We, the undersigned residents of the Province of Saskatchewan, wish to bring to your attention the following: 

On June 17, 2020, the Government of Saskatchewan announced $120 million dollars to expand the remand centre at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, adding 216 cells capable of holding 427 people. This announcement comes at a time when calls are echoing around the world and in our own province to address systemic and institutional racism against BIPOC (Black/Indigenous/People of Colour), to defund police and to divert money into social services and community supports.

Furthermore, this announcement comes immediately after the province did not make room in their budget for the $1.3 million dollars requested to open a Safe Consumption Site in Saskatoon, which would prevent overdoses, reduce HIV transmission and connect individuals with crucial health care services. 

By directing $120 million to expand a prison, the Government of Saskatchewan is signalling to its residents that there is always funding for increasing policing and prisons but no money to address the root and contributing factors of over-incarceration in this province: poverty & homelessness, institutional racism, lack of mental health and addictions supports. Community safety for all means investing in social services: safe & affordable housing, increasing mental health and addictions services, adding emergency and transitional shelter beds, and educational and youth programming, as well as implementing the TRC Calls to Actions and the MMIWG’s Calls to Justice, NOT by adding to our prison system and continuing to over-incarcerate Indigenous peoples in this province.  

We call upon the Government of Saskatchewan to reconsider their decision to expand the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, and instead direct these funds to community supports and alternatives to incarceration.