Toronto, Ontario, Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Thank you, Steve, for your generous introduction. And thank you everyone for welcoming me so warmly.

Steve highlighted some of my achievements. And of course, I am here with you as patron of the Psychology Foundation of Canada and spouse of the Governor General.

So I understand if you think of me by my snazzy title: “Her Excellency Sharon Johnston.” Yet that is only a part of who I am. I am also Sharon Downey from Summit Avenue in Sault Ste. Marie.

I am the daughter of a single mother. My mother, Joan, separated from my father when I was five years old and my sister eight. That was in 1948. Sixty-six years ago.

Back then, my mother returned to school to qualify as a welfare worker so she could support us. She postponed career advancement until my sister and I were adults, at which time she earned her master’s in rehabilitation social work at the University of Toronto.

Growing up in a blue-collar town in Northern Ontario in the Forties and Fifties, we did not have access to the supports a family such as ours would have today. So let me tell you about the three core decisions my mother made to give me a better chance at a secure childhood and adolescence.

First, my mother kept us on the same street we had lived on prior to her breakup with my father. Faced with financial limits, she resisted the urge to move. Instead, she ignored city by-laws and built for us a small house on our large property, realizing the income from dividing the property.

Second, she conscripted her mother, who also lived on Summit, to be our surrogate father. Every child needs discipline, and I can honestly say my grandmother, a British nurse, was as strict as a Marine Corps drill sergeant.

And finally, my mother allowed herself to be embraced by the entire community of Summit Avenue. Our neighbours were self-appointed parents. My sister and I are two examples of how it really does take a village—or at least the neighbours on a street—to raise a child.

That stable support system kept me from being isolated. It kept me steady in times of crisis. And it made me emotionally resilient in what would otherwise have been a difficult if not precarious existence.

That resilience paved the way for me to earn my degrees, run a business and be an active partner with my husband throughout his career. I look back and wonder what path my life might have taken without the support I received on Summit Avenue at such a formative age.

I must say it also took some resilience for me and my husband to raise five daughters of our own. Perhaps you can get the inside story on that adventure from my daughter Alex, who is with us today.

I also believe my genuine love of children and my desire to help them comes from my early experiences on Summit Avenue. And I know for a fact that my understanding of resilience as the key to mental health stems from the people on my street.

The early life of Sharon Downey underscores Dr. Michael Ungar’s culturally sensitive definition of resilience. Dr. Ungar is co-director of the Resilience Research Centre at Dalhousie University.

He defines resilience as follows: “In the context of exposure to significant adversity, resilience is the capacity of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural and physical resources that sustain their wellbeing.”

In an ideal world, resilience is established as early as possible in childhood. The pioneering studies of Dr. Fraser Mustard, a Canadian research icon, show that children achieve higher developmental gains once they start kindergarten if we intervene to support them anywhere from birth to two years of age.

I am simplifying the ground breaking work Dr. Mustard conducted while he headed the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. The science of early intervention he helped pioneer widely influences public thinking today.

UC Berkeley development psychologist Alison Gopnik says recent research confirms children who have had stable, nurturing, varied early environments thrive in a wide range of ways—better health, less crime, more successful marriages.

Unfortunately, intervention in many young lives does not occur until much later, and often after these young people have suffered from addiction, mental illness, homelessness and overwhelming isolation.

According to our hosts, the Psychology Foundation of Canada, one in four children will enter adult life with significant emotional, behavioural, academic or social problems. One in four!

How unacceptable in our country.

After accidents, suicide is the most frequent cause of death among young people in Canada. It is a tragedy for us all that a young man or woman at the beginning of his or her life might wish to end it.

That said, I am here to talk about inspiration and not despair. Resilience is the keystone to good mental health and everyone here this morning is an advocate for this vital aspect of public health. My husband, David, as governor general, and I join you in this advocacy.

Some of you might be aware of the theme of my husband’s mandate – a Smart and Caring Nation, A Call to Service (keener minds and kinder hearts) with three pillars: learning and innovation, volunteerism and philanthropy, and the wellbeing of children and families.

Over the past four years, with the trust that Canadians have placed in David and me, we have travelled widely across our country. We have seen evidence of our national effort to build resilience in Canadian youths and the adults who support them.

I want to share with you three practices that I have seen working across our country. They are worthy of mention because they use different methods to help build resilience in young people at three distinct stages in their lives.

The first example is a national organization called Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters—or the acronym HIPPY. HIPPY addresses the need that Fraser Mustard believed was so critical to child development: early intervention.

The work of this group is based on the principle of mothers helping mothers, with a focus on supporting marginalized families—including Aboriginal families and those of new Canadians.

HIPPY is unique in that it works with isolated mothers in their homes, coaching them in support of their child’s preschool education and connecting them to other mothers. For some mothers, participation has even led to gainful employment.

