On Monday, October 10, the QED Journal hosted a panel discussion called “Queer Conversations: Suicidality, Conflict, and Repair” at Le Cagibi. The event was held in response to the recent suicide of trans writer and activist Bryn Kelly.

The panel, hosted by author Sarah Schulman and trans writer and artist Morgan M Page, centered around suicide prevention and conflict resolution in the queer community.

“We are in the middle of a suicide epidemic within queer and trans communities that reaches across all segments of our community and has very disproportionate impacts on the most marginalized in our community, particularly Indigenous people who often cross over with our community and who, in Canada, have the highest suicide rates of any group, as well as Black and other people of colour,” Page said in her introductory remarks.

“We are in the middle of a suicide epidemic within queer and trans communities that reaches across all segments of our community and has very disproportionate impacts on the most marginalized in our community […]”

“It is a large and extremely sensitive topic that we can’t possibly hope to unravel in one evening, but we’re hoping through discussing one person’s suicide [that] this will be fruitful as we all move forward,” she continued.

Schulman and Page both talked about their relationship with Kelly and their involvement with her funeral, including their contribution to the eulogies. Schulman described the process she went through in preparing a eulogy, which Kelly’s partner, Gaines Parker, preferred to call a “political sermon.”

Discussion about the “political sermon” focused on whether to include how Kelly had killed herself. Schulman said she and others close to Kelly felt strongly that it was important information to share.

“It is a large and extremely sensitive topic that we can’t possibly hope to unravel in one evening, but we’re hoping through discussing one person’s suicide [that] this will be fruitful as we all move forward.”

“Saying the way the person killed themselves was not the same as telling people how to kill themselves,” Schulman said. She added that she hoped including the more graphic and real aspects of what had occurred would discourage other people from doing the same thing.

Page shared that she had also read the political sermon. “The effect on me was very immediate,” she said. “I felt that it dissuaded all of the suicidal ideation that I’ve been feeling for me personally.”

She further emphasized that suicides within the trans and queer community happen far too often.

“Suicides happen fairly regularly in the community around me, whether they are friends I have or coworkers or community members that I’ve shared space with,” she said. “They happen with an astounding regularity that I think contributes to many of us who see this happening feeling hopeless and ourselves feeling suicidal ideation.”

“The effect on me was very immediate. I felt that it dissuaded all of the suicidal ideation that I’ve been feeling for me personally.”

Both Page and Schulman read what they had shared at Kelly’s funeral before opening the floor to questions and a discussion.

The conversation that followed touched on many issues relating to suicidality and the queer community. Some audience members shared their own experiences with suicidal thoughts or actions.

Issues that came up many times included de-escalating conflict, conflict resolution, and the importance of solidarity within the queer community. Many attendees also spoke about conflict on the internet, the difficulty of being a leader in the queer community, and the impact of substances on suicidality.

The general response to the discussion was positive. One attendee, Carina, told The Daily she thought it was a very valuable conversation, and highlighted the importance of talking about these issues in small-scale situations like this event.

“These are literally life and death situations,” she said.

Speaking to The Daily, Lana, another attendee, said that for her, the event brought up thought-provoking ideas that she believes are important.

“These are literally life and death situations.”

“[The event] dealt with enormously complicated questions in a really relatable way,” she said. “It raises things I’ve been talking about with my friends for years without the vocabulary.”

In an interview with The Daily, Eli, a student at Concordia, highlighted how well the panel and discussion dealt with a potentially distressing situation.

“I was talking to people and they were saying that it was anxiety producing to come into this space, but then it was so healing,” they said. “There wasn’t any conflict, which was really nice, and everyone was listening to each other–that was just refreshing.”

The post Mental health in the queer community appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Von Jagow founded DueNORTH in 2015, which funds a breakfast program in the Sakku School in Coral Harbour, Nunavut to help provide children with a nutritional start to their day. The breakfast program now feeds 250 students daily. The organization has expressed concerns in the past with addressing food insecurity in Nunavut, because of the “exorbitant food costs and logistical challenges of transporting food to that region of Canada.”

The elevated food costs in the region have been attributed to an increasing dependence on imported goods and the rising costs of food harvesting.
The organization began raising funds through a jewelry sale in Ottawa in the months before the Christmas season last year. People donated gently used jewelry to the fund, which was then sold. The proceeds went towards funding the breakfast project at the Sakku School.

“I honestly thought I would just have a small contribution. I thought I would raise like $1,000, but within three years we’ve already raised almost $85,000,” said Von Jagow, a second year environmental studies student at McGill, in an interview with The Daily.

Von Jagow first learned about food insecurity in northern Canada working on a research paper in Grade 11.

“I’m from Canada, I’m from the capital of Canada, and [the food crisis] is something I really had no idea about,” she said. “I think it’s honestly pretty messed up that it took me 18 years to learn about this issue. I don’t really want other people to go as long as I did without knowing.”

“I thought I would raise like $1,000, but within three years we’ve already raised almost $85,000.”

Indigenous Education Advisor Allan Vicaire, from McGill’s Social Equity and Diversity Office, agreed that recognition of an issue is crucial in addressing it.
“I think one of the ways to create change is more awareness, and when you become more aware, then you become more active citizens, [put pressure on] the governments to say ‘look, there is a problem,’” Vicaire told The Daily.

The McGill chapter of DueNORTH is the organization’s first chapter on a college campus. “McGill is kind of the test run and if it goes well this year, then we are hoping to expand it to other schools,” Von Jagow explained.

By bringing the organization to university campuses, Allman and Von Jagow hope to reach a new demographic of activists.

“I think one of the ways to create change is more awareness, and when you become more aware, then you become more active citizens, [put pressure on] the governments to say ‘look, there is a problem.’”

“We kind of saw it as an opportunity to reach out more outside of Ottawa, which is where we are from, and grow awareness of the brand and use McGill and the student life and the culture here as a means for that,” said Allman in an interview with the Daily.

While raising funds is an important objective of DueNORTH, Von Jagow stressed the importance of informing people of what is occurring. “As much as it is about raising money to implement these programs, it’s also about raising awareness, just making more people aware on the issue and the cause,” Von Jagow elaborated. “In a country as wealthy as Canada, it’s [ridiculous] that food isn’t a right anymore, even water isn’t a right.”

Vicaire said he thinks programs like DueNORTH are a good start, but more needs to be done to fully address the systemic problems facing Indigenous communities in Canada.

“As much as it is about raising money to implement these programs, it’s also about raising awareness, just making more people aware on the issue and the cause.”

“I think these are great initiatives, but at the same time I think we need to start thinking […] in the long term because this is just helping the community […] for a certain amount of time,” stated Vicaire. “But then how can we start to look at the system, critique the system, and figure out how we’re able to improve lives of Indigenous peoples?” Vicaire asked.

The club has already gone through the process of choosing the executive positions for the year, but is looking for members to join. “I think it’s really a club that everyone can bring their strengths into,” Von Jagow said. “I feel like everyone, no matter what your skills or your knowledge are, there’s definitely a way you can contribute.”

“The fact that it’s happening so close to us is something that really hits home because it’s where we are from, and it’s just [ridiculous] to think that everybody is aware of what’s happening in other countries, but no one is aware of what’s happening in Canada,” Allman concluded, highlighting the importance of this issue.

“But then how can we start to look at the system, critique the system, and figure out how we’re able to improve lives of Indigenous peoples?”

The post McGill DueNORTH launches appeared first on The McGill Daily.