Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Sept. 28th, 2016

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thanks very much.

The next question is from Joël Lightbound.

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

First of all, I want to thank you all for being here. I think it takes a lot of courage to testify in front of a committee like this, and we appreciate it. I thank you for your presence here with us.

My first question would be to you, Shurenda. Can you walk us through what brought you to reach out to LOVE in the first place, and how it's helped you concretely in your life as you entered the organization and worked with the organization? I'd like you to share your feelings, as someone who's gone through it.

[Shurenda Michael]

As I said, my father wasn't there when I was born, and my mother and I butted heads a lot. I referred to her as “the wave”: in and out. She's given up on me a lot. I wanted to find a place where I could trust, and when they said “there are three secrets and then anything else stays in that room”, I thought, “okay, I'll give it a month. We'll push buttons here. We'll see.” My friends and I thought, “Yeah, maybe”, but honestly, we sat in that room and nothing came out of that room after it went in. We all realized, sitting around in a circle, that we all were broken. We all needed to be fixed, and we needed to trust someone.

When I was 15, my biggest bully from when I was 10 apologized to me without anyone asking him to or anything. He realized, “Oh, I bullied you because I was broken. I didn't realize. You were that rich kid. Your grandfather was a cop. I didn't realize your parents did what they did to you.” It took time to build the relationships that I did with my fellow youth who were in the LOVE program with me, but that's what kept us. We thought, “Oh, it's not just me causing the problem at home, where people are yelling at me for no reason.” To us it was no reason. It probably was no reason, but it's not just me going through it. The kid down the road's going through it too, and they get everything they want. That's the trust thing. We're all saying we need to learn how to leave something at the door, and leave it in the room if someone wants it left in the room.

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Thank you.

This question would be more to Richard and Sarah.

I guess it happens, in the course of your work, that you lose a kid who walks away from the program. What resources would be needed to avoid that, if it happens? How can we avoid that, so they stay the course with you? What are your thoughts on that?

[Sarah MacLaren]

We don't lose a lot of kids. We have retention rates in the 90th percentile. Part of that is being voluntary and giving our kids a choice. We're renowned. We're at your doorstep saying, “Hi, are we going to see you Tuesday?” These are the days of texting and Facebook. We are diligent human beings.

Every now and then a kid walks away, and that's okay, because you can't be everything to all people. If we're hitting the 90th percentile mark, I think we're doing all right in that regard.

You know what? Sometimes they come back. Our kids opt out. Sometimes we've had kids who once they learn our values, and they've been around awhile, want to be role models. They know our thing is you're supposed to be a role model to the other kids. If they aren't being role models, they will actively separate themselves from us until they're walking a different path, and then they'll come back. It's very rare that we lose a kid.

What do you think, Richard?

[Richard Taylor]

Our appeal is, I think, that we say we're for 16- to 18-year-olds, but really it's 12- to 26-year-olds. There are kids in their 30s who still call Sarah, just to say hi, from Vancouver—we have one of our folks here from Vancouver. The conversation is often simply, “how are things going? It's nice that things are changing. It's nice that you're doing this. It's nice that you're enrolled in something. It's nice that you're at work. It's nice to hear that you have a lovely child in your life and you have a wonderful family burgeoning”, and all these sorts of things. For many of these young people, things are happening late.

For us, our retention has to do with having a broad appeal. When a young person does what I'll call self-eviction, it's because they see what's going on and says, “You know what? Maybe I don't need this. Maybe I thought I needed it, but I don't.” Then they move on. They find themselves a job. They'll be doing drywall work or something, and they'll come by and say hi. They'll be happy when they see us. That's what it's about: broad appeal.

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Do I have time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you for the response.

You're out of time.

We have time for one more five-minute question, and that is from Cathy McLeod.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you.

Thank you both for your very compelling testimony today and for the work that you do.

I was looking at your website, and it seems this is a model.

[Sarah MacLaren]

We're a not-for-profit, so we don't have the best of websites.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

First of all, I appreciate your comments about how sometimes federal programs can be very confining and about the time you have to spend on applications. Rather than being offended, we probably agree to some degree that there are ways in which we could perhaps make them a little more flexible and a little more responsive and timely.

I'm trying to understand something. You have different branches in different communities. How did the model evolve? You talk about a 98% retention rate. Do you have shareable evaluations? Tell me a little more about your organization.

