The City of Meadow Lake believes in helping local men overcome their loneliness and depression. During the regular meeting of Meadow Lake city council held May 26, the city expressed its interest in supporting a new initiative by the Roots of Hope community suicide prevention project.
“Roots of Hope serves Meadow Lake and 12 surrounding communities including five First Nations communities,” explained Roots of Hope coordinator Anne Duriez in a recent letter to council. “Roots of Hope is guided by a community advisory committee. As part of the community suicide prevention efforts, we are endeavouring to identify and address the primary causes of suicide such as isolation, loneliness and hopelessness. The 2024 Saskatchewan Coroner’s Report shows one population in our region with a rising suicide rate is older men – retirement age or older. I believe community is the answer, and if this cohort manages their well-being by engaging in connection and camaraderie with others, they have the potential to benefit themselves and to influence subsequent age cohorts in positive ways.”
Duriez went on to inform council about a project Roots of Hope is encouraging and supporting in Meadow Lake. “The project is the development of a men’s shed,” she noted. “A men’s shed in the community would provide an opportunity and a venue for the camaraderie, social connections and small projects that can benefit particularly retired men who engage with other men involved with the shed. Depending on the interests and resources of the men involved, they may choose to do projects that benefit others in the community while they support and encourage each other.”
Men’s sheds exist in other communities and provinces such as Cold Lake, AB, as well as other countries. However, a men’s shed in Meadow Lake would be only the second throughout all of Saskatchewan. “There is interest from other communities in our area based on our initial exploration,” Duriez added. “An initial men’s shed exploration meeting hosted by Roots of Hope had 22 individuals, including community leaders, healthcare workers, retired men and other interested individuals attend. At this time, two local men have plans to apply for the Men’s Shed Canada Startup Grant for fall 2025. The City of Meadow Lake might be able to support this initiative in a couple ways. For example, by assigning the city manager to liaise with the group, hosting grants if needed, providing a meeting space or helping to identify an affordable space that could work as they expand. Initially the group will likely need a space with a table, chairs, a fridge and a coffee pot.”
While discussing Duriez’s letter, councillor Marty Bishop described Roots of Hope as a “really good organization.” He also spoke favourable of the group’s efforts to pursue the men’s shed project. “A lot of older men who have lost their partners,” he said. “They’ve been together a long time and now that’s gone, and the men suffer a lot. They spend a lot of time by themselves. Something like this (men’s shed) would be really good for the well-being of folks like that… There are also other, younger men who can benefit from this as well, but, based on my own interactions with older folks who have lost their partners, it can be quite traumatic and something like this can do a lot of good.”
Councillor Connie Marsh-Yuhasz agreed. “It sounds like a great initiative,” she said. Meanwhile, councillor Mauri Young said she registered to take part in the aforementioned exploration meeting, but forgot to attend. “Still, I think it’s a good idea too,” she said. Also onboard was mayor Merlin Seymour. “I also think it’s a good idea, but I’m not sure whether or not it’s something the city would take a lead role in outside of supporting it to a certain extent,” Seymour said. “As far as laying money on the table, I don’t think we can do that right now because we don’t have anything in the budget. But, there are other ways we can support this.”
Seymour also spoke about a similar initiative in Innisfail, AB which has proven to be quite successful. City clerk Kaila Lefort suggested providing the Lion’s Den as a potential location where the group could meet. “We have a number of places they could meet,” added parks and recreation manager Regan Beck. “The new facility (Co-op Centre) has a nice space where they may be interested in meeting or, if they want to go more so on the rustic side, we still have some spots around the tourist centre or the old museum, and even the old farmers’ market building. There could be some possibilities there, and I would be happy to work with them to help find them a space.”
Seymour said it could even be beneficial for these individuals to join the museum board. “Perhaps we could even steer them toward the museum committee because they’re always looking for members, and it’s a good working group they could be a part of,” he said.