Veterans, first responders, and their friends and family made their way to Kinsmen Park on Sunday to take part in the seventh annual Walk for Veterans in Prince Albert.
Former service members and their families walked to raise awareness about the struggles faced by Canadian veterans, first responders, and foreign nationals who supported Canadian troops in conflict zones such as Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Afghanistan and other peacekeeping missions.
Prince Albert lead Michelle McKeaveney was happy to see so many people turn out to support the event.
“It’s Sunday. We’re competing with another mental health walk in Saskatoon, but this is important to us to have this here and to be part of this year,” McKeaveney said.
Michelle was away last year and her daughter Madison was in charge. Michelle said the walk has grown since year one.
She said the goal was to understand and support those how have served and are still serving, while also remembering those who have passed away.
Participants could walk in person or virtually. McKeaveney said any support was appreciated.
“We can do a lot of lip service and we can do a lot of other things,” she said. “You don’t have to have a giant fanfare, you just need to have it as a personal expression.
“The main thing is that people don’t realize that veterans walk among us,” she added. “They’re not wearing a bunch of things on their chest.”
Angelina Marcotte the Veterans Family Program Coordinator from the Saskatchewan Military Resource Centre in Dundurn, hosted the walk last year in Saskatoon. She couldn’t do one this year, so she came up to support the Prince Albert walk, and help connect veterans with the services the centre offers.
“The main role is for medically released veterans and their families to make the transition easier into civilian life,” Marcotte said.
“For, any veteran that reaches out to me, any RCMP family that reaches out to me, I will provide them with navigational support, with referrals to different programs. We have emergency funds available for them and we also, through Patriot Love, do healing through the arts.”
True Patriot Love Foundation is the new national coordinator for the walk and provides Marcotte’s organization with grants.
“They have the military arts grant that we get and for that, we get people together, get them a support group, do art projects with them. Anything that can heal them on their journey,” Marcotte said.
She was also able to create printouts with information from conflicts, including the Medak Pocket.
“It’s amazing to be able to share exactly what the walk is about and what those conflicts were about,” she said.
Marcotte and her office serve all of central Saskatchewan. She said there are lots of veterans scattered across the province, and many don’t know that their programs exist, especially newer ones like the Veteran’s Family Program.
“I want them to know we are here,” Marcotte said. “We want to hear from you. There are resources available on the local and on the national level.”
McKeaveney said that collaborating with Marcotte was fantastic.
Prince Albert veteran and ANAVET member Marcel Dagenais took part in the walk for the first time on Sunday. He served as a youth officer with the Army Cadets and worked as a prison guard at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.
He said that work and his work as a bus driver for Northern Bus Lines made it hard for him to take part in previous events. He said the walk was important because of his work and experiences.
“Well, of course as an officer with cadets, I am a military officer. I hold the rank of captain in the CIC, which is through the reserves and I worked 14 years as a cadet officer. And then 14 years after that with the Army Cadet League to assist the parents of the Cadet Corps in the running of the support for the kids,” Dagenais said.
“It’s important not just because of that, but because of my time with the penitentiary as an officer. I went through a few things as well in 33 years.”
He said that he had a cheerful demeanour because he has learned how to cope with these types of things. He attributes it to his time as a bus driver, an occupation where “you got to know how to be able to talk with people.”
Ideally, Dagenais would like to see more people involved in the walk.
“We’ve got a lot of people here in the City, reservists, past reservists, but things have changed with people,” he said. “They don’t take part in the military stuff anymore, and that’s, I guess, one of the reasons why I’m out here too. It’s just to say, ‘hey, show your colours.’”
He also wanted to show the support of the ANAVETs for the walk.
“As an ANAVET member, we support our veterans and we have been with them as a veterans organization since the late 1800s,” he said. “We’ve supported those veterans over the years and continue to support them in the coming year.”
The emcee was Madison McKeaveney, who introduced her mother Michelle, Prince Albert Northcote MLA Alana Ross, First Nations veteran Steven Ross and Marcotte. Ross substituted for his friend Emile Highway who was away working and could not attend The Prince Albert walk was hosted by River Valley Resilience Retreat. The retreat’s mission is to provide secluded and safe respite for those who suffer from PTSI or OSI. Their patrons include responders, veterans, active armed forces, RCMP, police, EMS & fire, including volunteer fire, corrections, social workers, doctors, nurses, emergency dispatch, 911, tow operators, funeral assistants, First Nations crisis/response and all public safety personnel. Net proceeds will be used to help fund their activities.
“River Valley Resilience Retreat is up and running. The cabins are ready. We are here. We have been busy all summer,” McKeaveney said.
The walk began with a memorial lap around Kinsmen Park.
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