Pride: USask students, alumni spark change through visibility and voice

For Wren Dahl, taking on the role of co-ordinator of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union (USSU) Pride Centre was a welcome challenge.

Dahl, who uses he/they pronouns and identifies as a queer and trans settler living on Treaty Six Territory and the Homeland of the Métis, said the presence of Pride Centres located at universities can have deep impacts on current and future students.

“I have an interest in social histories, and I’ve seen how student centres like this one can be really powerful sites of student advocacy and activism,” said Dahl.

The USSU Pride Centre on the USask campus is open to all USask students, and provides a welcoming and celebratory community that, according to the centre’s mandate, “seeks to work with people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in an open and progressive environment that advocates, celebrates and affirms sexual and gender diversity.”

As a double honours student in the College of Arts and Science majoring in history and women’s and gender studies with a minor in political studies, Dahl keeps a busy academic schedule with an important to-do list, led by creating space for those in the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community who are seeking connection.

“[The Pride Centre] has always been something that I have known was here, and I think that was a big thing for me, knowing that if I ever did need a place, that there was one,” Dahl said.

Physical spaces are essential for creating the kind of place and community that exists year-round, and Dahl said the Pride Centre fulfils that essential need for post-secondary students.

“This is a wonderfully welcoming space,” Dahl said. “People can just come and hang out, but it’s also a space where those who want to engage in harder conversations can find that community. I really like the multi-faceted nature of it in that way.”

Pride Month is usually touted as a celebration of authenticity, but Dahl said it is important to remember that Pride began as a protest for rights of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community and remains so today. While Pride has evolved over the past several decades, Dahl said it requires long-rooted activism that goes well beyond one month of the year.

“I think that we’re getting to a point where Pride is almost to a sweet spot in my experience of it, where we are able to able to celebrate and say that 20 years ago, we did not have the rights we do now, while at the same time holding space and recognizing the fact that there is a lot of work to be done,” said Dahl, whose USask undergraduate honours project focused on creating more accessible gender-neutral washroom locations on the USask campus.

Dahl emphasizes the importance of providing support to 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities however they are able, and that everyone has a role to play in continuing important conversations and undertaking the work that still lies ahead. The key to continued progress? Finding opportunities for collaboration and recognizing the interconnectedness of us all.

“We’re seeing some really interesting opportunities for intersectional collaborations and understanding that all of our struggles are interconnected,” Dahl said. “I see a generation of queer people who are coming up in the world who are seeing a very big picture meaning of Pride and I’m really excited for that.”

A new USask alum, Zaïde Masich (BComm’25, BA’25), made waves during her time as a student as a member of the Edwards Queer Student Society (EQSS) – one of many student-led groups on campus committed to providing safe spaces, programming and resources for the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community.

After founding a gay-straight alliance club in her high school, Masich brought her love of advocacy and building supportive spaces to USask during her post-secondary education.

While leading event planning for the EQSS, Masich was also pursuing her Bachelor of Commerce in the Edwards School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in French from the College of Arts and Science. She graduated from USask during a spring convocation ceremony on June 4, 2025.

“I’ve always been passionate about inclusion and diversity in community, since that’s what communities are – diverse groups of people with unique qualities and backgrounds, each with a story of their own to tell,” said Masich.

The EQSS was established in 2021 at the Edwards School of Business and hosts a variety of events and workshops throughout the year, including paint nights, trivia and game nights, Drag Bingo, and a formal business gala that highlights queer excellence in business.

The past year’s gala featured Dr. Valerie Korinek (PhD), a professor in the Department of History at USask and author of an award-winning book titled Prairie Fairies: A History of Queer Communities and People in Western Canada, 1930-1985. Some EQSS initiatives are also hosted in collaboration with the USSU Pride Centre.

“Connecting with Dr. Korinek was incredibly valuable to my education on queer history in Saskatchewan, and our Queer 101 workshops highlighted a lot of our local history,” she said. “If anyone reading this is curious to know about Saskatchewan’s queer history, I absolutely recommend looking at the Neil Richards Collection in our campus library.”

Getting involved can involve some research and a time commitment, but Maisch highlights that involvement can look different for everyone – and that’s OK.

“If you want to come to one meeting your first year just to learn about the group, that’s OK. If you want to be part of every single event and dive into supporting the group, that’s OK, too. If you’re out and proud, if you’re private about your identity, if you’re an ally – that’s all OK! Do what makes you feel the most comfortable. These groups are all about making sure you feel safe being who you are,” she said.

For Masich, Pride Month is about freedom of expression and building community. She emphasizes that everyone is on their own learning journey, and the sharing of one’s story can be a deeply powerful way to connect.

“Activism, justice and personal expression are all merging in monumental ways, and we’re challenging others and ourselves into understanding,” Masich said. “I hope that for the future generations, queerness is no longer an ethical question, or a state of ‘uncertainty’ or a ‘phase,’ but rather just a way of being that is fully considered normal.”

The University of Saskatchewan is proud to celebrate and support the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community during Pride month and every month. USask’s mission is to be what the world needs, and the world needs safe and welcoming spaces for everyone. You can attend an event, walk with the USask community in the Saskatoon Pride Parade on June 22, access learning resources, read stories about the USask community, and find more year-round at spotlight.usask.ca.