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Kelsey Lonie's love of history was sparked by what she describes as stories and history coming together, especially from hearing the experiences of her grandparents Irene and Tony Schmidt in the 1930s, the Second World War, and the years following.
"It started with hearing their stories; their perseverance in doing what had to be done during the war. It was about ordinary people doing extraordinary things," she observes.
Kelsey Lonie BEd'15, MA'24 is playing an important role in a project that will culminate with the erection of an eight foot bronze statue of a Regina Rifleman at a ceremony next year at Juno Beach to honour the sacrifices of Saskatchewan soldiers on the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion. Photo by Trevor Hopkin
Her grandmother was a member of a little-known organization formed by the British Columbia government, the Women's Land Army (WLA), while her grandfather served at a gun battery protecting the Halifax harbour from enemy attack.
A change in direction
Lonie would undertake a deeper exploration of her grandmother's story later, but she initially decided to share her love of history as a teacher, earning her Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Regina in 2015.
For the next eight years she taught Grade 3 students at the Regina Christian School. One of the highlights was accompanying her students to visit veterans at the nearby Wascana Rehabilitation Centre and encouraging them to write letters to the vets.
"The kids got to meet the veterans and learn from them; it was a really tangible way to keep history alive."
In 2022 she took a leave of absence from teaching to pursue a master's degree in History from the U of R. Her thesis: The role of British Columbia's Women's Land Army, and particularly its connections to Saskatchewan.
"I realized I had stumbled upon my thesis through the stories of my grandmother," Lonie says.
Dr. Ken Leyton-Brown - whose research interests include western Canadian history - served as Kelsey Lonie's thesis advisor. Photo by Trevor Hopkin
Dr. Ken Leyton-Brown - whose research interests include western Canadian history - served as her thesis advisor. "She knew exactly what she wanted to do," Leyton-Brown says, "and she had a passionate interest in the topic. The history of the WLA in BC was virtually unknown, and Kelsey was the perfect person to explore it."
The government of British Columbia established a Women's Land Army to recruit workers to assist with the harvest, replacing men working in the agricultural sector in BC who joined the armed forces or took work in factories. British Columbia's first in-province recruiting effort fell far short of the hands needed, so the call for help expanded to women in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Lonie's grandmother was one of the young women who responded.
Kelsey Lonie's love of history was sparked by what she describes as stories and history coming together, especially from hearing the experiences of her grandparents Irene and Tony Schmidt in the 1930s, the Second World War, and the years following. Photo by Trevor Hopkin
Opportunity knocks
While she was working toward her master's degree, Lonie decided to take her career in a different direction; to become a historian, with a specific focus on the history of World War Two. A unique opportunity arose to pursue that interest when, as a board member of the Regina branch of the Royal United Services Institute, she heard a presentation from the Royal Regina Rifles Senate and Trust, a registered charity comprised mainly of retired members that helps support the regiment. The presentation outlined the Trust's plans to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Rifles' leading role in the D-Day landing at Juno Beach in Nazi-occupied France in June, 1944.
"Right away, I was hooked by the presentation," Kelsey says. "I made some suggestions of other actions they could take, which led to the Trust hiring me as their historian and communications liaison (in May 2023) to help commemorate the history and legacy of the Rifles." A key initiative is what she calls "the legacy piece"; providing opportunities for young people to be involved in the project, learn the stories, and be able to take away something from it. "How do we make history tangible today; how do we make it matter today? That's what I was brought on to do," she says.
A replica of the statue that will be permanently mounted on the seawall at Courseulles-sur Mer, Normandy where the Regina Rifles landed on D-Day.
A key element of the Trust's plan is the commissioning of an eight-foot high bronze statue of a Regina Rifles soldier that will be installed on the seawall at Juno Beach in June 2024. Unveiling the statue will be one of the highlights of a ten-day Trust's Tour of Honour to allow current members of the Rifles, retired members, and supporters to visit several sites that form part of the regiment's history on D-Day and the ensuing battles in the Fall of 1944, as well as a couple of sites from the First World War.
Retired Brigadier-General Cliff Walker had a 35-year military career. He served as the Commanding Officer of the Rifles when he was 28.
Ambitious plans
Retired Brigadier-General Cliff Walker, whose 35-year military career includes being appointed Commanding Officer of the Rifles when he was 28, says the project - with the goal of raising almost $500,000 - is the most ambitious the Trust has ever undertaken. Walker, who is a past president of the Senate and Trust, describes another former Commanding Officer of the Rifles, retired Lieutenant-Colonel Ed Staniowski, as the brainchild behind the commemoration project - named Operation Calvados after an area of France where the Rifles fought (and enjoyed the local apple brandy when they were on leave.) Staniowski notes that during the Tour, the Trust will host a dinner in honour of the regiment, with officials from Normandy and Canada among the invited guests. The Trust has also invited HRH Princess Anne, Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment, to attend the unveiling.
"Kelsey will help us capture these events and preserve them for future generations," Staniowski says. "She has tremendous drive, and is a natural fit for what we want to achieve with this project."
