REGINA — The sod has been turned for a provincial memorial to honour those protective services personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty.
The groundbreaking took place at the location of the memorial just to the southwest of the Legislative building in Regina.
The monument is expected to be completed by the fall of next year. It will honour those in a wide range of protective services including fire, police, EMS, federal and provincial corrections, victims services, mobile crisis services, and the Canadian Armed Forces.
“This is something that's been in the making for quite some time,” said Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Tim McLeod. “We've got a working group that has been working to establish a memorial like this to really honour our protective services personnel who have lost their lives in the line of duty. This was a great opportunity to use these beautiful grounds to commemorate and honour those who have fallen protecting the people of Saskatchewan.”
McLeod called it a “great way to provide a space for families, for colleagues, for loved ones, as well as for classrooms of students or the general public to come and honour those who have fallen in the line of duty.”
The design was selected by a working group consisting of first responder and public service sector organizations, and it is expected the working group will identify 80 names to appear on the monument initially, with more names to be added in coming years.
According to the province, the memorial will feature an image of the Saskatchewan Protective Services Medal, a “helping hands” structure and a commemorative message.
McLeod called protective services personnel a “critical component of our communities.”
“They're the ones that are running into the face of danger when the rest of us are running away from it. And this will be a particularly great way to honour those who have died in the line of duty, but as well for people to reflect on the risks that those who may be haven't passed away in the line of duty, but the risks that they face each and every day for the benefit of the people of Saskatchewan.”
Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency vice-president of operations Steve Roberts said there are a number of memorials across the province and there are medals federally and other recognition programs, but there's “never been a centralized ability to have a memorial where all of those individuals can be recognized.”
“In addition to building this memorial, all of those names and people who are honoured on those will be transferred here, and then there will be an application process if someone believes there are people who should be added, then that will come to a committee and they'll add them here. So, it will become an all-encompassing site, rather than a fragmented approach that currently exists.”
The idea is to be able to recognize all public safety responders whether they are permanent, volunteer, government or non-government workers. The plan is for the centralized location to also host annual ceremonies and events to commemorate those individuals.
Roberts’ hope is that when people come to the memorial it will provide not only recognition of the individuals, but “of the type of work, the type of character that these people bring when they come to the work.”
“They're doing things that other people can't do or aren't able to do,” said Roberts. “They take on risks that maybe they shouldn't have to, even when you consider a volunteer fire department that without compensation, wakes up at two in the morning and goes out just because somebody in his community needs something. An ambulance attendant, a 911 dispatcher, has to deal with those calls. They do a job that's tough to do, and it's a way of recognizing that there's also risk to that.”
There had been calls from the Official Opposition to go further and provide a protective services provincial medal to each individual that died in the line of duty.
McLeod said the government’s focus has been on the memorial project, but they have “not closed the door” on any opportunities or conversations regarding honouring fallen members of the Saskatchewan's Provincial Protective Services. He did note the province already has the Saskatchewan Protective Services Medal that honours individuals in protective services.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is putting up the memorial at a cost of approximately $900,000, which includes a $100,000 contribution from WorkSafe Saskatchewan — a partnership between the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety.
Phil Germain, CEO of the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board, explained why it was important for his organization to be involved in the project.
“When we look at, let's take the last five or six years as just a snapshot or an indication, there were roughly 5,000 first responders that were injured at work. That represents a little over four per cent of all the accepted claims in our system,” said Germain.
“When you look at fatalities, there were 20 fatalities, which represent almost 13 per cent of the fatalities registered and accepted with Saskatchewan WCB. So, there's no question first responders are at a higher risk of fatalities in the workplace. And then since about 2019, we've been working very hard with the representatives from various first responder communities, emergency responders to try and work together to figure out how we can prevent the injuries and fatalities from happening in the first place.”
