Mitchell Holash says receiving an honorary degree from Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Prince Albert was meaningful because it happened in the community where his family built its life.
Holash, a longtime Prince Albert lawyer, city solicitor and former chair of the Saskatchewan Polytechnic board, received the honour during last Tuesday’s Prince Albert campus convocation at the Art Hauser Centre.
“Prince Albert is a very important part of my life and my family’s life,” Holash said.
Holash said his parents moved the family to Prince Albert when he was 11. He graduated from St. Mary High School, returned after university to practise law, married his wife Sheila and raised three sons in the community.
“Our family is deeply devoted to this community,” he said. “So to receive the honour in Prince Albert that I did from Sask Polytech, it was very, very meaningful to me and to my entire family.”
Holash chaired the Saskatchewan Polytechnic board from 2018 until October 2025. He said attending convocations became his favourite part of the role.
He joked that staying up too late may have played a part in the emotion during his speech, but said the larger reason was the students.
“It’s really the stories of those students that I think were welling up inside me as I gave my speech,” Holash said.
During his years with Sask Polytech, Holash said he saw thousands of graduates cross the stage. Many were international students, northern Indigenous students, parents and single mothers balancing school, work and family.
He said those graduates were often trying to create better opportunities for themselves and their families.
“I’d like to think that Sask Polytech connects families with livelihoods, and so that’s very meaningful to me in my home province,” he said.
Holash has also been recognized for community work in Prince Albert. He said he chaired the project that led to the creation of the E.A. Rawlinson Centre for the Arts, giving the Mann Art Gallery a permanent home and creating the theatre space. He also chaired projects connected to the Alfred Jenkins Field House and the expansion of the Art Hauser Centre.
Arjun Pillai/Daily Herald
Mitchell Holash addresses graduates after receiving and honorary degree during Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Prince Albert campus convocation last Tuesday at the Art Hauser Centre.
He said those projects left amenities his own children were able to grow up using.
“We have a particular affection in our family for the Olive and John Diefenbaker Theatre at the Rawlinson Centre, because my wife and my sons are all actors, and they’ve all performed on that stage,” Holash said.
Holash said his belief in education was shaped by his family. His wife was a teacher, two of his sons teach in Prince Albert, his daughter-in-law Tia works with young people through art, and his sisters were special education teachers.
“What I understand is that education changes lives,” he said. “It can change lives in a profound way.”
That was why Holash said he wanted his convocation address to focus on graduates.
“It was their day,” he said. “I wanted them to be seen for the effort and the courage that it takes to actually take on an education.”
Holash also used his speech to compare Saskatchewan to the Shire from “The Lord of the Rings”, an image he said reflected the character he sees in people raised in the province.
“There’s still, in very large measure, a peacefulness, a kindness, but a real practical effectiveness that is inherent in the people that grow up in Saskatchewan,” he said.
Holash said Saskatchewan produces people with the values needed in difficult times.
“In challenging times we need people with those values and character, and Saskatchewan raises them in great number,” he said.
Holash said being included among Sask Polytech’s honorary degree recipients was humbling.
“It feels like I don’t belong in that group, for sure,” he said. “It is humbling, for sure, but I feel very honoured to have been included with that group.”
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
