A photo taken during a recent HUB meeting. (Submitted/ Prince Albert Police Service)

By Nigel Maxwell

Social issues

COVID-19 provides challenges for HUB

Nov 25, 2021 | 5:00 PM

The Chair of Prince Albert’s HUB steering committee says the pandemic has had a big impact on both the number of referral calls they have received, as well as the types of calls.

HUB is a multi-agency team focused on assisting people who are considered an elevated risk. They take a preventative approach to crime reduction, as well as mitigating the likelihood of someone experiencing harm. Its membership is comprised of representatives from agencies such as police, social services, mental heath, and education. Committee chair Cst. Loralee Polowski told paNOW there has been a dramatic shift in the past 20 months.

“Before it was mostly parenting and some domestic violence situations, now there’s a lot of substance abuse,” she said.

On Thursday, Cst. Polowski gave a presentation to the Board of Police Commissioners about HUB, and explained in 2020 they had 62 files. For 2021, that number jumped to over 150.

Cst. Polowski answered a lot of questions from curious board members about a spike in HUB calls. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

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One of the issues raised during the meeting was a change in how calls with social services (Child and Family Services) are being dealt with. Polowski explained calls originating in Prince Albert are being sent to Regina, filtered, and then sent back to Prince Albert.

Janet Carriere, executive director of Prince Albert’s Indian Metis Friendship Centre, said cutbacks in staff and the streamlining of services, has had a big impact on local families, who she explained are waiting hours on the phone for help.

“We had a fellow who was getting the run around and phoning Regina and trying to get one person. He got a different person every time so it took months to get him settled into the system,” she said. “In the meantime, he was becoming a risk to being homeless.”

In a statement provided to paNOW, Jeff Redekop, executive director of Income Assistance Service Delivery, explained there are multiple ways for people to connect with them.

“Individuals who would prefer to access services in-person can do so by visiting the Prince Albert Income Assistance Service Centre at 1288 Central Avenue during business hours,” he said.

The HUB committee meets every Tuesday and Thursday where new cases are presented. Updates to current cases are also discussed. Inspector Craig Mushka oversees the committee and said the turnout has improved.

“We just had a steering committee meeting [Tuesday] and even at that level, a year ago, it was a struggle to get representation from all the agencies and now everybody is there and back engaged,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell