(upbeat music) ♪ Yeah the simple things in life ♪ (enchanted music) - Loneliness for an Indigenous person is different from other people because culture's lost from them.

They don't know much about it and their language is lost and we're walking the path that is not ours.

And the racism that they have to encounter.

It's a lot harder for Indigenous people.

(somber piano) - (Lillian) Our guest is journalist filmmaker and TV host, Brandy Yanchyk.

Thank you for joining us.

- Thank you so much for inviting me.

- So your production company covers a wide range of projects and they've air throughout the world on various platforms.

I did see one as aired on a couple of airlines so many different platforms, for sure.

One of your newest projects is the documentary Breaking Loneliness.

Breaking Loneliness will be featured on FNX.

Now during this pandemic, isolation and loneliness has become a true reality but I'm guessing you started this project before the pandemic, even even started.

Your film, Breaking loneliness, is about individuals finding ways to escape loneliness and isolation.

In the film, You follow three people that we will see who have worked to overcome their own loneliness and isolation.

I want to start with the opening and I loved the opening.

It's John Chief Moon pushing a cart sharing sandwiches and offering those who are living on the street, something to eat.

Tell me about him.

- (Brandy) Oh, John Chief Moon is just the most incredible man.

When I interviewed him, he was working as a peer support worker for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

And John Chief Moon is a knowledge keeper.

He's indigenous he's from the Blackfoot First Nations.

He lives in Calgary, but he grew up on the Blood Reserve.

And in film, we actually go and visit his father and learn a little bit about what it was like for John.

But his job is reaching out to people who are living on the streets, who are struggling with mental illness.

He also goes into Detox Centers.

He goes into Youth Centers and his philosophy is to connect Indigenous people back to their culture.

Because as many of you know, in Canada we had the Indian residential schools where a lot of the culture was taken away from Indigenous people.

And John Chief Moon talks about loneliness and how it's different for Indigenous people.

And that it's different because their culture has been taken away from them.

And they're part of a world that really, doesn't have, their, history in mind.

And hopefully it's changing.

That's the goal of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada.

And hopefully it is changing.

- So he seems like a man that I would tell my story to.

He seems so open and so honest and so willing to listen to whoever is speaking with him as he kind of goes to these clinics and talks to people and he's there to help them.

He's there to listen to them.

He just seems like a very in my world kind uncle that you just want to, you just want to be around.

- John Chief Moon Jr. is like one of the most sensitive, kind, people I have ever met.

And you are absolutely right with what you're saying.

You just want to talk to him.

And in the documentary we see him talking to Stan in English.

He's an Indigenous man, who's in a Detox Center and it's just a horrible because after the film ended Stan died.

And the film is actually dedicated to him.

And it's so sad because when he's talking to John Chief Moon, he's full of hope.

And he says, you know, like I really I want to get my life together.

I want to stop drinking.

I, I see all the hope in the young people I really don't want them to give up.

And then he died right after the film.

And it was just so incredibly sad.

And you know, John really believes that learning about sweat lodges and learning about your culture helps you heal from loneliness and also helps you get on the right path because you you really improve your self esteem when you know about your people and where you come from.

- And he talks about his own loneliness.

He does, he does open up and shares a bit about his life.

And you know, that drinking was his, his challenge.

And, I think he said he gave it up like 30 some years ago.

So, it's, I think it's one thing when someone can talk to someone that's living it that has lived it as opposed to somebody preaching or saying you have to stop doing this or this or that.

He's been there.

He's walked that road.

And so I think it comes so much more acceptable to have him talk with so many of the people that he does reach out to.

- Yes.

And he also talks about intergenerational trauma and he talks about his father and how his father suffered in Indian residential schools.

And he was drinking when John Chief Moon was a child and now John would feel abandoned, kind of waiting for his dad to come home, to take them to the fair.

And he wouldn't show up.

His dad also quit drinking.

His father's a really lovely man.

I, I got to meet him and I was just blown away by how kind he was as well.

And yeah, I think you're right when people have gone through suffering and you're going down the same road as them, it's easier to talk to them because they have more empathy maybe for you.

And they know how hard it is.

It's not easy to just stop drinking, especially like John Chief Moon talks about how it happened to him.

He started drinking after his cousin was killed.

He was shot.

- Right, Yeah.

- And it was how he dealt with losing his cousin.

- Right, Yeah.

I love that it opened up with him and he kinda you kind of use him throughout the - he's featured throughout the film at the beginning in the middle.

And in the end he's kind of your thread through, through the film.

But I want to talk about Tom Greyson and the way he worked out his loneliness, I really enjoyed him.

I love that he found, a way to make his loneliness better, livable, and that was by volunteering.

Tell me about Tom Greyson.

- So Tom lost his wife and he was devastated.

He was lonely.

He felt really like, he just couldn't go on.

