Mildred Kerr: Celebrating the 2025 Citizen of the Year

Dozens of family and friends gathered Friday morning to celebrate the lifelong contributions of Mildred Kerr, the 2025 Citizen of the Year.

“It’s been a lifetime of hearing, even at my grandpa’s knee, that we have to fight for each other,” Kerr said.

The 87-year-old from Kuroki, Sask., has used her voice to make a difference since she was six years old. That’s when she approached the local school board after it raised the minimum age of education from six to seven to declare her intention to begin school.

“I think she cannot stand to see injustice on the streets of her own town,” Dwayne Brenna, who nominated Kerr, said.

“It seems like there was something in there... some kind of mettle in there that just moves her to do these things.”

That passion has never waned.

• Get the latest news from Saskatoon, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Working in social work her entire career, Kerr has also 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.

During speeches at a breakfast honouring Kerr Friday morning, Brenna said she continues to be “self-effacing.” Brenna said when Kerr found out he was putting together a nomination package, she called him to try and put a stop to it, not wanting the attention.

“She didn’t think she was worthy,” he said. “And when she found out finally that she was about to receive this honour, and she phoned me again and said, ‘Dwyane, this is your fault.’”

Brenna said the day he submitted the nomination paperwork Kerr was speaking at an appeal for a man who had been wrongfully evicted from his home and was living on the street.

Kerr closed her acceptance speech by reminding people of the struggle homeless people face daily.

“If they were here, those folks on the street might be saying, thank you for those warm toques, but it’s starting to feel a bit like a crown of thorns when I hear that it’s going to take maybe another two, five years before I have my human right to housing,” Kerr said.

The Citizen of the Year award was presented to Kerr by J.C. Garden, the director of news and public affairs for CTV News Saskatchewan. Being able to hear the legacy of community builders is a fortune he doesn’t take lightly.

“It’s who we are and when we tell people stories, it isn’t about us. It is about being the megaphone to let everybody know about some of the amazing things that are happening in their city that they may just have never heard about, because they’re amazing things happening every day,” he said.

The crowd gathered knows Kerr will not stop advocating until the work is done, and she isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

And despite her selfless ways to deflect the attention elsewhere, her friends and family were happy to see Kerr be recognized as Saskatoon’s 59th Citizen of the Year.

“A deserving recipient alongside that cavalcade of people who’ve managed to get the award,” Brenna said.

“It’s very humbling,” Kerr said. “I don’t feel deserving of so much.”