The scene is nothing new for Rev. Stewart Folster. On the street outside his small downtown Saskatoon location, the blue and red lights of a police car are flashing once again. Some sort of physical altercation has just taken place; apparently a scruffy-looking man struck a woman as she walked past him and his dog. Various versions of the story are fed to the officer; the man denies the charges. A crowd gathers.
Folster watches the scene through his office's floor-to-ceiling street-front window. He chuckles to himself, mentioning the frequency of the flashing lights. “I watch drug deals going down right outside my window,” he says. “These are people who are struggling to find out where their next meal is going to come from.”
Drug dealers and users, prostitutes, pimps, thieves, alcoholics. Ministering to such people is simply part of the job at the Saskatoon Native Circle Ministry. Ordained in 1996, Folster was the first aboriginal minister in the PCC. The mission has been at its new location — in the heart of Saskatoon's down-and-out district — for almost two years, after moving from Circle West Presbyterian Church and its increasingly middle-class neighbourhood.
Much to the chagrin of his wife, who sometimes worries about his safety, Folster works here mostly by himself. He has various volunteers who help occasionally, but day in, day out, it is Folster who is here. Brewing coffee and making hot chocolate; offering sandwiches, an aging couch to rest tired feet, a warm room to come in from the cold, a listening ear for serious problems.
It is this latter gift — the forging of relationships — that Folster wishes he could do more of. But as only one person, much of his efforts are needed to merely record who comes and goes and dissipate any aggression that walks through the door.
“I have people who are very angry at the church because of residential schools,” he says, “so I try to approach it from the native, traditional side of things. I make them see they have a beautiful culture, and I invite them to the healing circle. I show them there is such a thing as the love of Christ.”
The crowd outside disperses. The police officer gets in his car and drives away. Folster turns back to his paperwork.
“People from all walks of life are here, native and non-native,” he says. “Poverty doesn't discriminate. We all have problems and we all need help, and I'm here helping them.”
