The Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords. (File photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Looking for permanent solution

Lighthouse support rally planned for Thursday

Mar 9, 2021 | 3:00 PM

The Save the Lighthouse supporters are planning a rally Thursday to raise awareness that the Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords is in need of a permanent core funding source.

The rally will take place at city hall in North Battleford from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

The rally organizers are asking community leaders and members of the public to join in solidarity with the Lighthouse clients “to call on the Saskatchewan government to provide core, stable, guaranteed funding to emergency homelessness shelters in Saskatchewan.”

The Lighthouse Supported Living recently announced they can no longer operate an emergency shelter program at the Battlefords location due to a substantial funding changes. The facility was initially scheduled to close April 1. However, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) announced Friday it is stepping up to provide interim funding for the Battlefords Lighthouse emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic.

North Battleford mayor David Gillan said at city council Monday the city is meeting with area partners to discuss the situation, as the concern remains how the Lighthouse facility can remain financially sustainable on a permanent basis.

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“We are still working on a long-term solution so that we have stable funding, and a stable service here in our community,” he said.

Provincial Métis Housing Corporation (PMHC), an affiliate of MN-S, previously provided core funding for the Battlefords Lighthouse shelter through the federally-funded Reaching Home Program. But when it was time for the Lighthouse to apply for funding again this year, PMHC was unable to meet its request as there was increased demand from homelessness response initiatives throughout Saskatchewan.

“We had more applications than we had funding available,” PMHC interim executive director Christena Konrad told battlefordsNOW. “So the community advisory board had to prioritize the best applicants that came in. They just didn’t score as high as the other ones all across the province.”

She said it was a difficult decision determining which projects to award the funding.

“All across the province there are homelessness needs,” Konrad said… “It is unfortunate, but it is such a competitive process. If we were to allocate funding to the Lighthouse, there is the possibility there would have been another type of homeless shelter that could have been closed or had the same problem.”

Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Rosemarie Falk said in a statement to battlefordsNOW she has reached out to the Lighthouse.

“I share in the enormous disappointment about the Provincial Métis Housing Corporation’s decision to reallocate Reaching Home Strategy funds elsewhere..,” she said. “While the decision ultimately rests with the Provincial Métis Housing Corporation—the community entity responsible for managing the Reaching Home Strategy funds—I have reached out to the Lighthouse’s executive director Don Windels to offer my support in my capacity as Member of Parliament.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW