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Saskatoon runaway program may run out of money

An effort to reach out to repeat runaways on the streets of Saskatoon is finding seeing success, but the organization that's taken behind it on says its days may be numbered.

Egadz's Project Runaway aims to tackle increasing missing persons cases in the city

Danny Kerslake · CBC News ·
Egadz has been able to gather repeat runaways for regular roundtable meetings to try to understand their needs.

An effort to reach out to repeat runaways on the streets of Saskatoon is seeing success, but the organization behind it says its days may be numbered.

I've been doing this for 25 years and it still bothers me.- Don Meikle, Egadz executive director

Project Runaway is led by Egadz, a non-profit organization with a high degree of street credibility. Egadz has been able to gather repeat runaways for regular roundtable meetings to try to understand their needs.

"It's heartbreaking the stories they are telling. We've had kids telling their story and actually writing their story and I've been doing this for 25 years and it still bothers me,"  said Egadz executive director Don Meikle.

"You know, they feel like they haven't been listened to, a lot of anger and … bitterness on the kid's' part."  

Egadz executive director Don Meikle says he doesn't know what will happen to "Project Runaway" come October. (CBC)

In an interview with CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning, Meikle said the pilot project was born out of frustration from Saskatoon police, who investigated 2,800 missing persons cases last year. That's more than double the number from a decade ago.

The problem led to a series of meetings between Meikle and former Saskatoon police chief Clive Weighill. Meikle encouraged Weighill to look to kids for the answer as to how to keep missing persons cases down. 

Money running out

The program has also been able to equip repeat runaways with donated cellphones so that if they go missing, officials and loved ones are still able to reach them to make sure they are safe.

But Meikle warned Egadz can only keep this up until next month, and then he doesn't know how the project will be funded.

From Meikle's perspective, if governments and other organizations do not step up, it will tell him a lot about how little they care about runaways.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Danny Kerslake

Danny Kerslake is an award-winning journalist who has worked in radio stations across Western Canada. In his career with CBC Saskatchewan, Danny has reported from every corner of the province and has lived and worked in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert. Danny is a newsreader and digital AP for CBC Saskatoon.

    With files from CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning

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