2009 National Awards for Excellence Winners

(for Award Dinner photos, please scroll to bottom of page)

 

Excellence in Aboriginal Programming:
Spirits of Burns Lake
(Rosalie MacDonald, Loretta Charlie, and Shannon Alec)
Nominator: James Haggerstone, Regional Manager, Health Information Analysis, Northern Health
View awards video

The young women who run the Spirits of Burns Lake work with the youth of their community, encouraging and empowering them to make healthy choices, and to become strong, influential role models for others in the community.

They promote and practice values that explicitly open doors and create opportunities for those who would normally be excluded. As such, activities are free, and open to anyone, which helps to mitigate the impact of poverty, a very significant obstacle for many youth in Burns Lake. They focus on building robust social connections, guided by the belief that youth must know that they are valued within their community. They have demonstrated success; their first accomplishment was raising enough money to start and run a free hockey program for young women, providing safe and healthy entertainment for a group of particularly at-risk people in the community.

Burns Lake and the surrounding communities have high rates of drug and alcohol abuse, low employment opportunities and high poverty rates. These women are celebrated by their community because they have managed to succeed and provide hope for others despite the odds.

 

Excellence in Community Programming:
Pine River Institute
Nominator: Dr. Carol Herbert, MD, FRCPC, Dean of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario
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Since 2006, Pine River Institute has provided an intensive residential treatment centre for youth in crisis. It targets young people who have exhausted other interventions, offering a new, creative approach. At Pine River, family-centered wilderness combines with therapeutic and academic programs in a unique, holistic treatment and educational model. They remain supportive of families long after the program ends.

The guiding principles of Pine River are based in research, including relevant literature, advice from specialists, and consultation with industry experts. Program and outcome evaluation research shows that Pine River works. Ongoing outcome research shows a significant decrease in substance use as well as in crisis indicators for participants. It reveals significantly improved physical and family health, over 90% regular attendance at school, and increased engagement in work, volunteer positions, and structured leisure activities.

The outcomes from Pine River’s research are incorporated into ongoing program development. These outcomes include feedback from alumni students and families, as well as professionals in the community working with students before treatment.

 

Excellence in Leadership:
Dr. Liz Whynot, former President, BC Women’s Hospital
Nominator: Dr. Barra O’Briain
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For more than 20 years Dr. Liz Whynot has been committed to working with the most vulnerable populations of BC. She has been the leader of BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, first as Vice President, Women and Family Health and then as President. She has been instrumental in the development of Fir Square, an inpatient harm-reduction unit for substance-using women.

In the past Dr. Whynot has worked as Medical Health Officer for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She was responsible for the development of the Sexual Assault Assessment Project, now the Sexual Assault Service and a part of B.C. Women's, and the hub of the Provincial program for rape victims. She played a leading role in the development and implementation of Sheway, a prenatal and postnatal outreach program for substance-using women. She is also responsible for developing a Provincial Women’s Health Network to support an effective women’s health strategy provincially.

Dr. Whynot has consistently collaborated with others, resulting in the successful development of innovative programs that have helped some of society’s most vulnerable members. All her initiatives aim to better the health and lives of women and children, often in very difficult circumstances.

 

Excellence in Media Reporting: 
André Picard
Nominator: Bill Wilkerson, Co-Founder and CEO, Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health
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André Picard is the public health reporter at The Globe and Mail and one of Canada’s top public policy writers on issues relating to mental health and addiction issues. Mr. Picard has received much acclaim for his writing, including the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service Journalism, the Canadian Policy Research Award, and the Atkinson Fellowship for Public Policy Research. In 2002 he received the Centennial Prize of the Pan-American Health Organization as the top public health reporter in the Americas. In 2005 he was named Canada’s first Public Health Hero by the Canadian Public Health Association. In 2007 Mr. Picard was awarded a National Newspaper Award for his contribution to a series about cancer care in Canada.

In June 2008, Mr. Picard was instrumental to the publication of a week-long series on mental health in The Globe and Mail. The series drew significant attention to the issues of addiction and mental health across the country.

Mr. Picard has been widely recognized for his outstanding reporting on issues such as AIDS and the obesity epidemic. In the 20 years he has been working as a health reporter, health has moved from an obscure special-interest topic to front page news.

 

Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Programming:

COAST – Crisis Outreach and Support Team
Nominator: Inspector Warren Korol, COAST/Hamilton Police
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COAST was developed to enable Hamilton police and mental health professionals to work cooperatively in providing services such as outreach, assessment, support and interventions in crisis situations to individuals who are mentally ill. The COAST pilot project began in 1997, and was expanded to full time in 2001. In 2006 a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) became part of COAST to help officers gain the skills to identify and provide effective and compassionate response to situations involving people in a mental health crisis, as there was no such program in place prior to COAST.