He was feeling awful.

He has a son that he lives with.

His son moved in with him after his wife died but he still just felt very empty.

And he, he, he was just so shattered.

And so he started volunteering for a program called Drive Happiness.

And this is an incredible organization a nonprofit organization that basically picks up seniors and takes them to community centers takes them to doctor's appointments, takes them shopping.

And it's for people who can't get on a bus by themselves or drive by themselves.

And it's, it's a wonderful organization because it literally gets people out of their homes.

It gets them out of isolation.

And Tom said that he felt like picking up all these other seniors, 'cause he's a senior, actually helped him with his, he I mean, he's never going to get over his wife dying.

No one gets over somebody who dies, you know that they loved dearly but it helped him cope because he said when he was spending time with the other people chatting he felt like his wife spirit was there with him, you know?

And he felt like he had a reason to get up in the morning and he could see that those other people who are also suffering were healing too.

And I a really wonderful thing to tell you that you don't know is that after the film Tom met a woman that he was driving and they got married.

- No!

- So he's now married and it's very like it was a short turnaround.

I said, Tom, maybe we should call Drive Happiness like a couples meet up or something because he's just, he's so happy.

And it's a, it's a beautiful story.

- Well, I was going to say it's one thing living with your son, right.

But when he gets in the car and he's talking to other people, his generation, his age, his, you know things that they can relate to and you you have these conversations.

And I was thinking while I was watching it he is going to meet someone else and they're going to do fine in their own way at their age and connect.

I mean, I just felt that when he was when he was driving the cars and talking to the other women and just having conversation, right.

So I'm so thrilled to hear that.

I hope he has a, you know happiness goes through for the second marriage.

Speaking of second marriage, I want to bring up Julie.

Julie has a different loneliness story.

- Yes.

Julie story.

It's, it's a hard story.

So Julia was first married to a man who she was very happy with and everything was wonderful but he unfortunately had a heart attack and he died when he was quite young.

And then she had two sons with him and she remarried another man.

And he, he basically took all her money.

and he, and, and she, she was so embarrassed.

He, he died actually, but she was so embarrassed and she actually didn't know he was taking all over money.

So when he died, people thought like he would have left her millions and all this kind of stuff.

I mean, obviously they had a lot of money if people were thinking that.

But - - Or they lived like they did.

- Yes, she was broke.

- (Lillian) Yeah.

- And she was embarrassed.

So she started isolating herself from her community.

And then she got really depressed, said she was suicidal.

And she decided that she had to volunteer.

So what she did is when she was younger, she was a teacher.

So she, she started volunteering, teaching English as a second language to seniors as well mostly ladies from China, or Taiwan, who, who moved to Canada in their senior years and can't speak English but they want to communicate with their grandchildren.

- Right.

- Or they want to go to the grocery store.

They want freedom.

And Julie found so much happiness and helping other people.

And I can see it!

Like just the way that the students teach her and how fun it was.

Like, when I went to that ESL class.

I wanted to hang out with them!

It was so much fun.

And there's one part that didn't make the film because of time.

But they had all brought in their own like homemade food and we were all eating it and laughing.

And I was like, I want to join this group.

This is so great.

- I loved it because and her lesson that day was talking about seeds, and planting, and soil things that you might not think that you're learning in an ESL class.

Right?

But that's what they were talking.

And it made sense because it was something they might be doing.

It would relate to them.

So I really enjoyed her story as well.

Let me re-introduce our guest is journalist, filmmaker and TV host, Brandy Yanchyk.

She, we were talking about her newest project which is Breaking Loneliness.

Where and how, as a filmmaker, did you find these three?

I know there's a longer version and there is a fourth person, but what we're going to see on FNX, where did you find your stories?

How did you find your stories?

- Well, you know, if this story came to me in a tragic way because my first cousin who I was just very close to he was 30 and he died by suicide.

- (Lillian) Oh.

- And I was beyond upset.

Like we were just- it was horrible and it was totally unexpected.

He was beautiful.

Like physically, emotionally, socially like you just would never imagine that this would happen.

And it happened.

We got the call and I kept trying to rack my mind, like why would this happen?

How could this happen?

We've got a great family.

And the only thing I could think of is that he was just so lonely.

Because he had a job as a flight attendant.

And he was always like traveling.

And he was alone in hotel rooms, and he just, you know felt really isolated and lonely.

And he had talked to people about it.

So I think I made the film in order to deal with that.

And also like to understand what loneliness is.

I've personally moved so many times, like I lived I was born in Canada, in Toronto, and to Montreal for school, came back to Toronto.

But then I moved to England and didn't know anybody in England.

And I felt really lonely, worked for the BBC there, which is exciting, but it's still lonely.

When you go home, you don't know anybody.

And even if it's the same language it's a different culture.

And then when I moved back to Canada, I moved to Alberta and that was really lonely because my family was in Ontario.

