Posted: Dec 21, 2020 11:50 AM CT | Last Updated: December 21, 2020
Chief Mark Arcand wants to know where jails fit into Saskatchewan s vaccination strategy.(Don Somers/CBC)
A prominent First Nations leader in Saskatoon says it s time to talk about where people behind bars fit into the province s COVID-19 vaccination plan.
Mark Arcand is chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council. It provides a range of services inside and outside the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, the provincial jail with the highest number of active COVID cases 78 as of Dec. 18. The majority of people in the jail are First Nations. It has to be a high priority and the government has to realize that because they need a quality of life, too, Arcand said in an interview.
When the leaders of Mountain Top Hose Company No. 1 approached Fairview Twp. supervisors three years ago and asked them to enact a .3 mill fire tax to help support the volunteer fire companyâs operation, they never anticipated the financial impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have on the organization.
Hose company president David Hourigan recently expressed the gratitude of the volunteer department to supervisors for their willingness to impose the tax and for their foresight. âIt is difficult for me to imagine where we would be without it,â Hourigan said of the fire tax revenue.
In the fire companyâs November newsletter, Hourigan reported that through October, the tax has generated $115,299 in revenue for the volunteer organization. The department was scheduled to receive another $889 in December, bringing the total to more than $116,000.