Saskatoon council forced to make ‘deeply frustrating’ last-minute shelter decision

Halyna Mihalik · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 05, 2025 10:53 AM EST | Last Updated: November 6

Saskatoon's politician and metropolis councillors are expressing vexation astir needing to marque a last-minute determination to crook the city's erstwhile autobus depot into a impermanent warming centre.

“I’m precise acrophobic astir however we’re looking astatine locations,” Ward 3 Coun. Robert Pearce said astatine an exigency assembly gathering held Wednesday.

“I’m getting bushed of meetings successful November deciding acold upwind locations.”

Ultimately, assembly voted to marque the erstwhile downtown Saskatchewan Transportation Company autobus depot a impermanent drop-in warming centre, located astatine 50 23rd Street E.

The determination comes aft past week’s assembly meeting, wherever assembly approved a antithetic determination for the warming centre — a erstwhile edifice successful the Riversdale neighbourhood, located astatine 325 Avenue C S. — that would run until the extremity of March.

However, councillors learned the abstraction connected Avenue C wouldn’t beryllium operational for astatine slightest 4 weeks, arsenic renovations request to beryllium completed first.

Saskatoon metropolis assembly voted connected Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, to acquisition this erstwhile edifice astatine 325 Avenue C S. to person it to a wintertime warming centre. (Phil Tank/CBC)

“The state has worked truly hard to find that spot but they were, astatine the past minute, incapable to unafraid the format oregon the installation that they had planned,” Mayor Cynthia Block told big Sam Maciag connected CBC Radio's Blue Sky connected Thursday.

“So that enactment america successful a precise awkward spot yesterday.”

A manager for the metropolis said they tried uncovering different options, but the erstwhile autobus depot ended up being the lone abstraction available.

“There are not a batch of options. No 1 needfully wants to supply their installation for a usage specified arsenic this,” the city’s wide manager of assemblage services, Celene Anger, said astatine Wednesday’s assembly meeting.

“Our volition is to get to a much unchangeable spot truthful we’re not doing this each year, but unluckily it's conscionable not wherever we’re at.”

The hour-long exigency gathering connected Wednesday had immoderate tense moments.

“This is profoundly frustrating,” Block said astatine the meeting.

“We were assured astatine the extremity of past week that the spread would beryllium filled and past abruptly it's not.”

Pearce agreed, referencing the precocious request for structure spaces for women successful the city. The caller warming abstraction volition beryllium unfastened to men and women, and they volition person abstracted sleeping areas overnight.

"I person a weapon to my head. If I ballot against it, I'm the heartless idiosyncratic who wants women to die," Pearce said.

The manager of the city’s onshore division, Frank Long, said helium understood wherever councillors were coming from, but that this was the lone enactment available.

“Having been progressive successful immoderate of the search, it’s tireless and a batch of effort has gone into this,” Long said.

“We’ve looked each implicit successful the city. It’s past minute, but it's wherever we’re at.”

There is $50,000 to $75,000 allocated to get the abstraction acceptable to beryllium utilized arsenic the impermanent warming centre. Anything spent implicit that magnitude would request to beryllium approved by assembly first.

 The abstraction presently has thing successful it, but for 2 half-operational washrooms.

The wealth allocated would spell towards moving successful a impermanent washroom trailer, putting fencing up and hooking up water.

The abstraction is expected to beryllium operating by Friday.