So that's where the sort of spark came from about loneliness.

And then I wanted to find people who were helping other people deal with their loneliness, but in turn helping themselves like a feel-good kind of story.

How do you tell a story about loneliness?

You know?

so I needed some sort of action.

I reached out to the Canadian Mental Health Association and I said to them, "Do you have somebody that I could interview?"

And there were two people who were Peer Support Workers that we chose.

One was John Chief Moon.

The other one is Jace Schroeder.

Who's not in this version of the film, just because of time.

We had to do some cuts, but both Jace and John were helping people, you know, basically deal with their loneliness as a Peer Support Worker for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Then I heard about Drive Happiness, and I wanted to touch on volunteering and also seniors because that's a demographic that faces a lot of loneliness.

And I reached out to Drive Happiness.

They gave me a list of so many different drivers but I just felt connected to Tom.

I felt connected to him because he had just lost his wife.

I mean, there were younger people that were volunteering but there was something about Tom that just I felt really connected to him.

And I could actually tell that the filming that we did together was helping him.

And that felt really good.

And I had him like filming GoPro and doing all this kind of stuff.

When I wasn't with him in the cars, just to like find out who the characters were, we were going to or like the people we were going to follow.

So there was that one.

And then there's Julie.

and I have worked with the Edmonton Mennonite Center for Newcomers, which is it's an organization that helps newcomers connect to society here in Edmonton.

And they, they organize a program for like ESL program for seniors.

And I had reached out to them saying like "Do you have any new immigrants, or newcomers to Canada that we can profile?"

And you know, it wasn't easy finding somebody who would talk to me.

But Julie said, "Yeah, I'll talk to you.".

And it was interesting because Julie is actually was born in the Philippines, felt very lonely growing up you know, in Canada when she got older.

And then she had a very unique story and she's actually reaching out to help all these ladies from China who are in their senior years trying to learn English.

So that's how I found the people.

But you know, it's not easy.

I wanted to film everybody that was introduced to me.

You only have so much time.

- Right.

What did you learn from the project?

I know now why you, you did it or what was your kind of driving force?

What did you learn?

What was your takeaway from the project?

- I think one of the biggest things that I learned is that loneliness is affecting everybody.

And it's not just the demographics that we think of.

Like people think, oh, it's just somebody who lives alone and they're isolated, but loneliness is affecting everybody.

And it's the people in the shadows that we should be concerned about.

It's the people who like the mother who has her first baby and she's on maternity leave.

And she has no one to talk to.

That's somebody you should reach out to because it's such an adjustment.

It's the new person that moves to your community that doesn't know anybody or the person that takes a job at your work.

And they don't know anybody.

I mean, the isolation and the loneliness is really hard and people who lose their spouses or you know, lose their parents.

It's, it's loneliness.

I really think everybody feels it.

If you have the courage to admit it I think that you should admit it.

I mean, I'm lonely.

I'm not embarrassed to say that I get really lonely.

And what I've done is I've created a digital community for myself or recently moved to a neighborhood, in November, and I started something called a Buy Nothing Group.

Which is like, where we give things on the internet stuff we don't want in their houses anymore.

I joined the Community League.

I am doing whatever I can to build a digital community because I don't want to be lonely.

And when COVID is over and I'm allowed to go and see people, I want to have connections.

So I think the film taught me a lot about how important it is to have connections.

- You talked about your cousin, who was a flight attendant, right?

So engage with people all the time on flights probably happy doing their thing.

And then they go back to the hotel.

And so someone looking at him probably thinking, "Oh, he has a great life.

He's traveling all these great places."

and you wouldn't think that right?

But in his world, you know, so it's it's maybe keeping an eye keeping your radar open to it could be anybody.

You may think one thing but it may be something completely different.

- That's why I always say, it's the people in the shadows, you know?

It's the people, it's your outgoing friend who always seems like the life of the party may not actually be feeling good inside when the when the lights are off and they're home alone.

- I think we see that a lot with comedians right?

That, that battle - they're on stage.

And they're funny as all get out.

But when they're not, they're either hitting drugs or alcohol or totally into isolation.

- So, and you know, like the thing too is that drugs and alcohol, can really, (sighs) you know, further the problem in us because when you drink alcohol you're probably gonna have a hangover the next day.

And it feels awful.

And then you have anxiety because of that.

And it just spirals down and down and down.

And John Chief Moon talks about that a lot.

He says, you know when you're doing drugs or drinking alcohol excessively it's a dark road and it's a road you can get lost in.

- Yeah.

You were talking about that you've lived in many places.

Canada, the UK, back to Canada.

Where'd you actually grow up?

Was it in Canada?

- I grew up in, in a small town outside of Toronto and I had a fabulous childhood and went to university in Montreal first to be an actor.

And then I did that for a few years.

