A protest camp has been set up on the grounds of the Legislative Building calling on the provincial government to enact legislation aimed at preventing suicide. (Walking With Our Angels/Facebook)

By Glenn Hicks

suicide protest

La Ronge protester rejects phone discussion with government minister

Aug 5, 2020 | 5:00 PM

UPDATE: This story was updated at 7:40 p.m. to include a statement provided by the government of Saskatchewan which reads, in part:

On Wednesday afternoon Minister of Rural and Remote Health Warren Kaeding and Minister of First Nations, Métis, and Northern Affairs Lori Carr met with Mr. Tristen Durocher regarding suicide prevention on the front lawn of the Legislative Assembly. The Ministers appreciate Mr. Durocher’s advocacy on this issue and welcomed the opportunity to further this important conversation.

Our government will continue working to implement Pillars for Life: The Saskatchewan Suicide Prevention Plan. As part of this work, we will continue to engage the FSIN, Métis Nation—Saskatchewan, Northern leaders and frontline workers to seek solutions to prevent suicide in communities across Saskatchewan.

The five pillars of the Pillars for Life plan align with those set out by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The input of mental health professionals will continue to inform suicide prevention initiatives and activities in Saskatchewan.

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A La Ronge protester, who is now six days into a hunger strike following a long walk to the provincial capital, has no plans of going anywhere, and is rejecting the idea of a phone meeting with government officials.

That’s the defiant tone of Tristen Durocher with the Walking With Our Angels group, who has set up a teepee at Wascana Park in Regina with five other people, to highlight northern suicides and to push the government to declare the situation a public health crisis.

Durocher told paNOW he’d heard there was the possibility of a phone discussion with Minister Responsible for Rural and Remote Health, Warren Kaeding, but that’s not good enough.

“I did not walk 635 kilometres to sit, literally on their doorstep, to accept a phone call,” Durocher said, demanding an in-person visit. “This is a big, beautiful park; we’ve got the Queen’s gardens, we can go and sit outside, we could be 10 feet apart. Hell, I’ll talk loud enough so they can hear me.”

Durocher has already been handed a summons for a November court appearance for illegally setting up in the park.

“I received a summons from the Capital Commission; it took them six people in uniform to deliver one piece of paper to a boy who was sitting cross-legged in the sun sipping a cup of tea. That’s intimidation tactics,” he said.

Durocher said the police told him they would not be moving the camp but would have to enforce an eviction order once they received it. The Regina Police told media it’s their job to keep the peace and would continue to check in with the group.

Durocher is drinking only wild tea and honey as he continues the protest calling on the government to come up with a meaningful strategy to tackle the suicide crisis which he said had taken 2,300 lives in the last 15 years alone.

paNOW reached out for comment from minister Kaeding’s office but did not receive an immediate response.

The government’s Pillars For Life plan was created to guide suicide prevention initiatives and activities specific to the cultural and social landscape of Saskatchewan.The government’s website says the plan recognizes that solutions must be community driven and consider the local history, economics and social factors.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow