Suicide prevention advocate begins hunger strike in Regina
- Michelle Lerat | August 06, 2020
‘Walking with our Angels’ arrived in Regina Friday afternoon where leader Tristen Durocher prepared to embark on a hunger strike to protest for meaningful suicide prevention legislation.
Durocher described the walk as, “two Métis guys who walked down the Louise Riel trail, down suicide lane, for suicide prevention.”
The day of their sendoff feast in La Ronge was the day Louise Riel arrived in Batoche to prepare for the 1885 resistance said Durocher. ‘Coincidence?’ he said with a laugh.
He led a small group that walked from Air Ronge to Regina for over 28 days. Joined by a large crowd of supporters in Regina, Durocher walked down Albert Street to the Legislative Building. A tipi was erected beside pictures posted into the ground of people who died of suicide in Saskatchewan.
“We have lost more than 2300 people since 2005 alone, this is the tip of a very grim iceberg, we can fill this entire lawn with the people we have lost in this province [to suicide],” said Durocher.
Durocher began a hunger strike, saying he will continue until meaningful suicide prevention legislation is passed.
“I’ll be living on prayers and tea and hope,” said Durocher. “The Sask Party has the power to end this any day by calling an emergency session legislating something meaningful that I am convinced will save lives. If they don’t this won't end and we’ll be here until it ends.”
Saskatchewan NDP leader Ryan Meili joined the walkthrough Regina. He had also visited the walkers in Prince Albert and Saskatoon. Meili addressed the crowd, thanking the group for their initiative to walk over 600 kilometers and to push for suicide prevention legislation.
“What Tristen and Chis and all the others have done is raised the profile of the problem in Saskatchewan with suicide,” said Meili. “We are leading the country in suicide rates and in particular young Indigenous men and women. Boys and girls are taking their lives at a rate that is absolutely horrible and unacceptable.
“We’re ready to go back in the legislature at any time and pass that legislation and do the work to actually bring in the strategy to save lives.”
Chris Merasty, founder of Men of the North based in La Ronge, joined Durocher on July 2.
“It was a very emotional journey waking up every morning thinking about all the youth, all our adults all our families that are struggling not getting the help that they need,” said Merasty.
Choosing to walk with Durocher was an easy decision said Merasty as they are paving the way for the next generation to have a louder voice that ‘brings each and everyone to the table’ regarding political decisions that affect them.
Durocher and Merasty began the group ‘Walking with our Angels’ after the Saskatchewan government voted against a suicide prevention bill that was put forward by Doyle Vermette, the NDP MLA for Cumberland who represents northern Saskatchewan.