Saskatoon bus drivers want city to outfit buses with naloxone kits

Jeremy Warren · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 03, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

The national for Saskatoon nationalist transit workers wants to spot cause overdose reversal supplies connected metropolis buses, amid a drug poisoning situation that shows few signs of improvement.

Easily accessible naloxone — a medication that tin reverse the effects of immoderate cause overdoses, sometimes referred to by the marque sanction Narcan — should beryllium connected metropolis buses, said Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615 president Darcy Pederson.

"We're decidedly seeing an summation successful unresponsive passengers riding the buses," Pederson said.

Unresponsive doesn't equate to a toxic cause overdose, but seeing much seemingly unconscious oregon medically distressed passengers does interest transit workers, Pederson said.

It's thing autobus drivers spot daily, said Pederson. Typically, erstwhile autobus drivers announcement an unresponsive passenger, they'll cheque connected the idiosyncratic and past telephone exigency services.

In 2023, the metropolis denied a union request to outfit buses with naloxone kits, Pederson said.

"We haven't been specifically told that we're not allowed to transportation naloxone, but we did contiguous it to transit absorption … to person it accessible successful the buses," Pederson said.

"We were told no, and it was conscionable benignant of near astatine that. So determination is nary Narcan oregon naloxone connected the buses."

The metropolis doesn't person a argumentation against putting overdose reversal supplies connected buses or successful civic buildings, but it is up to idiosyncratic employees to determine whether oregon not to transportation naloxone kits, said Pamela Goulden-McLeod, the manager of the city's exigency absorption organization.

"That's their choice," said Goulden-McLeod. "Some radical would beryllium comfy with that, immoderate radical wouldn't. And truthful we privation to permission that up to our unit members to marque that determination."

She said transit employees — similar immoderate different metropolis resident — should telephone 911 if they spot a imaginable cause overdose. 

As for the 2023 petition from the transit union, a City of Saskatoon connection said that given "the highly debased incidences of overdose astatine Transit facilities astatine the time, absorption felt it wasn't feasible."

In the past 3 months, determination were 3 confirmed cause overdoses connected Saskatoon Transit properties, Goulden-McLeod said.

21 suspected overdoses connected April 1

In the archetypal 3 months of 2025, the Saskatoon Fire Department responded to 837 calls involving suspected cause overdoses, much the treble the 324 calls during that aforesaid clip past year, said Goulden-McLeod. There were just over 500 in March alone.

On Tuesday, fire crews responded to 21 suspected overdoses successful 24 hours, she said.

Like exigency responders and unit from assemblage organizations, Saskatoon Transit workers are feeling the effects of a metropolis successful crisis, said Pederson.

"The complexities of our regular job has changed," he said.

"We're dealing with the unit connected the buses and we're dealing with fare issues connected the buses, and present we're dealing with unresponsive passengers connected a regular basis. Our members are getting tired. They're exhausted."