Sask. auditor's latest report urges action on opioid crisis, transitional housing

The latest report from Saskatchewan's provincial auditor outlines concerns around the growing opioid crisis, transitional housing for victims in interpersonal violence and oversight of school divisions.

Tara Clemett spoke about her findings at a news conference Tuesday. 

Clemett pointed to the rise in drug toxicity deaths across the province due to the prevalent use of substances like fentanyl. She said people trying to get into outpatient treatment programs including Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) and Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) — directly operated by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) — are having to wait.

According to a release from the Clemett's office, patients seeking treatment waited an average of four days in Kamsack, nearly five days in Saskatoon and just over a day in Regina. Good practice recommends clients wait no more than three days, the release added.

"When we did our own testing, we did find Saskatoon and Kamsack are not necessarily hitting good practice in terms of someone coming to seek help from a prescriber and seeing them within three days," Clemett said. "The authority needs that information so it can make decisions and know where there might be gaps."

Clemett also found Lloydminster and Estevan, which don't have OAT programs, saw local increases in drug toxicity deaths from 2022 to 2024 over previous periods.

Clemett recommended that the SHA implement a centralized IT system and centralized standards to work toward more accessible treatment services.

"Ultimately, you would hope that would have a positive impact when it does come to them being able to live," she said.

School division safeguards

Clemett also found financial discrepancies within the education system. She said 19 of 27 school divisions should have more financial safeguards in place, especially when it comes to journal entries and electronic fund transfers.

Many schools across the province allow one person to oversee all financial records, increasing the chance for error or hidden information, Clemett said.

"We would always want those to be independently reviewed and approved," she said.

The report also pointed out that 14 independent religious schools in Saskatchewan do not require certified teachers. She questioned if students enrolled in these independent schools are getting an effective education.

"From our perspective, in the event that the ministry is going to allow these schools to have teachers that aren't necessarily certified, they should be doing a better job of monitoring overall student achievement," Clemett said. 

Transitional housing

Transitional housing for interpersonal violence victims was also top of mind for Clemett on Tuesday. 

Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in the country, her report says. While there is transitional housing across the province, the funding varies from one house to the next.

Clemett said the government has no substantial reasoning as to why one transition house may receive more funding than another. 

She referred to Regina and Swift Current, which each have funded transition houses with equal bed numbers, but funding differed by more than $200,000 in 2024–25. 

"There is a limited pot of money here in terms of what can go around, to some degree, to transition space," Clemett said. "So you just want to make sure that you're probably providing the money to the right facilities that really need the help, so that they can serve the people that are looking for safe shelter."

The province's Opposition NDP also made its concerns about the auditor's findings known Tuesday.

Meara Conway, NDP deputy House Leader and critic for rural and remote health, and ethics and democracy, reiterated the issues around interpersonal violence and lack of access to services in the midst of the province's opioid crisis.

She said there is a lack of access to methadone, which increases the likelihood of opioid relapse and deters people from treatment. 

There is also a lack of information for the vulnerable when it comes to accessing treatment and shelters, Conway said.

"We'll continue to see the drug crisis get worse because we have a government that has continuously politicized this crisis instead of roll up their sleeves, meet people where they're at and, you know, provide a range of services where and when people need them."