HIPPY builds resilience in children and families within their own community. I had the privilege of visiting the Musqueam First Nation in BC to learn more about a newly minted Aboriginal-specific HIPPY program there and in other BC First Nation communities.

The program has a very high participation rate. It offers culturally responsive learning and teaching to Aboriginal parents and children in a safe environment—the home—while at the same time strengthening bonds within families and community at large. Every mother I spoke with said, “HIPPY has made me a better parent.”

Another inspiring initiative is Unity Charity. Started by a remarkable young Canadian named Mike Prosserman who has overcome significant challenges in his own life, this organization empowers young people to become role models and leaders within their communities.

Mike’s work across our nation has changed the lives of 100,000 Canadian youths. Unity Charity uses three creative forms of self-expression—beat boxing, spoken-word poetry and hip-hop and break dancing—to help adolescents overcome the isolation caused by bullying, violence and other social problems.

I first met Mike and his group in a large room provided by the Art Gallery of Ontario. On that day, the new role models and leaders I met were almost all new Canadians. Each related to me how Unity Charity helped them use creative expression to overcome their isolation, develop resilience and change their difficult lives into positive ones.

My final example is Operation Come Home in Ottawa, run by Elspeth McKay, a graduate of the Ivey Business School. Her organization is the product of a question she was once asked: Can a kinder, gentler business make cold hard cash? Her answer is yes.

Operation Come Home has five social enterprises designed to make money while helping marginalized young people join the workforce and gain the skills they need to launch careers. It also operates an on-site high school for at-risk youths, as well as drop-in emergency services.

About 90 percent of the young people at Operation Come Home have mental illnesses. Yet almost 75 percent are successful at finishing school or finding jobs.

Two weeks ago, I attended the launch of a jewellery line created by Audrey Hayes and Angela Williams—two remarkable young women from Operation Come Home.

They named their line the Sharon Johnston Collection. Their unique jewellery is made from the material cut from the hems of my ball gowns to adjust for my small size.

These young women and their now profitable jewellery business are true examples of resilience gained after leading chaotic lives. Audrey left home at age fourteen, unable to cope any longer with her parents’ serious mental illnesses. That’s when she herself became an addict. She turned to Operation Come Home and gained the skills she needed to turn her life around. Audrey is only twenty-three years old.

As further proof of their success, both Unity Charity and Operation Come Home are now part of the Global Mental Health Innovation Network.  This network is led jointly by the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization’s Department for Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

So what lessons can I share with you from my life on Summit Avenue and my travels across the country?

First, Fraser Mustard’s proven research and the recent success of HIPPY show us we have to start early. The earlier, the better. We need to support parents to help them equip their youngsters with the emotional resiliency that healthy children have.

Second, even if we miss kids before they start kindergarten, we can intervene at other points in their young lives. We just need imagination. Who would have thought that spoken-word poetry or hip-hop dancing could help teenagers overcome their isolation and build resiliency? As Unity Charity proves, they do.

We must also recognize that one size doesn’t fit all. A program for kids in inner cities might not translate to rural areas. We have to figure out how to modify such a program to work in small towns and remote areas.

Third, we need to build networks. Here in this room today are businesspeople, psychologists, educators, researchers, social and healthcare workers. Many of you are taking part in programs to build resiliency in kids and youths, including the wonderful efforts of the Psychology Foundation of Canada.

If you are not yet involved in such things, I urge you to do so. Work across your disciplinary borders. Team up with experts in other professions. Think of the rich networks you can build to start a new initiative or extend the reach of an existing program.

Let me circle back to Audrey Hayes, one of the young jewellery designers of Operation Come Home. It was serendipity that Audrey came to see me at Rideau Hall to discuss her jewellery business at the same time that Sandra and Joseph Rotman were staying with us.

In conjunction with the Rotman Business School, Sandra started Rise Asset Development to mentor and provide micro-financing for young entrepreneurs with mental health and addiction challenges—people like Audrey.

While Rise Asset had not overseen Audrey’s plan, Sandra became concerned when she heard Audrey describe the nine months it took to create a business plan. Sandra suggested Rise Asset could have shortened the time it took for Audrey to realize a viable path to successful entrepreneurship.

Why shouldn’t businesspeople and business students be teaming up with social enterprises such as Operation Come Home to teach and help them create business plans and other essential tools? Professionalism and volunteerism make a happy combination with great results.

Professionals and businesspeople should team up with researchers and educators. Researchers and educators should team up with social and healthcare workers. Science and practice should work in tandem.

Recent tragic events have shown us how important mental health is for young Canadians. The mental health of young people must be among our primary concerns as a nation. We need to act now.

Today’s gathering is called the Breakfast for Champions.

Each of us in our own way is a champion for children and vulnerable young people.

Together, we must be champions who make sure Canada remains the best place on the planet to grow up in, the best place for kids to enjoy healthy childhoods, the best place for them to get ready to enjoy successful, fulfilling, meaningful lives and adulthood.

Thank you.