[Sarah MacLaren]

Our organization was started by a woman whose husband was murdered by a 14-year-old boy in Montreal. She started it in Montreal in 1995 in partnership with a journalism professor and a photography professor. In 1997, they got a grant to expand to Toronto. I probably sound very ungrateful. The government has done nice things for us. They got a millennium grant and expanded to Vancouver and Halifax. We had a central governance body realize it was broken about two years ago. Every region is now incorporated individually, so each region runs according to what they feel their community's needs are. We have a basic program model with an intake-level program, a leadership program, and outreach. Because we are more philosophy-based than curriculum-based, it's really a question of how things apply to our community and how do we want them to work?

Does that make sense?

The model itself evolved. They started doing journalism with kids and then realized that, wow, these kids have really important stories, and we need to have their stories heard. Then they took them out, and they realized that maybe kids need leadership training before they can go out in the world and share their stories. Now we have a leadership training model, and we have an outreach model whereby our young people educate youth-serving professionals or other young people about the root causes and solutions to violence.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Is there an evaluation process?

[Sarah MacLaren]

We had an evaluation conducted by McGill five years ago, which is available. In Nova Scotia, we just partnered with the Dalhousie School of Social Work, and four of their master's students conducted an evaluation for us last year. I have the results here in an annual report if you want to see them. We absolutely believe in being accountable and being evaluated and making sure that we aren't just doing pie in the sky and thinking that because our kids hug us, we're doing great work. We understand that's not a good measure of whether we're doing good work or not.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

You indicated that you don't apply for government grants. I looked at your huge sponsor list. Are you having to go through processes with every organization every year, or are you on their list of organizations they support every year so you can run your programs?

[Sarah MacLaren]

Each region raises its own budget to run its programs. Our budget in Nova Scotia, right now is around the $460,000 mark. I raise that every year. That's my job.

[Richard Taylor]

In short, there are no multi-funders. We have maybe, I think—

[Sarah MacLaren]

I think we have three that have signed on for more than one year: United Way, Peter Cundill Foundation, and one other foundation. But generally, we're not. In my next life, I'll get to educate funders.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you for that.

Thanks for the question.

We're out of time. It goes really quickly, but what we heard from you is extremely valuable.

Shurenda, thank you so much for being with us today and sharing what you shared, your story.

Richard and Sarah, thank you for coming as well and explaining to us your program and how it works.

Thank you all for a whirlwind day-long trip to Ottawa. I want to ask you to leave the annual report with us if you could. We'll table that as well.

The final thing is that we've created an online portal for this study, and we're trying to spread that as far and wide as we can. Anyone is welcome to leave—we call it a brief, but just say what you want to say—up to about 3,000 words, and Michelle is going to email you the link.

Sarah and Richard, please share that with your people, your kids, as broadly as you want and maybe talk about it with them. There's a really nice opportunity to write. It could be an F-write. We would welcome that. Thanks so much.

We're going to suspend for a couple of minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Welcome back.

The second panel of the day is going to be two people. Matthew Glode is appearing as an individual, and Pamela Glode Desrochers is appearing representing the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax.

I am happy to offer you each ten minutes, if you would like to use that. That is ten minutes each, and then we will follow with rounds of questions after that.

Do you have a preference about who goes first?

[Pamela Glode Desrochers, Executive Director , Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society]

I'll start.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Okay. Pam, go ahead, please.

[Pamela Glode Desrochers]

My name is Pam Glode Desrochers, and I am the executive director of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre. We are located in Halifax. I could go on and on about stuff that the friendship centre does and the number of youth who we are engaged with.

Today is actually very emotional for my family. This is about putting a face to suicide. This is about putting a name to suicide. On March 2 my brother's son, my nephew, took his own life, and I'm going to let Matthew tell that story. Then I will make sure that we follow up, and I will definitely assist in answering questions, but this really is about Cody.

[Shawn Matthew Glode, As an Individual]

First and foremost, I'd like to thank everybody for having us here.

The opportunity to speak on this issue has become dear and close to my heart. Our communities are in crisis.

My name is Matthew Glode. I'm from Millbrook First Nation, Nova Scotia, and I'm here to talk to you about mental illness.