Retired Lieutenant-Colonel Ed Staniowski, the man behind the commemoration project. Staniowski is seen here looking at some of his hockey memorabilia from a display at the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. Photo courtesy of Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame
Kindred spirits
Lonie has held discussions with U of R President Dr. Jeff Keshen about possible partnerships with students in the departments of History and Film, for example. Much of the Rifles' D Company who stormed Juno Beach on D-Day were Indigenous, she adds, so she is looking for ways to honour their stories as well.
"While the history of the University goes back about 50 years," Keshen notes, "our roots go back to 1911, and that includes important military connections. There are plaques located inside the main entrance doors of the College Avenue building, with the names of students and staff who volunteered. I have laid wreaths there," Keshen continues, "and because we have current and past students, faculty and staff whose relatives served in both world wars I will visit the Memorial Wall at the Legislative Grounds on their behalf this Remembrance Day.
Dr. Jeff Keshen, President of the University of Regina. Photo by Trevor Hopkin
"As for Kelsey's terrific master's thesis, it brings to light another perspective on how Saskatchewan people - in this case young women who volunteered to go to British Columbia to help with food production - contributed to the war effort," Keshen says. "And now she has opportunities to discover and tell more stories, through her work with the Rifles."
Lonie has created a website telling the history of the Women's Land Army. You can find it here. She is also writing a book based on her thesis topic.
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A recent publication released by the Saskatchewan Children's Advocate emphasized a stark and concerning reality: suicide is the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 24, and transgender and gender-diverse youth are seven times more likely to attempt suicide than their cisgender peers. This is particularly significant, as previous suicide attempts are a major indicator for death by suicide.
Distressing trends
The report paints a distressing picture of the mental health challenges faced by these young people, revealing that nearly two-thirds of transgender and non-binary youth in Canada have either self-harmed and/or seriously considered suicide within the past year. In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, a staggering 94 per cent of transgender and non-binary youth have reported experiencing emotional or mental health concerns lasting at least 12 months.
"I've seen a startling increase in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in queer people in general," says social worker Emily Ritenburg (she/they) BSW'18. "There's a sense of hopelessness in the current climate. They are navigating profound hate and damaged relationships from transphobia. There is a lot of grieving in the queer community right now."
Jacq Brasseur (they/them) CSW'13, BSW'15 says of Ritenberg's past research that it aligns with their own critical thinking about approaches to social work. Photo by Trevor Hopkin
Mental health care can be difficult for many people to access due to lack of capacity, cost and geography. 2SLGBTQIAP+ folks face additional barriers, because not all counsellors understand their unique lived experiences. Jacq Brasseur (they/them) CSW'13, BSW'15, has accessed mental health supports in the past and says, "It can be really frustrating when you can't find a practitioner who shares your understanding of the world, your values and what it's like to be queer in a place like Saskatchewan." They mention that many of their friends have gone outside the province for care, hiring virtual counsellors from Vancouver, Edmonton, and Montreal. "It's great that's an option, but those practitioners don't understand the reality of queer rights and queer issues in Saskatchewan."
Fortunately, there is Aroha Pride Counselling & Consulting, a Saskatchewan-based anti-oppressive, anti-racist, queer affirming, sex positive mental health services provider. Their social workers provide virtual mental health services to youth, adults and families, reaching people in areas like rural Saskatchewan, where mental health care can be harder to find. Ritenburg started Aroha in 2021. The firm's name means "love" in Māori, an homage to Ritenburg's maternal Ngāruahine lineage and an indication of the spirit in which care is provided.
Ritenburg's expertise stems from both lived experience and formal training. "As a queer person who has both navigated mental health systems and provided services as a social worker, I have extra knowledge of how to offer compassion and empathy in treatment," she says.
Meeting the needs of the community
Starting her own firm was important in order to have the freedom to work in a way that aligns with her values. "We're a fully virtual counselling practice. There is a lack of mental health services for rural queer people, particularly rural queer youth," she explains. "Many of my clients say it's the first time they've accessed counselling that meets their needs, because services are so scarce where they're from, or they're afraid to access them due to attitudes in the community." Ritenburg mentions that many queer people in rural areas are not able to come out or have to be secretive about their identities due to queerphobia and transphobia: "They may risk alienation and ostracization in their communities if they're openly queer."
Aroha (pronounced similarly to the Hawaiian word, aloha) also recognizes that 2SLGBTQIAP+ people disproportionately live in poverty. "As with all marginalized groups, the likelihood of struggling financially is higher, and many are living from paycheque to paycheque," Ritenburg acknowledges. In response, Aroha offers reduced rates and sliding scale services as much as possible, while still keeping the business sustainable.
The counselling practice was founded independently, but when an overwhelming number of people began reaching out for services, Ritenburg approached other social workers to avoid turning clients away. Now Aroha has five counsellors serving Saskatchewan. With team members holding addition licensing, they've expanded their reach to Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
"We take the quality of service we provide very seriously," Ritenburg explains. "When I seek out people to work on our team, I give consideration to the identities and skills they bring and balance that with their education. The people I work with need to be able to demonstrate the quality and competency needed to work with queer people." Being a virtual practice also makes it easier to find practitioners that align with Aroha's values and opens the opportunity to work with clients beyond Saskatchewan's borders.
