Moose Jaw's next Community Conversation has been announced for Friday, Dec. 15, at the Events Centre, and will be jointly facilitated by Geoff Anderson from the Moose Jaw Co-op and Cheantelle Fisher from the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank.
Titled the 'Community Caring Strategy', Anderson and Fisher said they are determined that the meeting should result in tangible goals, real commitments, and a united action plan. The meeting is by invitation only and has sought to invite key 'change makers' to hammer out a true collaboration.
"The Community Caring Strategy is about bringing everybody together at a larger scale, probably, than has ever been done before, to brainstorm solutions that will work for all of our citizens of Moose Jaw," Anderson said. Anderson is general manager of the Moose Jaw Co-op, current board chair of the Downtown Moose Jaw Association of businesses, and sits on the board of the Moose Jaw Transition House.
"Cheantelle Fisher is Client Resource Manager for the food bank, she has a lot of knowledge and education and is definitely a key contact to our most vulnerable," Anderson continued. "For myself, my standpoint is representing the business community and the Moose Jaw Co-op, and making sure that we live our vision by putting people first and being community leaders."
A policy document accompanying the event announcement proposes that the discussion be guided by a core principle:
"Those who cannot support themselves deserve to have food, shelter, and access to the necessary programs, services, and supports to help them deal with the causes of homelessness."
Invitees include representatives from all three levels of government, the Moose Jaw Police Service, Emergency Medical Services, non-profit and community-based organizations, local businesspeople, Indigenous leaders, people with lived experience, and more.
Fisher is a long-time social services worker who pioneered the Syngage program at the Moose Jaw Food Bank. Syngage offers clients help beyond food insecurity by teaching life skills, helping them navigate various sources of assistance, and listening closely to their actual needs.
"Now that we've had a few of these community conversations, the next step is making sure that members of municipal, provincial, and federal governments are paying attention, invited, and participating," Fisher said. "Now that we've shared a whole bunch of knowledge with each other, and we're trying to come together as a community, we also need an action plan.
"It's not enough just to talk about it and continue hosting these conversations. We need folks who are ready to make a commitment to our community, to better support all of our citizens, not just select groups. And that comes from having policymakers involved and pushing for the change we need."
Fisher believes the primary driver of the crisis is a failure on the part of government social assistance programs to keep pace with the cost of living. She visited the Saskatchewan Legislature in May 2022 to speak for her clients, noting that provincial Social Services refers people directly to non-government-funded organizations like the food bank, and claws back additional income even for clients living far below the poverty line.
"Community-based organizations and non-profits are propping up a failing system, and we are struggling to maintain that support," she said. "We have to go into our community consistently to ask for that support, and when everyone is struggling, how can we expect them to keep feeding everyone else? We're giving everything we can, and we have folks who are living rough — to put it very lightly.
"The compromise needs to come from the government, and from business owners in the sense that they are willing now to be educated and to take responsibility for everyone in the community, whether or not they vote, or use a grocery store, or pay rent. They need help, and we're running out of resources."
Anderson said they have tried to invite as many key individuals to the meeting as possible, but acknowledged that it was inevitable that some will be left out.
"We have tried to do our very best," he said. "That being said, certainly we hope there will be future opportunities to hear those voices, as well.
"This is about education, it's about coming together, it's about collaborating. It's about not taking away from current provincial, federal, or other support programs, but enhancing them with tangible actions we can measure to ensure that what we're trying to accomplish is actually making a difference for the people that are most vulnerable in our community."
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