YORKTON, Sask. — More than 50 student debaters from across Saskatchewan gathered in Yorkton on Sept. 26 as the Saskatchewan Elocution and Debate Association (SEDA) returned to the city for its first tournament in more than a decade.
The tournament marked the opening event of SEDA's 2026-27 season and brought together 52 elementary and high school students competing in 26 two-person teams from seven schools in Yorkton, Regina and Saskatoon.
For Yorkton Regional High School students Chaitasi Bhatt and Danica Keyowski, the event was the culmination of months of work advocating to bring competitive debate back to their community.
"We had to kind of fight to have a debate club here at the school," said Bhatt, explaining that the club struggled after its former coach left several years ago.
Rather than allowing the program to disappear, Bhatt and Keyowski stepped into leadership roles themselves, finding a teacher adviser to provide supervision while they took on much of the coaching and organizational responsibilities.
"We've become the coaches at the regional and then we just found a teacher adviser to help us out with supervising," Bhatt said.
The pair have been involved in debate throughout high school and now help introduce new students to the activity by teaching the fundamentals of debate structure, speech preparation and competition rules.
The Yorkton tournament came after students spent the past year encouraging SEDA to bring an event back to the city. While a tournament did not materialize during the 2025-26 season, the organization committed to making Yorkton the first stop of its new in-person tournament schedule.
SEDA executive director Peter Hedley said the decision reflected the dedication shown by Yorkton students.
"This is about more than bringing debate back to Yorkton," Hedley said. "It's about responding to the dedicated young people from our speech and debate community who want to share their passion by creating opportunities for young people in their area to get involved with debate."
On Sept. 26, competitors debated the resolution, "This house supports the development of AI data centres in Canada."
Students received the topic several weeks before the tournament and spent that time researching arguments on both sides of the issue.
"The value of this format is that it requires debaters to explore this complex issue from more than one perspective rather than simply advancing or defending a position they personally hold," Hedley said. "In an increasingly polarized world, learning this approach is invaluable."
Bhatt said preparation involved extensive research and practice debates among club members.
"We usually get the motion two to three weeks in advance," she said. "For the first week or two we prepare speeches, and then the week before the tournament we debate each other to practise."
The competition featured both experienced and novice debaters, including students from elementary schools. Keyowski said it was encouraging to see so many new faces participating.
"There were 26 teams in total," she said. "There were a lot of people that came from elementary schools in Regina, so it was really cool to see all these new faces."
SEDA has prohibited the use of internet-connected and AI-enabled devices during competitions since last season. Hedley said the policy is intended to ensure students develop their own research, critical thinking and communication skills.
"AI can be a useful tool but young people still need the opportunity to develop their own knowledge and skills," he said. "Participating in this programming gives them a practical place to explore issues, think critically, listen to understand alternative views, and use their own voices."
The Yorkton Regional High School club currently consists of about eight students on four teams, but organizers hope hosting the tournament will encourage more young people to get involved.
"We always want people to come and join the club," Bhatt said. "It's not easy, but we appreciate anybody that comes and tries it out."
