Building pathways to success: Sask. debate community wins big
The last two years have been exceptional for students involved in the local speech and debate community.
Saskatchewan debaters have won both National Championships at Senior (high school) level for the past two years. They also took second place in 2024 in the Junior (elementary) Nationals and first place in 2025. As a result, Saskatchewan debaters went to both Senior and Junior National Championships in May 2026 as defending champions. Additionally, a Saskatoon-based high school debater is on Team Canada Debate, making it the third year in a row that a Saskatchewan debater has been selected on the national team in global competitions.
Recent successes are due, in no small part, to the ongoing efforts of the Saskatchewan Elocution and Debate Association (SEDA) and its volunteers and alumni.
SEDA, a province-wide organization funded by SaskCulture’s Annual Global Funding, teaches speech and debate skills to students in Grades five to 12. The organization helps young people find their voice, build confidence, and strengthen critical-thinking and communication skills they can carry not only into competitions, but also into school, community life, and future opportunities.
Recent Saskatchewan debater successes are especially impressive because they are competing against debaters from more populous provinces where private schools, with additional resources such as specialist debate coaches and programming, are more common.
So, what’s working so well for Saskatchewan? Peter Hedley, executive director, SEDA, explains that “We now have three generations of SEDA alumni involved in supporting and delivering our programs. They volunteer their time by serving on the board and continuing to coach.
"It is vitally important the current generation of young debaters can learn from those who have gone before them, who also serve as living proof that pathways to success in debate and life exist and can be achieved,"- Peter Hedley
SEDA celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. “It was started by a small group of teachers in Regina who felt this critical area of learning wasn’t available through public school curriculum,” Hedley says. “It grew around the idea of school speech and debate clubs, including meeting for friendly but competitive tournaments to debate against each other.”
SEDA’s Speech and Debate Academy is the only province-based program of its kind in Canada. It offers extracurricular classes in debate and public speaking in person and online, ensuring access for youth across the province. Debate activities are open to anyone, whether they want to compete or not.
“Some people will always be more serious, competition-focused debaters, and others just enjoy taking classes and learning skills,” Hedley says. “Our goal is to make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.”
While national accolades are something to celebrate, Hedley explains they’re not the focus.
“Competition success is great for our debaters but, if the only goal is winning, it flies in the face of who we are in Saskatchewan,” he says. “Our way is to be humble, do the best you can, and use the learnings to do better next time. Having the chance to represent our province means they’ve already won."