Resources & Ideas

A Westside Story

A couple of years ago I found myself working nights at a homeless shelter. At first it was just a transitional job but the longer I was there, the more I saw, the more stories I heard, and the more people I became friends with there, the more I wanted to tell the stories of what happened in Riversdale, Pleasant Hill, Meadow Green, Caswell Hill, King George, and the flop houses of downtown Saskatoon.

It is a complex place. It is the epicentre of why Saskatoon was named the second most dangerous city in Canada. Home of senseless violence, despair, a lot of crime, gangs, substance abuse, and poverty. At the same time it is a place of hope with new economic activity, government and NGO's working together to make a difference, and hope for the future.

As my responsibilities have changed I also realize that among the people who call Saskatoon's core neighborhood's home, there is a lot of misconceptions of what different agencies do, why they do it, and how it all fits together. For those that live outside the community, there is a lot of misconceptions about what life is like there.

I thought about writing about it but over the years. Years ago there was a column in the Saskatoon Free Press called A Westside Story. It tried to tell the stories of the westside but in the end print can only convey so much. After watching a series of videos by GOOD Magazine and Sam Slovick on YouTube about Skid Row in Los Angeles, I started to think about putting together a video project on inner city life in Saskatoon.

Over the spring/summer/fall of 2008, I will be collecting the stories of what happens in Saskatoon poorest neighborhoods and producing a series of short documentaries on what life is like for the people that call the part of the city home and those who are trying to make life better there.

If you have any questions, ideas or comments, let me know at .

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Other Agencies Serving Saskatoon's Inner City

• The Salvation Army Community Centre
• AIDS Saskatoon
• The Friendship Inn
• YWCA
• White Buffalo Youth Lodge
• Saskatoon City Police
• Quint Development Corporation
• SWITCH & Westside Clinic
• EGADZ

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