Roots of Hope is a pan-Canadian community-driven suicide prevention program now offering free (!) online training for those living in: La Ronge, Village of Air Ronge, LLRIB communities, Sucker River, Grandmothers Bay, Stanley Mission, and Hall Lake.

It is not a Plan or a Policy -- it's functional research. That’s not to say its not extremely powerful and useful for northern communities. 

Framed by Canada's Mental Health Commission, and under the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Anne Duriez acts as the Coordinator for the Meadow Lake Roots of Hope office. In February of this year her office, in partnership with the Turning Point Youth Centre, held an Art Project --  the breaking and repairing ceramic plates. The plates were re-formed with mismatched pieces, and served to show how some youth are more ‘broken’ than others, but that things can always be repaired.

Roots of Hope has nine offices throughout Canada, and three in Saskatchewan: in Meadow Lake, La Ronge, and most recently in Buffalo Narrows.

In La Ronge, Roots’ Coordinator Cathy Wheaton says the over-emphasis for Saskatchewan in the program comes from successes as well as needs – Saskatchewan has the highest rate of suicide of all provinces in the Country---and in the NW of Saskatchewan (where Buffalo Narrows is located) some of the highest rates in Canada.

When the pandemic hit, Cathy knew Roots would become more critical than expected. She also knew her first one to two years in her position – that included laying out the groundwork for programming in the following 2-3 years – was disrupted. Events out on the land, and with local partners needed to be rethought, or cancelled altogether.

“There was a really great event for March 31, 2020..””It was youth anti-stigma gathering… workshops, speakers… people had their plane tickets booked already.. they had done this workshop all across Canada” - ”When Covid came we had to cancel the event—it was not even two weeks before they shut the schools down”.

But the Office has pivoted. La Ronge is the first Roots’ office to create a social media page (Facebook) – a move that Wheaton says has been instrumental in maintaining engagement in the tri-communities amid distancing. Wheaton says future events will continue, but not until 2021.