Fairmont Baptist Church pastor claims Emergency Wellness Center is operating illegally

Fairmont Baptist Church pastor Robert Pearce continues to call on the province and city of Saskatoon to “end the Fairhaven fiasco” and close the Emergency Wellness Center because he believes a disturbing truth about the facility has been revealed have.

Robert Pearce says the Emergency Wellness Center has been operating illegally since its founding in 2022.

Through a Freedom of Information request, Pearce said he saw a letter addressed to the province from the City of Saskatoon. The letter promotes EWC as a specialty care home, but Pearce says the facility does not meet the criteria required for that. This includes a kitchen, laundry service, as well as a full-time nurse, nutritionist and licensed physician.

The facility is also not listed as a specialty care home in the Saskatchewan Gazette Part I as required by law.

“That’s a big problem right there. It was obviously never intended to be a special care home,” Pearce explains.

Additionally, specialty care homes are allowed in M2 zoning districts like Fairhaven, but emergency shelters are not.

“Under the M2 zoning, there is a whole list of things that are considered fair use of the property. An animal shelter is not one of them,” he explains. “There is an explicit reason why they wanted to classify it as a special care home (and it was) so they couldn't have a rezoning hearing to allow housing there.”

Pearce says he began investigating the status of the EBR after a recent meeting with the province where it emerged the facility is being funded as an emergency shelter.

“It just didn’t seem right. It certainly wasn't a special nursing home. I was a nursing home pastor for four years. I know the demands placed on nursing homes.”

He's also asking the city to reimburse Fairhaven residents for 18 months of repairs, stolen goods and security measures they had to complete.