Two 16-year-old youths are charged with second degree murder following the death of a 55-year-old man in Grandmother’s Bay.

RCMP from Stanley Mission were called to residence in the community on Oct. 8 at about 6:45 pm to investigate a report about an unaccounted for person.

They entered the residence and found a deceased man, confirmed later to be George Roberts of of Grandmother’s Bay. His family has been notified.

Investigators determined Roberts’ death was suspicious.

The RCMP Major Crime Unit South led the investigation with the assistance of officers from Stanley Mission, La Ronge RCMP, Prince Albert and Tisdale Forensic Identification Services, Saskatoon and Prince Albert Provincial General Investigation Sections, Major Crime Unity North and the Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service.

As a result of investigation, two 16-year-old youths were arrested on October 12. The youths can’t be named or identified publicly, as per Section 110 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

 The youth are each charged with:

– 1 count, second degree murder, Section 235, Criminal Code

– 1 count, robbery, Section 344, Criminal Code

– 1 count, break and enter and commit indictable offence, Section 348, Criminal Code

 Both youth made their first court appearance in La Ronge on October 14, 2021.

All seated dining venues will need proof of vaccine or negative test

As of October 18, all seated dining establishments in the province including fast food will be required to collect proof of a negative test or vaccination from patrons.

The province announced the expanded public health order on Oct. 15, along with the requirement for retail liquor sales and stores with an integrated permit that includes a restaurant or tavern.

“We still have high case numbers,” said Dr. Saqib Shahab, Chief Medical Officer for the province. “If our numbers stay as high as they are, it may not be sustainable for the health system and suddenly if we see a bump after thanksgiving.”

There has been some flattening in the amount of new cases, but hospitalizations generally lag spikes in case numbers by a week or two.  

Shahab said that while Saskatchewan now has 84 per cent of eligible people with a first dose of vaccine and 75 per cent with two doses, the province is still behind where it needs to be.

“Many provinces in Canada are in the high 90s now many large urban areas in the high 90s with the first dose and second dose,” he said. “I don’t want to accept that we in Saskatchewan should be behind anyone. It doesn’t matter if you live rural or northern. There’s no excuse not to get vaccinated.”

There are some exemptions to the requirement that businesses must ask for vaccination or negative test proof, such as grocery stores, businesses with an integrated liquor license that do not also run a tavern or restaurant, integrated cannabis permit holders, places of worship including weddings and funerals, personal, health or professional services, libraries, hotels or lodging with self-serve food options, amateur sporting events and private gatherings at public venues or private gatherings at private residences.

While the new cases have dropped slightly, a change attributed to the re-introduction of the mandatory mask indoors requirement a month ago and increase in first doses, hospitalizations remain high with 335 people receiving inpatient care and 78 receiving intensive care.

The Sask. Public Safety Agency was given the job of co-ordinating the provincial response including logistics – last week. They are still looking beyond the provincial borders in a ‘just in case’ scenario should the current capacity of 130 ICU beds not be enough.

“We have been in contact with Manitoba regarding out of province patient transfers,” said Marlo Pritchard, president of the SPSA. “This process is about pre-planning and ensuring there is a seamless process in place.”

Pritchard confirmed that four million rapid tests are expected to be delivered in November and they are working on securing another four million in December.

The province plans to make rapid tests widely available – including in schools and homes – as a way to slow the spread of the very contagious Delta variant.

 “While these tests to not diagnose COVID-19 they are effective in screening people who may be COVID positive but asymptomatic and require further investigation,” said Pritchard.

People who receive a positive rapid test need to call 811 for further instructions on getting a PCR test. The province is no longer routinely testing exposed people who have no symptoms as a way to husband resources.

By 8 am on Oct. 16, all 44,000 SHA staff are expected to have submitted their plan to either be vaccinated or to enter the self-testing program.

So far, 1,000 volunteers and student along with 39,000 staff have declared their intention with the vast majority indicating they are or will be vaccinated.

“98 per cent of SHA employees are vaccinated. One per cent have opted in for the negative test option. One per cent will be using medical/religious reasons but still need to provide a negative test,” said Shahab.

Failure to opt in to one or the other is a violation of the policy and can result in consequences as far as dismissal.

“It’s a policy within the organization that individuals must either be vaccinated or they must enter the testing program or they must otherwise have an exemption for religious or medical accommodation reasons. Those individuals would also have to participate in the testing program,” Miller said.

Anyone who opts to provide a proof of a negative test must have one that has been paid for by a private company and it must be less than 72 hours old.

It cannot be a provincially-funded or self-administered rapid test.

Miller said the province is in the process of confirming which private companies will be offering testing and interested parties can contact them through the provincial website.

First doses of vaccine continue to climb, a sign that Shahab takes some heart from.

Many are people who thought that a medical condition meant they should not receive the vaccine.

“In fact there are hardly any contraindications to the vaccine and many people were hesitant because they had a medical condition and they thought they shouldn’t get vaccinated. It’s actually the other way around. Any medical condition puts you at higher risk,” he said.

The vaccine verifier app can be downloaded by anyone and Shahab encouraged people to do so.

The province has been challenged by group of homeless advocates and Regina MLA Meara Conway(NDP) to modify the two-year-old Social Income Support program.

The program was first announced in January 2019, replacing the Sask. Assistance Program and the Transitional Employment Allowance.

However, Conway said that it is impossible for people to live on the dollars provided, saying no one could do it, not even herself.

“Let me be perfectly clear – I cannot. I venture to say that nobody could do that. This amount is grossly inadequate,” she said.

The allowance currently given for a single person is $285 per month, in addition to a shelter allowance of $525.

A family of four would receive $285, plus $65 monthly per child and a shelter allowance of $750 per month.

