Accompanied by Muskoday Chief Ron Bear, the walkers pose for one last picture. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Healthy communties

Third annual Fentanyl Awareness Walk proceeds to Regina

Jun 9, 2025 | 2:42 PM

A near 400 kilometer journey has commenced for a group of people very concerned about the increasing number of overdoses and substance-related deaths occurring in Saskatchewan.

The third annual Fentanyl Awareness Walk left Muskoday First Nation Monday morning and is expected to arrive in Regina sometime next week. Organizer Betty Prosper noted they made a commitment to do the walk for four years.

“It’s needed and more people need to do this,” she said.

Prosper, who works in addictions, was recently awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT). She said since they started the walk in 2023, she has noticed a difference in her own community.

“Certain houses have a lot of Naloxone, so when something happens in the middle of the night, people can run to that house,” she explained.

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Going forward, Prosper said she would like to see a program similar to Block Parent, where signs placed in the windows of some houses can let people in crisis know where they can go with no questions asked.

Erica Hennie, from Lac la Ronge Indian Band, has helped co-organize the event and knows a lot of people with addictions.

“Those are the ones I walk for,” she said.

Noting the drug epidemic happening in many communities across the north, Hennie said the awareness is needed and said their walk has made a positive difference.

“We have a lot of people on our crystal meth and fentanyl overdose Facebook page, so a lot of people are messaging us, telling us their stories, talking about their recovery and how long they have been in recovery,” she said.

Councillor Kelly Bear, who has been helping a lot with the wildfire evacuees, provided an escort for the walkers. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

Betty Nippi-Albright, who is the NDP’s shadow minister for Mental Health and Addictions, joined the walkers on Monday. During the spring session of the legislative assembly, she introduced a motion that effectively called on the province to recognize that there is a drug crisis. The motion was defeated.

“So it sends the message to the citizens in the province that it really isn’t a crisis for them,” she said.

Noted hundreds of recent overdoses in Saskatoon, and drug alerts declared by Weyburn and Meadow Lake, Nippi-Albright said she would like the province to respond in a meaningful way rather than just platitudes.

“Ask the community organizations, ask the treatment centers that are already operating in this province what capacity dollars are needed to continue helping the people,” she said.

Averaging about 40 km per day, the walkers have been offered overnight shelter at various First Nations communities along the way.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Blue Sky: @nigelmaxwell.bsky.social