The Provincial Auditor has included some concerns about funding imbalances in her 2025 report, released Tuesday.
Tara Clemett says she found that funding levels at transition houses for survivors of interpersonal violence are differing across the province, and the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General could not explain why.
“For example, we found two ministry-funded transition houses in different areas of Saskatchewan with equal bed numbers had funding differ by over $200,000 in 2024-25.”
The two homes are located in Swift Current and Regina.
She recommends that the province develop a rationale as to how the transition homes are funded, as well as periodically inspect transition houses to ensure requirements are being met. This comes after her team found only one of 12 transition houses reported completing trauma-informed training.
The province is also being directed to provide more adequate opioid addiction treatment services following the Auditor’s annual review.
Clemett says the Saskatchewan Health Authority was not consistently providing OAT, or Opioid Agonist Therapy, to clients who needed it to decrease the risk of relapse.
“We found Lloydminster and Estevan had higher average drug toxicity deaths, but do not have OAT clinics in their communities. The Authority did not have a reason as to why not.”
The Auditor is also calling on the SHA to start analyzing wait times at its clinics, as well as the supply and demand for opioid addiction treatment services across Saskatchewan.
There were 175 drug toxicity deaths in the province in 2024.
Clemett has also found issue with 19 of Saskatchewan’s 27 school divisions, the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation, and numerous independent schools.
She says certain school divisions aren’t approving e-transfers or journal entries and did not review bank reconciliations. She says this poses an increased risk of fraud and undetected errors in financial records.
“Also, the ministry doesn’t look at credit attainment or graduation rates for students in independent schools. We found 14 religiously based registered schools are not required to employ certified teachers.”
She adds that if uncertified teachers are hired, there needs to be a way for the ministry to determine if students are underperforming academically because of them. She calls on independent schools to start analyzing student achievement to determine the quality of their education.