Our son Cody started his battle with depression at the age of 13. He was a victim of bullying, and bullying wreaks havoc in our communities and in the adolescents' lives. When Cody started to self-harm, little did we know it was the beginning of a long, dark, and lonely road that would end in tragedy. We spoke openly about mental health and sought help immediately, while at the same time attending to our daughter Caitlin, who also started her own battle with depression and mental illness.

For Cody, the course of action was medication, therapy, and martial arts. Martial arts gave him a whole new perspective; it gave him something to really look forward to. He did well in school, avoided the party scene, and spent most of his time in the gym teaching kids martial arts. His self-esteem was once again where it should be—or so we thought.

He graduated from high school. He tried his hand at university and worked part-time. He seemed to have it all, although from time to time he would tell us that he was sad and didn't understand why. We always encouraged and supported him, and he continued to work hard at the gym. He started on new medication and continued therapy. Cody dreamed of becoming a professional MMA fighter. He also began to pursue a career as a firefighter. He graduated from fire school in April 2015, and little did we know that some time prior to the end he stopped taking his medication. When we did approach him, Cody explained that it made him feel worse and that it wasn't working. Someone close to us told us that he had stopped taking it. How do you make a 20-year-old firefighter/fighter take his medication?

On June 15, he was hired full-time with the Truro Fire Service. He was the youngest firefighter ever hired, and the only first nations firefighter ever hired. To say that we were proud would be an understatement.

Cody should have been on top of the world, and, yes, on the outside he appeared to be. He really had it all: a very hopeful future in MMA, a full-time career, a brand new car that he paid cash for, and a beautiful girlfriend he planned to marry. On the inside, Cody was dying a slow, painful death. He didn't want his employer to know. He was reluctant to seek out help right away. Finally, he went to the emergency room and was given completely new medication, and was told to follow up with his family doctor. Although he still didn't want to tell anything to his employer, he did seem to want to battle this illness head-on.

I truly believe that he wanted to live; however, he was exhausted from always pretending to be okay. He told me that he couldn't remember the last time that he'd felt happy—he thought at maybe 11 years old. He couldn't sleep. The pills weren't working. The thoughts in his head grew darker and darker, and so did his writing in his journal.

On March 2, our son Cody took his own life.

Many wonder how such an accomplished young man could do this. He left behind me and my wife of 22 years, his sister, three brothers, a niece, a loving girlfriend, and a large extended family of friends and co-workers alike.

This does not happen to families like mine. This does not happen to someone like Cody. For that matter, it shouldn't happen to any family or any individual.

Mental illness isn't picky; it spares no one. It doesn't matter your race, your age, your upbringing, your education, or your ambitions. It bites and digs its teeth in deep and does not release its prey.

The suicide rate in first nations communities is twice the national average. One would think that with a number like that help would be more readily available, but that's wrong.

Cody went to the doctor. He was told to call. He was given a piece of paper with a name on it. He was told to call to make an appointment with the psychologist. I'd seen Cody lose in the ring. I'd seen him lose in competition, but I'd never ever seen him defeated. When he came home that day, he was defeated. His shoulders were slumped when he found out there was a two-month waiting period to get in to see somebody. He was defeated. I saw a difference in his demeanor then. Two weeks into the two-month wait, Cody took his life. His story was not the first and it will not be the last, as long as this continues.

Would it have changed Cody's outcome if he had gotten in sooner? We don't know, and unfortunately we'll never know. But it may have bought him some time.

For a lot of people suffering from mental illness, who are deep in that pit of despair, making a phone call would be climbing Mount Everest. If Cody had gone into the office with a bump on his head, high sugars, chest pain, or even a broken foot, help would have been immediate. Mental health issues need immediate action. “Mental health” are words that people have to be comfortable with. Our son was not crazy. He did not have bad nerves. He was not lonely. He suffered every day from mental illness. If it had been cancer, there would have been all kinds of help available.

Mental health is lonely and crippling. It kills its victims. We as a nation need to make mental health a household word. We need to put in place a system that saves lives, one that, if need be, holds that person's hand until they get the help they need. We need people there to continue the care even after help has been given and received, whether that be with a simple visit or a phone call, or a person in place who would offer a hug, words of encouragement, or a listening ear. Sometimes it's so simple, but yet crucial to that person on the dark and lonely road of mental illness.

I do know that in that moment when my son could no longer bear his inner pain, he wasn't alone. God, the Creator, reached out and took him in his arms and said, “I've got you. I'm taking you home.”

Welálin. Thank you.