nova Scotia-based Empire Company — which owns Sobeys, FreshCo, Foodland, Farm Boy, Longo’s and Safeway — says it is taking that policy one step further this year to include more items.
“Typically, we would hold prices on approximately 90 per cent of packaged products during this time,” spokesperson Andrew Walker told CBC News in a statement.
This year, the chain says the “totality” of its packaged goods offerings will see prices held at their November 2023 price until at least January. That’s about 20,000 products, all told, and it includes the cancellation of planned price increases on about 1,700 items.
“This action will remain in place regardless of any internal or external conditions that might cause those prices to go up,” Walker said.
Efforts to stabilize prices
Walker confirmed the news, which was first reported by the Toronto Star.
He added that the chain has “significant and meaningful plans in development to continue to help stabilize food prices past February,” but declined to offer specifics.
More than a month ago, Canada’s Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne teased at a press conference that the major grocery chains were about to announce plans to “stablize” food prices “within days,” but none of the chains have announced anything concrete in the five weeks since that pronouncement.
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“Empire has taken Minister Champagne’s and Canadian’s concerns seriously and we have done everything possible as requested by the Minister in the mid-September meeting with grocers,” Empire said in its statement.
Limited price freezes are a fairly common occurrence in the industry over the holiday season. Last year, No Frills made headlines by freezing prices on its No Name products in a move that experts told CBC News at the time was more of a public relations strategy than a real policy shift.
Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, says the moves by retailers have more to do with global inflationary forces easing than any pressure from government.
“This has a lot more to do with the supply chain working itself out than anything the Government of Canada has done recently,” he told CBC News in an interview.
While he gives Empire credit for genuinely expanding its typical price freeze beyond what they would normally have done by including products outside of the in-house brand names it controls, he cautions that some sort of price freeze this time of year is industry standard, whether the companies used to announce it or not.
“This time of year, historically, we normally see retailers freeze prices on some products. They would have just done that as part of their operations, a business decision,” he said. “But given the sensitivity around pricing and increases, we’ve seen more companies being more public with practices they’ve already been doing.”
The move by Empire comes on the same day that Statistics Canada released its latest consumer price index.
The data shows the inflation rate on food decelerated to an annual pace of 5.4 per cent. That’s down from 5.5 per cent the month before, but still well ahead of the 3.1 per cent overall inflation rate.
“Food is still getting more expensive but the pressure on the gas pedal is coming off,” McCann said. “The numbers going in the right direction.”
