SASKATOON – Hundreds came to remember Gens Hellquist at a memorial Thursday.
“He was one of a kind,” said Chad Olson, a friend of Hellquist’s.
“We’ll never be able to replace him,” he said, wiping away tears.
Hellquist was an integral part of Saskatoon’s gay community.
“For one, he started the first queer organization in Saskatchewan in 1971,” explained Jai Richards, Executive Director for The Avenue Community Centre.
“He founded Gay and Lesbian Health Services in 1991, which is now the Avenue Community Centre.”
Hellquist spent decades helping to support, test, and educate gay men living with HIV.
“He was a force to be reckoned with, and it’s going to take a lot of us to make up for one of him,” said Richards.
Hellquist served on a number of boards and was a founding member of the national Rainbow Health Coalition.
The service was held at the Roxy Theatre, with almost two-hundred people in attendance.
“There’s also a celebration happening in Toronto on Saturday,” explained Richards.
“Gens participated in a lot of national activities, sat on a lot of national boards. {He} was well-known across Canada for his activism work.”
In recent years, Hellquist worked as the Director of the Queer Men’s Sexual Health project at the Avenue Community Centre.
“The advancements that we’ve made are because of the pioneers who have promoted equality and the advancement of rights so i wanted to come today to pay my respects,” said NDP Leader Cam Broten.
Those who were close to Hellquist say his legacy will be carried forward by those who try to fill the very big shoes he has left behind.
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