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The partners group includes city hall, the city police and fire departments, the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the Saskatoon Tribal Council, the University of Saskatchewan, Indigenous educational institutions and the Central Urban Metis Federation Inc. (CUMFI).

Clark told the gathering that he met last week with Premier Scott Moe, Health Minister Jim Reiter and deputy premier and Saskatoon MLA Gord Wyant to discuss the growing issue. He said the provincial government has committed to work together to address the problem.

Clark said the city alone cannot implement a drug court or change treatment so it’s geared toward crystal meth and fentanyl. Provincial officials were aware of Friday’s news conference, he added.

The partners group also plans to work on creating more safe places for youth that are open 24-7 and to ensure that outreach services are better co-ordinated.

“What we don’t want to see in Saskatoon is to get to the same place they are and have been in Vancouver and Hamilton and some of the other cities where overdose deaths have gotten extreme,” Clark told reporters.

“We also know right now we have a record number of homicides in our city. We know many of them are drug fuelled. So we know the issue is real.”

CUMFI president Shirley Isbister said the threat of drugs and violence in inner-city neighbourhoods has become “scary.” CUMFI hears from seniors who are afraid to walk a block to the bank in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood near St. Paul’s Hospital, she said.