‘Refresh your body, your soul, and your mind:’ Saskatoon Tribal Council makes washroom project a success

Nov 5, 2024

Staff from the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s Sawēyihtotān outreach program made a 24-hour washroom site into a safe haven offering life-changing support for people in need.

“At first it was just a place I could come get something to eat, a place to warm up and just someone to talk to every once in a while,” Shay Whitehead said during a visit to the site at 315 Avenue M South.

Having come to Saskatoon from the Pelican Lake First Nation, Whitehead has struggled with the harsh, isolating and often dangerous conditions of life on the city’s streets.

The site set up late this summer offered a portable washroom trailer, a fire pit and a few canopies with workers handing out sandwiches, coffee and snacks.

For Whitehead, the space soon became “a safe place to run to” where Sawēyihtotān staff treated her with compassion and respect.

“They understood in a different way,” Whitehead said. “Not everyone has lived the life we have, living on the streets, coming up the way we have.”

As they got to know Whitehead better, staff were able to help her access Post-Majority Support Services, a program supporting First Nations people under 26 who previously “aged out” of services received while they were children in care.

“I’m looking forward to having an apartment, a roof over my head,” Whitehead said, adding she’s amazed the path to a brighter future started with just “walking up to a fricking building and asking for a sandwich.”

Shay Whitehead (left) and Outreach Supervisor Tracey Grand’Maison met during a pilot project staffed by the STC’s Sawēyihtotān program. Whitehead is among many Relatives now connected to ongoing supports after visiting the site.

HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE SERVED EVERY DAY

Staff recorded about 15,000 contacts with Relatives accessing the washroom site in just over two months, or about 250 people for each day the washroom site was in operation.

Outreach supervisor Tracey Grand’Maison and the Sawēyihtotān team made sure every Relative who visited was treated like family.

“A bonfire and an open chair is the best, most welcoming sight that anyone can see on a cold day,” Grand’Maison said.

Relatives also appreciated opportunities to smudge, hear Indigenous languages being spoken, and engage with other services rooted in First Nations culture, she said.

STC will help anyone in need, regardless of background. However, a majority of people seeking services are Indigenous.  As someone working on behalf of a First Nations-led organization, Grand’Maison said she’s able to build trust, helping Relatives “realize you’re not just another person who says they’ll help, then lets them down.”

Once a Relative is comfortable asking for more help, Sawēyihtotān workers can bring in the full range of STC’s expertise, including help accessing programs, housing, and health supports.

“It’s a phenomenal resource to have as outreach workers, to know it’s just one call away,” Grand’Maison said.

The portable washroom trailer closed for this year on Oct. 31. Grand’Maison said she hopes to be back in the spring, ideally with a better name for the site.

“’Public bathroom project’ doesn’t do it justice” she said.  “There should be a name, a word in some language that means: ‘to refresh your body, your soul and your mind.’”

DATA HIGHLIGHTS CRISIS, GUIDES RESPONSE

Large numbers of Relatives visiting the washroom site this summer make it clear Saskatoon continues to face serious challenges around housing, poverty, mental health and addictions.

“When we see 250 people a day coming to this project needing services, it shows the crisis we have with homelessness in Saskatoon,” STC Tribal Chief Mark Arcand said.

Well over 80 per cent of Relatives served by Sawēyihtotān workers self-identify as being from First Nations; this includes Relatives from the STC’s seven member communities, as well as First Nations throughout Saskatchewan and Canada.

Outreach workers had contacts with people from 94 different First Nations between April 1. 2023 and March 31.

“When we have homelessness affecting First Nations people at such high rates, the response has to be First Nations-led,” Arcand said. “We see better results when First Nations Relatives can access a continuum of care based on First Nations culture.

In just a two-month pilot project with the washroom site, Sawēyihtotān team members made countless individual connections that led to Relatives accepting ongoing STC services and supports.

Outreach workers at the washroom site were also able to respond to three instances where families with small children were discovered to be living in vehicles; all three families were placed in safe housing with ongoing access to support.

“Many of our Relatives are in extremely vulnerable positions; they may not feel safe, or able to ask for help,” Arcand said. “We’re able to build trust with Relatives because when they come to us, they’re treated with dignity and respect by people who embrace their First Nations culture.”

This summer’s public washroom project was made possible through a partnership between STC, the City of Saskatoon, Central Urban Métis Federation Inc. and the Saskatoon Friendship Inn.

“The Saskatoon Tribal Council has earned our community partners’ trust through decades of delivering positive results,” Arcand said. “We’ll keep having success by working together to deliver programs guided by First Nations culture to First Nations people.”

NT4