Strength in numbers
Ritenburg is also involved in a group of queer mental health professionals across Saskatchewan who connect every other month to ensure she's keeping on top of the climate of queer mental health in the province. "There are a lot of people-queer people and allies-who are really dedicated to this work," she says.
She began exploring her interest in serving the 2SLGBTQIAP+ community during her bachelor of social work practicum at UR Pride in 2018. Many undergrad social work practicums involve shadowing or doing work practicing social workers don't have time for. Brasseur, Ritenburg's advisor and a social work grad themselves, had different ideas: "When I made the choice to take on practicum students, I wanted it to be meaningful. I invited the practicum students to develop their own kinds of projects."
Ritenburg's project evaluated how well the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Regina was preparing students to work with the 2SLGBTQIAP+ community and on 2SLGBTQIAP+ issues. She found that the faculty, at the time, could be doing a better job. "It was an opportunity to open up important dialogue with the faculty on how to strategize and move forward on better preparing students to work with these demographics," she explains.
Brasseur was impressed. "Emily's research project was really phenomenal. It takes a lot of guts to be in a faculty and work on a project that potentially challenges the way it is doing things," they remark. "It was one of the first times that I can remember meeting an aspiring social worker who was willing to think critically about social work in the same way as me. It made me feel less alone, professionally."
Emily Ritenburg BSW'18 founded Aroha (pronounced similarly to the Hawaiian word, aloha), a remote counselling and consulting service that is providing meaningful help for the 2SLGBTQIAP+ community. Photo by Trevor Hopkin
The master's touch
UR Pride published Ritenburg's report and used her findings to inform the way the organization educates professionals such as social workers, teachers, child welfare workers on 22SLGBTQIAP+ issues. Ritenburg also presented her research at the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences at the U of R and was awarded the Outstanding Student Proposal Award from the Canadian Association of Social Work Education, the organization that accredits the Faculty of Social Work. Presenting at Congress was a unique experience for an undergrad-her research was ethics approved-and it gave her a foot in the door to the master's of social work program, a degree she is currently pursuing at the University alongside her clinical work.
Given what a good fit social work is for Ritenburg, some may be surprised to find out that it wasn't her original professional goal. She started out in arts education, following in their mother's footsteps. "I really value integrating the arts into education and everything that we do," Ritenburg says. She soon realized that it wasn't sustainable for her, though the experience deepened her respect for the work teachers do. She switched to social work because it is so broadly applicable. "You can start in one area and then change it up five years later. There is so much diversity of opportunities," she explains, going on to say, "Social work aligns with my values of showing up for people who lack resources and whom others take for granted."
As her practicum topic illustrated, Ritenburg is able to be critical of the profession she is devoted to, particularly due to its history of enabling the Residential School system and the 60s Scoop. "It's important for us to challenge our history and work on reconciliation in our profession," she asserts.
The power of community
As much as Ritenburg loves her work, it can be demanding and emotional. On the hard days, she reflects on the power of the queer community. "Queer people don't have a lot of elders to look up to because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the lack of response to it. A lot of 2SLGBTQIAP+ people don't make it to adulthood. We lose others to mental health issues and addictions. On the other side, there is resilience rooted in our chosen family and community. No matter what's going on, whether it's legislation or clients struggling, that's one thing that can never be taken from us: the lineage we have in leaning on our community," she explains, her voice breaking with emotion.
To decompress, Ritenburg likes to sew, build miniatures and do any kind of crafting or do-it-yourself project that involves a lot of problem solving. She also collects vinyl-80s hardcore punk, 80s and 90s alternative music, new wave and proto punk music. "Nerdy stuff," she laughs.
Family is an important priority for Ritenburg as well. She has a close relationship with her parents, who have always been supportive of her identity and ambitions. "Growing up, my mom instilled in me that it's important to be authentic and show up for people who lack access to resources or aren't being advocated for. I pride myself in bringing authenticity to the work I do," she explains. "My dad instilled in me a way to do that work sustainably. I learned that if I lean too much on that work and the passion that goes into it, it may not be sustainable. I take a little from each parent. Then there's Ritenburg's kitty, Lenny, whom she helps on his journey to become accustomed to life with only three legs.
Ritenburg concludes, "I place a lot of value in community. I recognize that it's not reasonable or possible to be the change I want to see in the world without people in my life who make me feel I can do that, and without me supporting others in doing that. We need to lean into collaboration with others."
Brasseur recognizes Ritenburg's role in creating that community: "I met Emily in her role as a student, but I've never felt that she's learning more from me than I am from her. She has really addressed that gap in meaningful 2SLGBTQIAP+ counselling in a way that's by and for queer and trans people. I think that's really special. I am confident that Emily has saved people's lives in our province."
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