Saskatoon youth group delivers food, supplies after Prairie Harm Recovery closure

Christen Carter-Red Bear is seeing the need for change in Saskatoon, particularly in the wake of the closure of Prairie Harm Recovery.

Now he and a group of youth calling themselves “The Red Bear Party” are taking the initiative themselves.

“We pull up into a parking lot and people know they’re going to get fed,” said Carter-Red Bear. “The closure of PHR was definitely a big reason why we started this. … There were our people dying out here. People dying, you know, my direct relatives. I have relatives I meet every day that I didn’t know I’m related to via blood.”

Carter-Red Bear is motivated by his own upbringing, growing up homeless on Saskatoon’s west side himself.

“I’ve always experienced the effects of assimilation… I’m the first generation in my family that didn’t attend a residential school. Both my mom and dad did. They both qualified for a level five trauma settlement.”

And after digging a little deeper into his family history from the Lakota Region, he acted.

“My dad’s side always told me that we did come from a long line of medicine men, but I didn’t look into that until the last few years,” said Carter-Red Bear. “Definitely tapping into that as of recent. Learning the power I get from having this strong ancestral background and yeah, it’s definitely been a process breaking these cycles.”

The Red Bear Party gets together every week on Thursday to pack food and other essential supplies to hand out.

They work out of the Gabriel Dumont Local 11 kitchen and have supports from Nestor’s Bakery and Wholesale Club, for baked goods and produce. Volunteers help make the meals.

“We like to have at least four people here every week so that we have a good team running. We reach out for volunteers on social media. We meet people at the events that we do who express their want to volunteer,” said Jenna Straf, a Red Bear Party co-founder.

Furthermore, the team is making noise around the city with rallies and getting involved in their community.

During encampment teardowns in Saskatoon, the crew has been helping people living in those encampments move their belongings by hauling their possessions in volunteer’s cars.

“If no one will show up for these relatives, we’re forming the foundation for that. We’re forming teams to help kids with literacy. If no one’s going to show up for those kids, we’re going to show for those kids.”

Carter-Red Bear wants others on First Nations across the province to do the same.

“Growing up with those hardships, growing up with family and addiction, deep in addiction, I’ve always wanted to find a way to provide for them. Doing this kind of allows me to do my due diligence as an indigenous man, inherited right to take care of my people as an Indigenous man.”