Organizers at “Camp Marjorie” voiced their concerns to the Saskatchewan Minister of Social Services on how to help those utilizing the camp and to rethink the current Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS).
Shylo Stevenson says it’s a start but action speaks louder than words.
“I think it was more of a damage control meeting. But glad we got to sit at the table and voice our concerns,” said Stevenson, Regina Needle Recovery and Community Support Communications Officer. “We’re over 1,000 hours of volunteer running Camp Marjorie so we need somebody else to step up and take the lead from us and learn what we learned in moving forward.”
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Camp Marjorie, formerly known as Regina’s Tent City located at Pepsi Park, is housing people who are affected by homelessness after SIS came into effect. Camp Marjorie, at last count, had 61 tents and over 100 people.
Camp organizers have been requesting a meeting with Social Services Minister Lori Carr for a while now and received notification on Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, that a meeting was scheduled for Monday afternoon.
“We got a commitment today that they’re sitting with the City of Regina looking at an indoor space,” said Stevenson.
Carr said the meeting with Stevenson went well and they discussed possible steps of going forward with the goal of not having anyone sleep outside. Carr said they are working with community-based organizations and City of Regina to find a space for those affected by the SIS program.
“We’re working on what that will look like moving forward, what kind of indoor space we can find for them,” said Carr. “We’re just working through the logistics and hopefully we have a solution sooner than later.”
Stevenson said they will be meeting again in the future to further discuss solutions.
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