‘Overwhelming’: Saskatoon firefighters have gone to 901 drug poisoning calls since January

Mayor Cynthia Block said Saskatoon needs more housing, including units with supportive services.

The black concrete walls outside Saskatoon’s only safe consumption site show the wake left by the city’s drug crisis.

The names of those who’ve died, most from drug poisoning, are scrawled on the Prairie Harm Reduction building. Kim Randall, the director of support services, points to the name of a woman who went by Baby Sis. She died in January.

“She worked for us for years,” Randall told The Canadian Press. “It was really a hard hit to the community.”

Support worker Vern Keeper lost his partner, Charity, five years ago. Her name is also on the wall.

“Every day, two or three overdoses. Thank God we get there on time for many of them,” Keeper said.

Prairie Harm Reduction, located outside downtown, has been battered by the crisis in Saskatchewan’s largest city. A highly toxic batch of drugs, some with light pink or dark purple pills, infiltrated Saskatoon in January.

Kayla DeMong, the organization’s executive director, said more names were added to the walls in the last month.

“I have an envelope in my office full of funeral cards. We used to hang them up. I can’t look at them anymore,” she said, wiping away tears.