Suicide prevention walk moves through Saskatoon with minimal traffic disruptions

A walk to advocate for more suicide prevention action moved through Saskatoon on Friday on its way to Regina.

Well-known Mtis fiddler Tristan Durocher was joined by about a dozen people in his walk through the Bridge City, just one leg of his “Walking With Our Angels” that started in La Ronge.

Over 2,300 people have died from suicide in Saskatchewan in the past 15 years.

Durocher remembers being eight years old the first time someone close to him took her life.

“She was a young, beautiful girl from northern Saskatchewan,” Durocher said.

“I couldn’t understand how a girl so full of laughs, so full of beauty, so full of bright and vibrant futures ahead of her arrived at a place where she had no hope for even tomorrow.”

Durocher started the walk after an NDP-led suicide prevention bill was voted down in the Saskatchewan Legislature.

The bill would have forced the government to implement a suicide prevention strategy and would have given the Saskatchewan Health Authority 180 days to start consultations with relevant stakeholders and groups.

“When I saw that unanimous vote against a piece of legislation that wanted to address that (suicide prevention), I was disgusted.”Durocher said.

“It wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t grief, it was rage and I decided I would use that anger constructively as opposed to destructively and with that fire I started the walk.”

The walk through Saskatoon lasted the majority of the afternoon, moving along Idylwyld Drive and Circle Drive. Police escorted the walk, and few traffic disruptions were reported.

The walk will end on the steps of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building. Once there, Durocher will begin a hunger strike until “the government does something meaningful.”

Durocher will also be asking for the resignation of Minister of Rural and Remote Health Warren Kaeding.

-With files from 650 CKOM’s Keenan Sorokan.