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269 Hamilton Road Yorkton 306-783-6666 Volume 48, Issue 46 Price - $1.52 plus GST
Your Community Connection
Return undeliverable items to: Yorkton This Week 20 Third Ave. N., Yorkton, SK S3N 2X3
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Down she comes
Staff Photo by Tyson Off
The St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church monastery, which was constructed in 1913 for the Ukrainian branch of the Redemptorist Fathers, was demolished last
week. The building had been a residence for local serving monks for decades. Cleanup for the demolition continued into this week.
Mayors calling for review of Social Housing Program By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer Mayors from Saskatchewan’s cities are calling for a review of the province’s social housing program, specifically eligibility criteria, as thousands of affordable housing units sit vacant. “Stable housing is a basic need,” Mayor Gerald Aalbers, Chair of SUMA’s City Mayors’ Caucus, said in a release. “There are individuals in need of adequate, affordable shelter in our communities, yet we have more than 3,000 affordable housing units sitting vacant throughout the
province, some chronically vacant.” Yorkton Mayor Mitch Hippsley said the number of vacant houses was surprising. “We didn’t even know that,” he said. So are there houses sitting vacant in Yorkton? “I don’t think we do in Yorkton,” said Hippsley, adding “I’d like to identify do we have house vacancies? “I’m led to believe we don’t.” Hippsley said the city would be willing to help gather data but added housing is not a municipal responsibility, so it would have to be with the province taking a lead
role. “We want to help them, but we can’t download everything to the city . . . Our challenge would be to get them the information they need,” he said. Hippsley said the issue of homelessness provincially does seem to be on the rise as rents go up and low income people simply don’t have the money to afford housing. He added the situation could get worse as the provincial government seeks to grow Saskatchewan’s population by 200,000 in the next five years, a growth that could require up
to 100,000 new homes “to accommodate that growth.” As a housing market tightens rents rise and that hurts low income people, noted Hippsley. It’s a situation where some city mayors are receiving calls from people facing housing issues, said Hippsley. “It seems to be ramping up. They’re getting more phone calls,” he said, adding personally “I’m not getting phone calls here.” The City Mayors’ Caucus discussed the Social Housing Program at their meeting on June
24. Saskatchewan’s Social Housing Program, administered by local housing authorities on behalf of the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation, is designed to provide safe and adequate housing to families and seniors with low incomes and people with disabilities. Housing is available in approximately 270 communities across Saskatchewan. S a s k a t c h e w a n ’s city mayors are calling on the Ministry of Social Services and the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation to review housing criteria, in partnership with municipalities, to ensure that the
housing units are being appropriately used to improve housing stability. “Mental health and addictions are a top concern for Saskatchewan’s city mayors and for all of Saskatchewan’s hometowns,” said Mayor Aalbers, who also serves as Vice-President of Cities for SUMA, in a release. “Ensuring that those in need of housing have access to adequate, affordable, and stable accommodations is a first step to helping address the mental health and addictions crisis that we face within our province.”
Manitoba potash mine to begin production By Tyson Off Staff Writer RUSSELL – Manitoba’s first potash mine is set to begin production this summer at the Russell McAuley Deposit. “It’s a private entity called Padcom who has
worked for...quite a few years on developing a potash mine in Manitoba,” said Cheryl Kingdon-Chartier, Mayor of Russell, Manitoba, adding, “that has now come to fruition – they’re hoping to start production, I believe, this summer.”
“It’s a surface solution mine which is quite a different concept than the rest of the potash mines that we’re familiar with around here – leaving a smaller carbon footprint and being less expensive, I believe,” said KingdonChartier. “Using a sustainable
process, the production capacity of the potash mine is estimated to be 250,000 tonnes per year,” read an article from GeoVerra’s website, the company Padcom worked with to “provide surveying support and expertise in navigating the regulatory environ-
ment.” Kingdon-Chartier said she thinks the mine will have a positive impact on the surrounding area. “Any economic development is a good impact on a rural area and the size of this – I feel – will have a positive
impact on our municipality and municipalities around us as well,” said Kingdon-Chariter, noting, “Manitoba, historically, has never had a potash mine, so that alone is quite important in the province’s development and locally even moreso, a project of that size.”
New YAIL Harbor group home officially opened By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer YORKTON - A new YAIL Harbor group home was officially opened with a ribbon cutting Thursday. YAIL Harbor is a community-based organization that has
been providing person-centred supports to people with intellectual disabilities since 1973. The Ministry of Social Services provides more than $433,000 in annual operational funding for the home. Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit on behalf of Social
Services Minister Gene Makowsky said the new home provides a high quality of life for its residents which is so important. “It’s because of our community partners like YAIL Harbor that Saskatchewan is closer to becoming a more accessible
place where everyone has the supports they need to reach their full potential,” Ottenbreit said in a written presentation. Yorkton Mayor Mitch Hippsley said having housing for varied needs is “what builds a community.” “YAIL Harbor Inc.’s commit-
ment to community inclusion and quality care of the participants we help support makes the organization’s vision a reality,” YAIL Harbor Executive Director Sonya Reviczky said. “I would like to say a huge
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