Mr. Speaker, today, on Survivors of Suicide Loss Day, I am honoured to rise to pay tribute to a friend, an advocate, and a hero: Tana Nash. Tana was honoured this week with the president's award from the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Canada's national collaborative to prevent suicide. Tana is executive director of the Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council and has worked for years to save the lives of vulnerable people in our community.
While many credit me with introducing the federal framework for suicide prevention, I have always credited our mental health community for providing the template and the motivation. Tana was at the forefront of that. When she shared with me that three local students, in the space of just one week, had died by suicide in unrelated incidents, that was the tipping point for me.
Tana is one of Waterloo region's gems, and I know I speak for the whole community when I say how proud we all are of her and how grateful we are for her efforts. Tana, God bless.