Sask. advocate asks shoppers only buy what's needed, stop hoarding

A Regina advocate is warning that hoarding during the COVID-19 pandemic causes more problems for vulnerable populations.

"It's really troubling," Murray Giesbrecht,executive director of the North Central Community Association, said.

Giesbrecht said he has seen first hand how a lack of access to supplies such as hand sanitizer,wipes, cleaning products and toilet paper affects people.

He said the elderly, low-income earners, people on assistanceand people without transportation are the most at-risk for issues caused by other people hoarding goods.

"This whole thing really has revealed some gaps for people living in this city," Giesbrecht said. "There are a lot of folks that just don't have the option to travel across the city."

He said he recently saw two women that couldn't find anything at the local store in North Central and had no way to travel to a different store.

Giesbrecht said people should take only what they will use at the time.

"We want to try to approach this as calmly as we possibly can and we don't want to build anxiety for other people when they can't get just these basic resources that they need," he said.

Giesbrecht said people need to have some faith in Saskatchewan's infrastructure.

"We're a strong people, we're a strong city, we're a strong province," Giesbrecht said.

"If we're willingto show some empathy and compassion toward those that don't have those resources I think we can get through this."