News Releases

Following an extensive veterinary examination of injuries sustained from another animal in his elk herd, the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo had the sad responsibility on Tuesday of euthanizing one of the elk by the name of Winston. 

“We are all heartbroken by this,” says Tim Sinclair-Smith, Zoo Manager.  “We noticed Winston displayed some lameness and discovered he’d been injured near the right shoulder – likely by a kick from one of the other animals in the herd.  This can happen among animals living in a herd – it’s unfortunate but something that just occurs in nature.”

When staff noticed Winston wasn’t himself, they undertook several examinations and transported him to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan for a more in-depth examination.

Following the examination and given a very grim prognosis, Sinclair-Smith and a panel of seven veterinarians met to make the decision to euthanize the elk.

“We simply did not want him to suffer any more,” he says.  “Winston was a very calm and well-mannered elk that won the hearts of all that cared for him.  We will miss Winston and we know that all who knew him will feel the loss.” 

Saskatoon Transit wants to help eliminate the hassle of parking and offer shoppers access to multiple shopping destinations as efficiently as possible.  To do this, Transit is piloting a program called Jingle Bell Express — a new holiday service that will take shoppers on a loop to four malls.

“The holidays can be stressful enough without trying to find parking,” says Jim McDonald, Director of Saskatoon Transit. “We hope to make it a little easier for residents to get around leading up to the holidays and alleviate some of the stress that comes with Christmas shopping.”  

The Jingle Bell Express will be in operation from December 13th until December 23rd.  Regular fares will apply with the exception of Boxing Day when service on the Jingle Bell Express will be free.  Weekday service from 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., weekend service from 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and Boxing Day service from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  The Jingle Bell Express (route #1225) will travel between the following locations:

• Confederation Mall
• Lawson Heights Mall
• Centre Mall
• Market Mall   

Residents are encouraged to use the Transit app to find the bus stop closest to them. Individuals will be able to board the bus and pay using their usual method of payment or $3 in cash. This will be of particular advantage to families who purchase a day pass which will allow four people (max of two adults) to ride for a 24 hour period on the weekend for only $8.50.  Day passes can only be purchased at the Saskatoon Transit customer service office in the downtown terminal.

The Jingle Bell Express route and schedule will be available on the Transit app (route #1225). 

All those who use the service will be encouraged to take a short, 4 question survey and be entered to win one of four $100 gift cards to one of the participating malls.

Yesterday’s notifynow TEST message sent by the City of Saskatoon’s Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) was once again a success based on the feedback from residents and program delivery results.

“Residents that called in yesterday after the TEST message wanted to learn more about how to sign up to customize their notifynow profile, says Deb Davies, Acting Director of Emergency Planning. “Residents are recognizing that in the event of a wide-scale emergency, or one affecting only their neighborhood, they might prefer a text message, and an email in addition to receiving a voice message to their landline. Or maybe they want to make sure their children receive a text message. That’s what is great about the notifynow emergency messaging system; people can customize their profile and tell us how best to contact them and their family members.”

To date, 22,470 residents have gone online to customize their preferred communication method. With the twice-yearly testing of the notifynow system, and by creating ongoing awareness for the program, the City’s EMO hopes to continue to grow this number.

“Testing the system helps  to familiarize residents with what a notifynow message will sound like and how it will be displayed on their phones or their other preferred methods of communication they’ve let us know about by signing up,” says Davies. “Testing helps residents know that a timely and targeted notifynow message is legitimate - and should be trusted. Should a resident receive a notifynow safety message, they’ll know what to do, where to go, and what to expect in an impending, escalating, or occurring emergency situation in Saskatoon. We ask that people save the contact in their address books and cell phones as notifynow for easier identification.

The ability to receive timely emergency communications is critical for all people, including the deaf and hard of hearing. The TEST yesterday sent messages to 86 TTY devices; again, the EMO hopes to continue to see this number grow. To receive accessible notifynow messages, sign up and enter up to two different TTY electronic device methods for text communication via telephone.

The EMO continues to encourage everyone to sign up for notifynow. Tell us how to best reach you with timely, targeted and trusted notifynow messages in an emergency situation. Visit saskatoon.ca/notifynow or call 306-975-3210 for more information.

This holiday season the City of Saskatoon is encouraging residents to keep recycling options in mind.

“We know that the holidays are a time where our community generates a greater amount of garbage than normal. Our ‘Create Memories, Not Garbage’ campaign is an opportunity for us share a gentle waste reduction message,” says Brenda Wallace, Director of Environmental and Corporate Initiatives. “Recycling and composting are important successes for our community, and it’s also important that we start thinking about waste reduction year-round.”   

Wallace says almost 100,000 tonnes of garbage is added to the landfill each year and waste reduction is a critical component to deferring the replacement of the landfill. The costs to close the existing landfill and establish a new landfill are estimated at $26 million and $100 million respectively.  

Here are some recycling and waste reduction suggestions for the holidays:

• Wrapping gifts with reusable materials
• Gifts with less packaging
• Gifts without packaging such as a Leisure Gift Card or tickets to a performance
• Gifts of time participating in one of Saskatoon’s many winter activities
• Gifts of food in reusable or recyclable containers

This is the first year that the City of Saskatoon has conducted a holiday waste reduction campaign. The campaign, built upon Metro Vancouver’s yearly waste reduction campaign will run on social media until January.

More information about purchasing Leisure Gift Cards is available at www.saskatoon.ca/admissions. Winter City activity information is available at www.saskatoon.ca/wintercityyxe.

The campaign supports the Strategic Goal of Environmental Leadership including the four-year priority to promote and facilitate city-wide composting and recycling and the long-term strategy to eliminate the need for a new landfill and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions tied to City operations.  In addition, it supports the Waste Diversion Performance Target to divert 70% of waste by 2023.  

The City has received a $52,000 grant to support the continued development of the City’s asset management policy, strategy and governance framework. Authorization to sign the contribution agreement for the grant received through the Climate and Asset Management Network (CAMN) Program was given by City Council at its meeting on November 20, 2017.

The CAMN Program assists municipalities with embedding asset management as a strategic, ongoing business process while ensuring that the asset management system is set up to be well aligned with strategic goals, including climate action and sustainability goals. 

Joining with 19 communities across Canada, team members from the Finance, Major Projects and Preservation, and Environmental and Corporative Initiatives divisions will participate in training opportunities and in the sharing of knowledge and innovative practices.

“Climate change is not the only risk to the City’s infrastructure and services. We have an ongoing commitment to also consider environmental, social and economic sustainability into our future asset management planning,” says Clae Hack, Director of Finance. “Through phase one, we’ll be looking to identify and strengthen specific assets within our asset management planning for which we can apply to phase two for additional funding of up to $123,000 to further implement our plans.”

The CAMN is available through the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program, which is delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of Canada.

This funding supports the City’s Strategic Goal of Asset and Financial Sustainability by helping to reduce the gap in funding required to rehabilitate and maintain the City’s infrastructure. 

To learn more about the City’s ongoing Corporate Asset Management Plans, visit saskatoon.ca.