Our friend Dave Greenfield, former Saskatchewan Green Party and Green Party of Canada candidate, member of the executive of the SGP, and Saskatchewan representative on the Federal Council of the Green Party of Canada, died on Thursday, April 18, 2024, after a lengthy hospitalization. He will live on in our hearts as a man dedicated to the environment, social justice and peace. He pursued these passions through activism in political, civic, and religious groups, including the Council of Canadians, Canadian Friends Service Committee, Climate Justice Saskatoon and the Saskatoon Peace Coalition. He will be remembered as a defender of the rights and dignity of our disabled and disadvantaged brothers and sisters.

We in the Green parties have a special reason to recognize Dave and mourn his passing, as he was a force behind the formation of Saskatchewan’s Green political movement and party.

David was a longtime member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), having attended Meeting for Worship since the 1990s. He will be missed by Friends/Quakers across Canada. At David’s request, he will be cremated and his ashes interred at Woodlawn Cemetery. 

Memorial Gathering Details

The memorial meeting to celebrate the life of David Greenfield will be held on Sunday, May 12th at 3:00 pm at the Unitarian Centre at 213 2nd Street East in Saskatoon. This will be a time of sharing memories and appreciation of Dave.  All are welcome.  It will be a hybrid gathering. I will circulate the link for those attending online as soon as I have it.

Dave's obituary is posted on the Prairie View Funeral website (link below). It will also appear in the Star Phoenix.

A memorial program about Dave is planned to air on May 8th on CFCR FM 90.5 at 6:30 pm. 

Shortly before he was hospitalized, David put $1,500 in the Saskatchewan Green Party bank account specifically to help pay the nomination fees for three candidates – his hope being that we would raise enough through such actions to have a nest egg to draw on moving forward to cover the new, much higher fees. He personified our core value of Participatory Democracy.

Many in the Saskatchewan Green Party will remember Dave through his work on the Weaver. He founded the Weaver newsletter 20 years ago. It came out 4 times a year, on solstice and equinox, and contained political commentary, book reviews and poetry. Much of it was written by David himself. Until his passing he continued to be active on the current Weaver (which now comes out monthly). 

In 2023, David was recognized by the Celebrating Seniors Volunteer Awards in the category of “Advocacy Individual”, as noted on the Awards’ website.

Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May recalls, "I first met Dave decades ago through his work against uranium mining in Saskatchewan and against nuclear power and the threats it poses, including links to the nuclear arms industry. His joy in life was evident and contagious. He played music and found the light in places where others saw only darkness. While part of the sightless community, he saw far more than those who claim perfect vision.”

Saskatchewan Green Party leader Naomi Hunter says, “I’ve known David Greenfield since I was 13. When I first got involved in activism, my brother Matt and I were “the kids” going to high school, and our friends in Saskatoon were all 10, 20 or 30 years older than us. Dave came to so many protests and sang and played his drum. After Matt went missing, Dave never stopped sharing fond remembrances of my brother.”

“One of my favourite funny memories of Dave was one of the times the New Green Alliance started here (3 times before it stuck, and it has been going ever since – now known as the Saskatchewan Green Party). Dave and I would go to community dances and wander around getting signatures on petitions, first explaining to people what they were about. So people were used to being asked to sign such things. It takes a lot of signatures to form a political party, and so much of the signing was done at these same community dances. My mother suddenly announced a few years ago, ‘I signed that and so did our friend Carol Vandale, but I couldn’t hear well at the dance and didn’t realize until later that i helped form our Green Party.’”

“Dave attended more protests and community events than most people ever will and was always accompanied by friends who would help him navigate different spaces due to his visual impairment. He would often rise and ask questions or make thoughtful comments at the microphone. He would ask to sing a song and play his drum at events as well.”

“Dave continued to participate in the Saskatchewan Green Party from his hospital bed. He had the best memory of anyone I’ve ever known. I could get a hold of Dave and ask him about an event we were both at or something that happened in Saskatchewan politics and he could always remember when and where everything happened in great detail. He truly cared about the Green Party and its principles and will be terribly missed. A life well lived.”

Council of Canadians Memorium Tribute

https://canadians.org/analysis/memoriam-for-david-greenfield/

Obituary of David Lorne Greenfield 1967 - 2024

https://prairieviewchapel.com/tribute/details/5925/David-Greenfield/obituary.html