Then I went back to university in Toronto to study Radio and Television Arts.

And then it became a journalist, reporting for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

And then I moved to England worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation and helped to start a program called World News America which airs on PBS, - Yes.

- Which was very exciting.

And then I moved back to Canada, because I made my first documentary and I was so hooked at making films, actually quit a staff job at the BBC.

And I quit.

I can't believe it.

And I, I left a pension and everything!

and I went home to Canada, which I was very homesick for.

And I started a production company and I've made like fourteen documentaries and seven series since 2009.

It's been amazing.

- So just to say that you left a paying gig, right?

The- a paycheck you could count on every two weeks or once a month to doing what you love to do, but doesn't always have a paycheck at the end of the two weeks.

Right?

Because you're, you're looking for that next sponsor that next gig to pay for things.

So you're doing what you love but you still have to pay bills.

How did you know and when did you know you wanted to tell stories?

- So when I was working at the BBC, I'd pitched firstly to learn how to shoot the camera, which I did.

And then I started like working as a producer during the day.

And then I was pitching all these other stories because I was so hungry to get out there and be like a correspondent for the BBC.

And I found a story about Palestinian refugees from Iraq who were resettling in Iceland.

I'll repeat that 'cause it's a big mouthful, but Palestinian refugees from Iraq who were resettling in Iceland.

And I, I flew to Iceland and I made like a I was supposed to do like a four minute show for World News America.

And then I was by myself.

I ended up making a half an hour film when I was there.

I called the BBC and I was like, "This is a great documentary."

So I made that film, and then I was so hooked.

It's like falling in love.

You know, when I, when I was making that documentary, I I figured out who I was, you know?

I was like I'm so happy right now.

I'm a documentary filmmaker.

And I still feel like that it's like a high when I'm in the field.

I really love people, and I really love filming.

And I even, even more, I love the edit sitting in with all that material and going through it.

It's so satisfying and challenging and exciting.

- Oh, and it's the part I hate the most!

Because I hate especially when I'm doing television and I'm having to cut something, I'm like, "Oh, no, that's a good piece.

Oh, no, I got to keep that."

And then I love when a stronger editor one of my colleagues comes in behind me "No, got to go, Nope, got to go."

Because it's, it's very hard to, to cut certain things not my strength because I would keep it all.

But then it doesn't work as well.

Hey, before I let you go I want to ask you a couple more questions.

One of your other projects that I want to talk about that can be seen on FNX is your TV series Seeing Canada.

Tell me about the series and what you're seeing and what the purpose of it.

- So, Seeing Canada is a travel show in a documentary style, which I host.

I'm the writer, director, and producer of the show.

And I literally go to every province and territory twice.

I go to remote places on float planes.

I go to the Arctic I have incredible Indigenous tourism experiences.

Every episode has an Indigenous tourism experience and you are learning about Canada.

And it's just going literally on a very fun educational journey with me.

I've made 12 half an hour shows and hopefully going to make a third series.

It's the most popular thing I've ever done.

And of all my shows.

And you can tell that I'm having a lot of fun when you watch it, because it's just, it's wonderful.

You get to see loads of wildlife, learn about the history of Canada, meet all these diverse, different people.

The, the culinary scene is excellent.

So you get to learn about the food and the alcohol and all these fun things that you can do in Canada.

We have the second largest country in the world after Russia with the population of California.

So if you can imagine how huge this country is and how much there is for people to explore.

And every province and territory has its own culture.

Quebec even speaks French, you know?

and it's just an, a very exciting show.

I recommend for everybody to watch it.

It's totally family safe.

And I think it's, I, I've got a lot of compliments on the fact that we do have an Indigenous tourism experience in each episode, because we want to teach people about the Indigenous people of Canada.

And this is a great way to do it through tourism.

Because many times the communities are learning about their past history and different things that they want to present through tourism.

So it's like a learning experience for them.

And you can see the joy.

You can really see the joy and the healing in that story.

So it's, it's, I really want people to watch Seeing Canada because also some of these experiences are so remote.

You probably would never get a chance to go.

Like Sable Island.

They only allow like a hundred people a year or, you know to go on an Expedition Vessel into the Arctic.

I hope you all get to go, but it's quite expensive.

And it may not be something that you do, right?

I've seen polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba.

I've seen griz- I've been around lots of grizzly bears seen whales, beautiful, beautiful experiences.

And people keep emailing me about the food, which was really shocking for me.

but they all want to know about the recipes that I'm getting from remote communities and that kind of stuff.

- Our guest has been Brandy Yanchyk.

She is a journalist, a filmmaker, a TV host and her newest film is Breaking Loneliness.

Thank you so much for your time.

- Thank you for inviting me.

- [Lillian] This program was originally produced for 91.9 KVCR Radio.

(upbeat music) ♪ Yeah the simple things in life ♪