COAST includes a team of police officers, mental health and addiction professionals, child and youth workers, a disorders specialist, and administrators. The benefits of COAST to its clients are its provision of 24/7 contact with mental health and addiction professionals support to those who traditionally fall through the gaps; a rapid response to individuals in crisis; the presence of police without the stigma of a uniformed officer and cruiser present (police are in plain clothes); mental health care after hours; and smoother transitions between community services.

It is a best-practice model for police-mental health teams, assuming a leading role in educating police, and is being replicated across Canada.

 

Excellence in Public Policy: 
Michel Perron, CEO, Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA)
Nominator: Jean Fournier, Senate Ethics Officer
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Over the last ten years, Michel Perron has been key to much of the innovation, partnership, vision and leadership in the field of substance abuse in Canada, and more recently in support of the United Nations, globally. He is consistently sought out to provide advice, counsel and strategic direction to the highest offices in Canada and within the United Nations. His skillful leadership has directly affected public policy in national, territorial, provincial, FNIM and municipal governments, both domestically and internationally.

In 2005 Mr. Perron co-led a gathering of 100 representatives from groups including government, not-for-profit, and private sectors, in the building of the National Framework for Action to Reduce the Harms Associated with Alcohol and Other Drugs and Substances in Canada.

Following this meeting the CCSA developed several key national priorities. Most notable were the creation of a national workforce development strategy, a national drug user congress, a national alcohol-policy working group, and a National Framework secretariat co-funded by HC and CCSA. The National Framework represents a model of integration and collaboration for national priorities. The process used to create it has been adopted by other sectors.

 

Excellence in Youth Leadership: 
Loryn Marcellus
Nominator: Alberta Health Services, Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC)
View awards video

As a member of AADAC’s Youth Advisory Council since 2004, 19-year-old Loryn Marcellus has contributed to many meaningful projects at both the local and provincial level. He has strived to make his community a better place and has emerged as a strong leader among his peers.

At the local level Mr. Marcellus has been involved with conferences, presentations, and community projects, such as SADD. At the provincial level, he has helped develop legislation (Bill 202, the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act) and has been involved in organizing conferences and developing surveys. He has acted as chairperson of Fort McMurray Mayor’s Advisory Council on Youth as well as the Stepping Stones Youth Home Advisory Committee.

Through tireless work to better his community, Mr. Marcellus has worked with a variety of agencies. As a member of AADAC’s YAC he contributed to projects put forward by government ministries, non-profit organizations, schools and universities. As chair of the Stepping Stones Youth Home Advisory Committee, he has been part of a community effort that has synchronized various levels of government, the United Way and members of the private sector. By bringing these different stakeholders together, Mr. Marcellus has demonstrated that age does not matter and young people can make a difference.

 

From the National Awards for Excellence Program Dinner and Awards Ceremony at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, on May 26th, 2009, in Montréal, Québec:

 

View the 2009 Dinner Progam:

Dinner Program NAE 2009

 

One of Our National Partner Placards:

 

The Other National Partner Placard:

 

Placard for the National Awards for Excellence Program Event Sponsors:

 

The Honourable Lise Thériault, Minister for Social Services, QC, and Edgar F. Kaiser Jr., Chairman and CEO of the Kaiser Foundation inside Le Grande Salon:

 

André Picard, Globe and Mail, Michelle Lalond, and Dr. R. B. Zipursky, Chief of Psychiatry at St. Joseph’s Healthcare (Hamilton) and Hamilton Health Sciences Hospitals pose during the VIP Reception:

 

Patrick M'Baday , Rena Alec, Spritis of Burns Lake, Shannon Alec, Spritis of Burns Lake, Regional Chief Roger Augustine, New Brunswick and Prince Edward island, and [Unknown] watching magician Tom Nixon perform towards the end of a magical evening:

 

Sgt. Chris Zafirides, Criminal Investigation Division
Hamilton Police Service, Terry McGurk, Manager of COAST, and Insp. Warren Korol, Criminal Investigation Division
Hamilton Police Service, stand proudly together:

 

Joanne Angel, AADAC, and Loryn Marcellus, Winner, show off the Award for Excellence in Youth Leadership:

 

Pine River Staff Member, Susan Kaiser, Director of the National Awards for Excellence Progam, Dr. Karen Minden, CEO of Pine River, Edgar F. Kaiser Jr., Chairman and CEO of the Kaiser Foundation, Pine River Staff Member, Maxine Minden, Pine River Staff Member, Pine River Staff Member, Pine River Staff Member, and Elyse Schipper pose together after the Dinner and Awards Ceremony: