At the age of six years old, Mildred Kerr remembers her first ever act of advocacy, which took place in her hometown of Kuroki, Saskatchewan. After the local school board decided to raise the minimum age for students from six to seven, Kerr publicly vocalized her disagreement with the decision. “My friend Elsie and I went to the school board meeting with our parents not knowing. And we said we should be able to start. We can read and we can color in the lines,” Kerr said. Now at 87 years old, Kerr is still using her voice to make a difference. The Saskatoon resident has served on a number of boards for community organizations including the Open Door Society, Equal Justice for All and The Ability Hub. Kerr was a member of a Premier’s Advisory Committee, and a founding member of the Saskatoon Food Bank. These volunteer projects were all in addition to her career as a social worker. “Women can multitask,” Kerr told CTV when asked how she remained dedicated to so many organizations. Kerr’s lifetime of hard work and volunteerism has earned her a number of awards, including the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal, and most recently, CTV News has named her our 2025 Citizen of the Year. But the 87-year-old says she still sees a lot of work yet to be done. “It’s a real mixed feeling of receiving acknowledgement for speaking out and doing advocacy work, but nothing changes much,” Kerr said. For Dwayne Brenna, the person who nominated Kerr, it was not surprising to hear that she still wants to be doing more. “No, never satisfied, I think she looks around herself and sees injustice happening, in this community and elsewhere and wants to do something about it,” Brenna said. Brenna shared that Kerr will rarely take any credit for the work she does in her community. “She’s got the grit of a prairie woman,...Mildred isn’t the type to sort of organize things and then sit back and watch other others do the work. She gets in at the grassroots level...She walks the walk. She doesn’t just talk the talk,” Brenna said. Kerr is also a card carrying member of the ‘Raging Grannies’ an activist organization with branches across North America. Women wear creative hats and other garments while singing popular songs with altered lyrics that reflect whatever issue they are highlighting. “Maybe I was born with a big mouth with these causes of justice...but one of the most enjoyable was being a raging granny,” Kerr said. Kerr is also very involved with the Canadian Federation of University Women, which (among many other projects) provides scholarships for low income women who are seeking post secondary education. One of Kerr’s roles with the organization is to find guest speakers. “I think, as an old social worker who did a lot of counseling in the past, that we stay healthier if we keep our mind and body active, both need exercise. And so, that’s I think, partly why I want to keep learning... and helping gather good speakers to help us with that,” Kerr has spent her life advocating for the issues she is passionate about. Brenna expressed that her work has inspired many. “Few of us who are willing to stand up the way she has done, and just do the right thing. The few that that do, can. And she’s uniquely placed for it because, of course, she was a trained social worker. so she’s seen it all....we do need more people like her,” Brenna said. When asked what issue she sees as the most prominent one currently facing Saskatoon, Kerr shared that she is deeply concerned for the city’s unhoused population. “The most serious thing in Saskatchewan, I know that it’s a problem across the country, but people freeze to death or freeze limbs in our cold climate,” Kerr said. Adding that she will continue advocating for the matter until she sees significant changes. “There’s research been done across the country about homes first. That people are more likely to seek help with addictions or whatever, if they have a roof, and yet we’ve been so slow about it,” Kerr said. The 87-year-old added that while social justice has been her calling in life, she believes that everyone is capable of making a difference. “Each of us have been given a different set of skills. It may not be advocacy, it may be what you’re really good at. It might be cooking, it might be you know what? But do use what skills you’ve been given,” Kerr said. While Kerr believes that a lot of work is yet to be done, she also believes that there are people out there who are always capable of making a difference. “As Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, said, it was only a small group of people who changed the world. It’s the only kind that ever does that. So. So it gives you hope,” Kerr said.
