Remembering 2017 Y Peace Medal Recipient

Katherine McParland

Katherine McParland (left) pictured with Michele Walker, General Manager Violence Against Women Intervention and Support Services, and Kamloops Y Board Chair, Karl de Bruijn.

We are saddened by the tragic Passing of Katherine McParland a passionate advocate for ending youth homelessness.  Katherine made significant impacts in our community including founding the Kamloops non-profit organization A Way Home Kamloops where she was the Executive Director. This is a huge loss to our community effecting family, friends, colleagues and most of all the youth she so passionately supported and advocated for. We are grateful to have been able to acknowledge her dedication and contributions to creating peace in our community and our world.

At 19 years old, Katherine McParland, in permanent government care since primary school, found herself out on her own. All the supports she'd previously had through the Ministry of Children and Family Development ceased when she turned 19, and she found herself unpreparedly thrust into the adult world.

At the time her Ministry support was terminated, she was researching the outcomes of her former foster siblings that had, like her now, aged out of the system. Almost 80% of those she talked to were homeless. The emotional and mental impact of losing access to support, aging out of the system, and her discoveries about former foster youth homelessness sent Katherine reeling. She found herself struggling with mental health issues, addiction, and eventually homelessness.

Despite a tumultuous start to young adulthood, and unlike many youth in our community, Katherine was fortunate enough to have people around her that cared and supported her when she was vulnerable. This positive support allowed her to turn her situation around, and Katherine has since earned a degree in Social Work, and is currently working towards her Masters. She has also been instrumental in bringing awareness and support to youth homelessness in our community.

As one nominator, City Councillor, Tina Lange, says, "Katherine has a paid position to coordinate wrap around services for all troubled youth, but what she has done goes miles beyond what she is paid to do. With lived experience she has turned the concept of homeless youth on its head...she has inspired landlords, business owners, Thompson Rivers University and provincial, municipal and federal governments to open their eyes to the financial and social cost of ignoring homeless youth."

Through her work as A Way Home Kamloops Manager, Katherine has "brought passion, voice and presence," to the very real issue of Youth Homelessness, writes one nominator. She has motivated dozens of people in our community to sit on committees for everything from fundraising to home development, and, perhaps even more importantly, she empowers youth to be involved in the work, activities and process of ending youth homelessness. In January, she successfully organized the Campout for Homeless Youth, which challenged over 60 people to sleep in the parking lot at Domino’s Pizza, to raise money for, and awareness around the 24 hour support services needed to run a safe suite in Kamloops.

"Only a couple of years back this would not have the buy in it does today and all because of Katherine's passion," writes Tina Lange. "Everyone who meets her wants to help!"