It’s just after 4:00 pm on Wednesday afternoon, and 17-year-old Noah Irvine sits at his kitchen table in Guelph next to his grandfather, Ross.
The two of them are staring at Noah’s phone, which is in “speaker” mode. They’re in the process of being connected by switchboard to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Noah sits hunched over with a nervous smile. Asked how he’s feeling, he replies “not bad. The silence is what does it.”
This is the culmination of an effort eight months in the making for Irvine.
It started back in February, when he sent letters to all 336 sitting MPs in Ottawa at the time. He called for Canada to implement a national suicide prevention plan, which currently exists only as a framework.
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He also suggested the Prime Minister’s Office create a secretariat to gather information and advise the PMO on mental health and suicide-related matters. Ones important to Noah; who lost his mother to suicide when he was five, and his father to a drug overdose two years ago.
WATCH: Guelph teen meets with federal Health Minister, calls for action on mental illness
To date, Noah’s letter-writing campaign has only netted about 70 responses so far; but it’s received enough attention to earn him meetings with staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, the leader of the Ontario NDP, the federal Minister of Health and finally, after two postponements, a phone meeting with the PM himself.
After a couple minutes on hold, the call was connected, and a wide-eyed Irvine found himself exchanging pleasantries with the leader of the country.
The conversation lasted about 20 minutes. Global News respected Irvine’s request that the phone call not be recorded; but we did speak to him afterward.
“It was excellent,” he said.
READ MORE: Teen mental health advocate elbows way into Justin Trudeau’s schedule
“I will say that no commitments were made. Obviously, (Trudeau) can’t commit as of yet. He has to discuss it with Cabinet first. But when I brought up the idea of a secretariat, there was interest.”
Now that’s he’s gone as high up the federal food chain as he can, Irvine is setting his sights closer to the ground again.
“I have another letter going out, hopefully by the end of this week, to every Health Minister across the country. (MPs) are all telling me ‘it’s provincial.’ Well, I’ll talk to the highest people in the provincial government that I can.” he tells Global News.
“I’m really hopeful, but it’s government so you’ve got to wait to see if they’ll actually do it.”
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