Rent reduced for Riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council
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Council retroactively slashed $1.33 million in rent owed by the Roughriders.
The grounds of the Saskatchewan Legislature will look drastically different Tuesday.
Three groups — Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR), Moms Stop the Harm and the Regina Harm Reduction Coalition — will be planting crosses throughout the Queen Elizabeth II Garden Lawns, signifying each overdose death in the province since 2010.
PHR executive director Jason Mercredi said a lumber mill in the Spiritwood area supplied the crosses, at a cost with the material, and volunteers were brought in a few weeks ago to create the crosses.
“About 20 volunteers (came) in on a Sunday (to) help us make the crosses. Tomorrow, we’re going to have a number of volunteers. It’s going to be open to the public,” Mercredi said, before offering the public the opportunity to plant a stake during the setup.
“(We’ll be) putting up crosses and making sure people can see the staggering amount of people who have been lost.”
Mercredi said every cross not only represents the individual lost but the family and friends of the person.
“We want to make sure that people are aware of what’s going on, and make sure the government is aware because they still haven’t really held a press conference on the overdose crisis to talk about what’s going on (or) what they’re doing to address it,” he said.
“We have overdose deaths going up every year. We really need to start bringing the noise down to Regina.”
As of Aug. 3, 221 individuals have died due to a drug overdose in Saskatchewan in 2021. Saskatchewan is on pace to register 331 overdose deaths by year’s end.
It’s slightly below the pace of 2020, which had a total of 337 overdose deaths as of the latest report by the Saskatchewan Coroners Service.
Mercredi explained what he hopes decision-makers will think when they see the display.
“We hope that it signals to the politicians the impact that this is having on the community and the vast number of people that have died. It keeps getting worse every year. Clearly, what’s being done right now isn’t enough,” he said.
The crosses will be taken down Tuesday evening. A pipe ceremony is planned for 1 p.m., but Mercredi said he doesn’t know if any politicians or decision-makers will be in attendance.
He said there has been overwhelming support from the community, from people asking to speak at the event to those looking to help out.
“I think people who are impacted by the overdose crisis often feel left out of the conversation,” he said. “I think they feel grateful that something’s taking place to help them remember their loved ones and say that they mattered.”