Some benefits, such as the Canada Child Benefit and GST rebates are exempt but other sources of income can be deducted from the allowance provided.

Other changes include deductions of advanced money for damage deposit and the fact that basic utilities are no longer paid at actual costs. Instead they are included in the shelter benefit.

“Already one third of those on the program are at risk of eviction. We’re hearing from the Landlord association that nearly ½ could not afford their full rent in Sept. And 30 per cent did not pay their rent at all,” said Carr.

We are currently facing a crisis and I want to emphasize this is a crisis of the government’s own making. This was a slow moving car crash,” she said.

Prince Albert has about 100 homeless people, according to a recent federal survey. In the 2016 federal census, 3,370 households were also identified as spending more than 30 per cent of their income on shelter costs.

Peter Gilmer from the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry said that the result of increased homelessness was predictable.

 “We predicted right off the bat that this was going cause incredible hardship for people and a growth in homelessness. Two years later, that’s exactly what we’re seeing,” he said.

His office works with 2,000 – 2,500 cases annually and he said that some parts of the previous system need to be re-instated.

“We know that the direct payment system is an option that people need to have,” said Gilmer. “People had the option to have their bills paid directly, to have their rents paid directly. That option is no longer there and certainly we’re seeing hardship connected to that.”

The issue is province-wide, however, and some benefits drop slightly for those outside of Saskatoon and Regina.

“We’re dealing with a systemic problem that affects thousands and thousands of people across Saskatchewan. This is a public policy question. This is a legislative question,” Gilmer said. “These rates have been too low for too long. But this has taken them to a new depth of despair for many households.

“We want the minister to come back to the table. Adequacy is the key piece to be dealt with.”

The group is asking the province to return to paying rents directly to landlords and to provide shelter for homeless people before winter.

The North Central region saw 25 new cases added to its COVID caseload on Oct. 14 while 28 people remain in the hospital after contracting the virus.

Of the hospitalized people, five are in the ICU.

There are currently 368 actively infected people in the region and of those; 157 are in North Central 1 (seven new cases in the last 24 hours), 118 in Prince Albert (eight in the last 24 hours) and 94 in North Central 3 (10 in the last 24 hours).

Yesterday, 121 tests were done and 403 doses of vaccine administered, with 194 additional people now fully vaccinated.

All told, 51,482 residents of the region are now fully vaccinated, which equates to just over 58 per cent of the entire population.

Provincially as of Oct. 14, 315 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 73,350 reported cases

The new cases are located in the Far North West (12), Far North East (20), North West (60), North Central (25), North East (12), Saskatoon (72), Central West (2), Central East (26), Regina (29), South West (5), South Central (8) and South East (28) zones and 16 new cases have pending residence information

18 cases with pending residence information were reassigned to Far North West (from October 10 (1), October 12 (2)), Far North East (from October 9 (1)), North West (from September 12 (1)), North Central (from October 12 (3)), Saskatoon (from October 11 (1), October 12 (2)), Central East (from October 8 (1)), Regina (from October 11 (1), October 12 (3)), South Central (from October 12 (1)), and South East (from October 12 (1)) zones

Twenty two (22) non-SK residents were removed from North West (from September 18 (1)), and pending locations (from September 3 (1), September 5 (2), September 6 (7), September 7 (2), September 9 (1), September 14 (1), September 15 (1), September 19 (2), September 20 (1), September 21 (2), and September 22 (1))

73,350 cases are confirmed

-17,935 cases are from the North area (7,922 North West, 7,345 North Central, 2,668 North East)

-17,700 cases are from the Saskatoon area

-14,512 cases are from the Regina area

-8,861 cases are from the South area (2,000 South West, 2,718 South Central, 4,143 South East)

-8,760 cases are from the Far North area (4,102 Far North West, 541 Far North Central, 4,117 Far North East)

-4,955 cases are from the Central area (1,325 Central West, 3,630 Central East)

-627 cases have pending residence information

-4,294 cases are considered active and 68,287 cases are considered recovered

More than one-quarter (29.2 per cent) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39

More than one-quarter (27.0 per cent) of new cases eligible for vaccination (aged 12 years and older) were fully vaccinated

As of October 14, a total of 335 individuals are hospitalized, including 260 inpatient hospitalizations and 75 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 335 patients, 251 (74.9 per cent) were not fully vaccinated.

Five (5) new deaths reported today. 769 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died, with a case fatality rate of 1.0 per cent.

1,183,449 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of October 12, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 997,429 tests performed per million. The national rate of 1,174,624 tests performed per million.

The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 418 (34.7 new cases per 100,000)

A 35-year-old man in the custody of Prince Albert Police has died, the PAPS announced on Oct. 12.

The man was found unresponsive in his cell just after 7:00 pm on Oct. 11 and taken to Victoria Hospital by Parkland Ambulance where he was later pronounced dead.

He had been arrested on Friday, Oct. 8 just after 3:00 pm on multiple outstanding warrants.

He was to appear in court on Tuesday, Oct. 12.

The RCMP has been asked to oversee the investigation and the province has assigned an independent observer as well.

A seven year old girl is dead after being struck by a motor vehicle on Highway 5, about 10 kilometres west of Wadena.

Wadena RCMP were called to the scene at about 7:35pm and say that the child was hit by an eastbound vehicle.

The driver remained at the scene and called for emergency assistance.

Wadena RCMP, EMS and local fire personnel responded. The girl who is from the Wadena RCMP detachment area, was pronounced deceased at the scene. Her family has been notified.

Highway #5 was closed for approximately five hours while Wadena RCMP and Saskatchewan RCMP Collision Reconstruction completed initial investigation.

The investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing. We do not have further information to release at this time.