Christopher Merasty (right) stands with Ron Ratte in December. (submitted photo/Christopher Merasty)

By Derek Cornet

Milestones

Men of the North celebrating first anniversary

Jan 19, 2021 | 1:47 PM

It’s been 12 months since Men of the North founder Christopher Merasty set out to launch a support group for those in the tri-communities.

“The work we have done and completed is very incredible,” he said. “I’m still shocked and amazed how far we have come along, and how many initiatives that we have completed in 2020 and the beginning of the year.”

Merasty started the organization in hopes of providing services that were lacking to men in the area. The first support group meeting was Jan. 26, 2020 and it attracted 16 men. By the time of the March 9 meeting right before COVID-19 restrictions were placed, up to 60 men were attending.

The meetings continued online until they were able to gather again in June, but Merasty said they are once again meeting virtually because of the return of restrictions.

“The support group meetings are in a holistic approach,” he said. “We do offer the support through our meetings as somebody to just come in and talk. We also have mental health specialists and addictions counsellors. If individuals need to get into more sensitive details, we have that referral program there for them.”

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Aside from the support groups, Men of the North has held multiple events or contests as well. For instance, a group of boys were taken on a canoe trip in northern Saskatchewan last summer, a meeting was held with Besnard Lake Correctional Camp inmates in September and there’s also been two Walk for Sobriety awareness events.

Through a Breakfast Club of Canada grant, Men of the North was able to provide nearly 400 food vouchers worth $75 to northerners in 2020. The organization also teamed up with Children North in December to provide more than 1,000 gifts to children.

“We also have the holistic approach into doing community-based ceremonies,” Merasty said. “We finished a four-day sacred fire just before Christmas downtown.”

Merasty believes 2021 will be a busy year for Men of the North as a project called the Nurturing Warriors Initiative will begin with the University of Regina. Planning for the project is expected to begin at the end of the month and it includes the communities of Beauval, Cumberland House and Prince Albert.

“We also got off the phone this morning with Enough Already Saskatchewan,” Merasty said. “It’s a sexual harassment program started last year. They want to have a partnership and introduce their program to our program and vice versa.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno