Teen newcomer advocates for mental health awareness
Loizza Aquino was the Youth Award winner among this year’s RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants
When Loizza Aquino was just one- year-old, she and her family left the Philippines to start a new life in Canada. Landing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, their new surroundings were quite a contrast from their Southeast Asian roots. Yet her parents were determined to build a life for their family filled with opportunities they never had back home. While Aquino does not remember those early years of her parents working double shifts including overnight, the impact of their determination inspired her and left a long-lasting impression on how she leads her life.
Finding purpose through mental health advocacy
A few years ago at the tender age of 15, Aquino lost one of her best friends to suicide. He was one of four students in Winnipeg succumbing to suicide within a one-month period. The tragedy rocked her community and started Aquino on a path focused on mental health advocacy.
“I was so confused. I was in shock, and wanted to know why this was happening,” she says. After spending countless hours searching for answers, she realized that understanding “why” wasn’t going to make enough of a difference.
Instead, she wanted to focus on the issue of mental health, the stigma surrounding it and preventing more young people from feeling hopeless. A late-night tweet saying, “I want to have a mental health group. Does anyone want to help me?” generated dozens of likes. This was enough to spring her into action and she created her own youth-led non-profit organization: Peace of Mind.
Her organization holds events called Youth Against Mental Health and Illness Stigma (YAMHIS), which provides a platform for students to share their stories and struggles with mental illness. Since 2015, Peace of Mind and YAHMIS have reached more than 2,000 students, including an event last year attended by over 700 youth in Manitoba.
Loizza was recently recognized as a winner in the annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards — which celebrate outstanding accomplishments by Canadian newcomers. She also won an additional distinction as the winner of the Youth Award recognizing the achievements of young immigrants who make a difference in their adopted country, and show great potential as long-term nationbuilders.
We asked her what being an immigrant means to her. Here’s what she shared:
What challenges do you see newcomers facing?
Newcomers face a number of challenges when they move to a new country. The language barrier is a big one. In the Philippines, my mom was a pharmacist, but her credentials didn’t carry over. My parents had to work two jobs, sometimes overnight, so coordinating schedules was a big challenge — as soon as my mom came home from work, my dad would leave. Spending time together as a family wasn’t a luxury we could afford when we had to make ends meet.
What’s the best advice you received to overcome these challenges?
The best advice I received was something my parents told me — and have been telling me ever since I could remember — and that is: never forget where you came from.
Whether you’re successful or you fail, know where your roots are. The wonderful thing is that Canada is so welcoming. We welcome diversity, differences in people and different cultures, so you don’t need to leave yourself behind.
That’s part of what motivated me to lead a fundraising project when the typhoon hit my hometown. I was only nine, but I knew that if my parents hadn’t come to Canada, I could have been one of those children trying to get to school through flood conditions without clean water to drink. Giving back helped me connect to where I came from and I knew even the smallest actions could mean so much.
What does being Canadian mean to you?
To me, being Canadian means being altruistic — caring about the people around you, being willing to give when someone needs a hand. In Canada, we care about each other, our quality of living, and we put actions behind our words. We don’t wait for things to happen. As a welcoming country, we welcome different people who come, including their past lives and experiences. We don’t ask someone to leave who they are at the door.
Congratulations to Loizza Aquino on being recognized at this year’s RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards.